The trainer speaks plainly about the lack of educators: "No longer manageable" - but the Ministry is silent on the subject
Created: 08/05/2022 05:33
By: Veronika Mahnkopf, Christine Novotny
The same everywhere: There is a massive lack of educators in Bavarian day-care centers.
But what's the point?
And how should things continue in the years to come?
Rottenbuch/Weilheim - When the daycare phone rings in the morning, Gabriele Fix's heart sometimes slips into her pants.
She is the deputy director of the Montessori children's home in Weilheim.
And a call in the morning often can't mean anything good for them: "If I get a call in the morning saying, 'I'm sick today,' then I think to myself: Oh my gosh." One caregiver less, the system collapses in everyone Kita fast.
And that's happening more often across Bavaria than it should be.
Like other federal states, Bavaria has been groaning under a blatant shortage of skilled workers in the daycare sector for years.
The Federal Employment Agency had 10,942 positions for educators on offer in 2021 - an increase of 157 percent since 2010. Up to 72,500 skilled workers could be missing in West German day-care centers in the next five years.
The skilled worker barometer reports both.
At the same time, according to the Ministry for Family Affairs, the Free State of Bavaria has increased the number of childcare places by 188 percent since 2008.
A bill that doesn't add up.
(Our Schongau newsletter regularly informs you about all the important stories from your region. Register here.)
Shortage of educators in Bavaria: Trainees are really poached by daycare centers
Edith Richter-Schindele knows that too.
She is deputy headmistress at the Academy for Social Pedagogy in Rottenbuch.
The school has many graduates.
At the end of the day, however, there are still not enough skilled workers to be found on the job market.
“Some of our graduates already have jobs half a year before they graduate.
They are really poached.”
But why don't the finished educators end up in day-care centers where they are so urgently needed?
They end up there, but there aren't enough, says Richter-Schindele.
Of course there are those who do not practice the core of the educator's profession - accompanying children in early childhood - after their training.
They may bother you about the payment.
According to
lohnspiegel.de
, a website of the Hans Böckler Foundation, the gross starting salary for educators is around 2,650 euros per month.
Others lack recognition within society, says the headmistress.
The sticking point, however, is that childcare has been massively expanded in recent years - and the children also go to the facilities longer a day.
And the trainees are no longer enough to meet this increased demand.
Shortage of educators specifically: Employee reports that no applications came in for a year and a half
Gabriele Fix notices this every day.
On some days, the occupation in the Montessori children's home "is not enough".
But the worst was a few years ago.
She worked in pairs with her colleague in the so-called children's house, the crèche in the facility.
“We searched for an educator for a year and a half, but couldn't find anyone.
No applications came in.” In these one and a half years, the two carers were responsible for twelve children, sometimes a temporary worker was added.
With such an occupation, she feels "quite under stress, because I think that things have to go the way they usually do, so that the children don't do anything wrong.
The general conditions are simply not right.”
also read
Traditional restaurant Garibaldi in Schongau closes - the couple says goodbye with regret
Traffic tickets and camera surveillance: Supermarkets in the district take action against third-party parkers
Gabriele Fix from the Montessori children's home in Weilheim also feels the blatant lack of educators in Bavaria.
© dpa/videoreadction/ippen.media
This feeling is exactly what a survey of educators by the Hans Böckler Foundation reflects: "Fulfilling" and "diverse", but also "a lot of stress" and "little money" would mean the job accordingly.
Fix describes it like this: "It's crazy to work in pairs with twelve children.
You always work past the original ideas.
That you take the time to change diapers, for example. You're just checking that it's somehow kept going.
It looks completely different with three or four people.”
Shortage of skilled workers in day-care centers: Ideally, a job is “not just keeping the children in check”.
This is exactly where the catch is, says Headmistress Richter-Schindele.
Even the term "educator" has such a dusty image, as if the children were primarily cared for and kept safe.
It is so much more - if there is enough staff: "I would speak of educational companions." The time with the staff in day care centers is an "important part of the child's life".
It is ideally not just a "keep in check".
However, this challenge is often no longer manageable.
Richter-Schindele sees the "main part of burnout" in this industry here.
Career starters are aware of this, some colleagues in day-care centers even advise against it - and the vicious circle of career dropouts and staff shortages continues.
But there must be solutions.
It is clear that time cannot be turned back - and that must not happen either: that mothers put back their jobs to make up for the shortage of educators.
Richter-Schindele advises starting with the basic conditions: group sizes, salary, more job satisfaction also through more social recognition.
Merkur.de asked the Bavarian Ministry for Family Affairs what concrete measures the Free State is planning to take to counteract the shortage of educators.
Unfortunately, this request remained unanswered.
Shortage of teachers in Bavaria: The job is actually "very lucky"
"It would have to be one more person, that would bring a lot," says Gabriele Fix from the Montessori children's home very pragmatically.
Her facility is still in a good position: the majority of the teachers working there have many years of experience, and they always manage to recruit interns.
At the end of the conversation, Fix has to smile: "I would do the job again and again.
There are so many beautiful sides.
To see how the children develop and to be able to be part of it is very lucky.”
cn/sta
You can find more current news from the region around Schongau at Merkur.de/Schongau.
