Saxony focuses on improving early childhood education in kindergartens

Dresden (dpa/sn) – Saxony wants to improve the quality of early childhood education in kindergarten facilities. “If, on the one hand, we complain that it is becoming increasingly difficult to teach basic skills such as reading, writing and arithmetic in primary school, then we must not only look at primary schools, but also put day-care centers in a better position to carry out their important educational work can,” said the Saxon Minister of Education Christian Piwarz (CDU) on Friday in Dresden. Early childhood education lays the foundation for the subsequent education and development of the child in school.

The Ministry of Education now wants to update the education plan for early childhood education. In addition, the training opportunities for educators are to be made more attractive. According to the Ministry of Education, the admission requirements at the technical school in the social work department will be expanded in the coming school year. In order to further increase the number of trained educators, people with a higher education entrance qualification and proven relevant socio-educational work of at least six weeks will also be given access to the technical school in the future. The training can be either full-time or part-time.

In the past ten years, the number of children in day-care centers in Saxony has increased by more than 50,000. However, the apex has already been passed. According to the Ministry of Education, almost 318,000 children were cared for in Saxony last year. According to the latest population forecast, the number of under-six-year-olds is expected to continue to decline in the coming years – by around ten percent by 2025. “If we want to further improve the quality of early childhood education, we should still stick to the staff tableau in the day-care centers,” said Piwarz. This results in better child-related support.

According to the Greens, a good day-care center primarily needs good and sufficient educational staff. The skilled labor monitoring, which according to the Green MP Christin Melcher goes back to an initiative of her party, makes it possible to assess current and future needs and to draw up a skilled labor strategy. The Left sees the amended Kita Act as insufficient and would like a training allowance, among other things.

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