There is a shortage of staff in many all-day schools and after-school care centers.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin By 2029 at the latest, all-day primary schools are to be offered nationwide throughout Germany. It might not come to anything. Because by 2030 there will be a shortage of around 100,000 skilled workers, according to the Bertelsmann Foundation’s new “Skilled Workers Radar for Daycare and Primary Schools 2022”.
From 2026, a legal entitlement to an all-day place in primary school will be introduced. This “can only be managed with a significantly increased supply of skilled workers,” warns author Anette Stein. The federal states and all other responsible parties must therefore “take measures now to prevent the increasing shortage of staff in primary schools and after-school care centers”.
The new legal entitlement to an all-day place will come into effect in autumn 2026, initially for first graders. It will then be gradually expanded to include fourth graders by 2029.
The all-day elementary school that is already normal in other countries is primarily intended to enable better support for the children – especially for those who have little support at home.
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In addition, the legal entitlement would enable many more parents to work more hours, thereby alleviating the shortage of skilled workers. According to an earlier Bertelsmann study, a good 70,000 additional full-time employees could be recruited by 2050 through nationwide all-day care. According to the author Manuela Barišić, the effect would be significantly higher if further reforms were implemented in parallel with splitting spouses, mini-jobs or the co-insurance of wives.
76,000 skilled workers wanted in the West
Initially, however, the shortage of skilled workers in elementary schools should ensure that the shortage of skilled workers remains high elsewhere. This applies above all to western Germany: Here, only 47 percent of primary school children currently attend an all-day primary school. Another 18 percent stay at least for lunch until 2:30 p.m. at the latest.
However, if every elementary school child in the West is to have an all-day offer by 2030, more than a million additional places will have to be created, the Bertelsmann experts calculate. This would require around 76,000 more specialists than are currently available.
According to the study, however, there are already enough places for all primary school children in eastern Germany. 83 percent of the children take advantage of the offer. Another 3.5 percent stay in school at least over lunchtime.
However, the care ratio in the east is significantly worse: while the after-school care centers in the west have a staff ratio of one to six, in the east it is one to 14. A full-time specialist has to look after more than twice as many children in the east.
The after-school care centers and schools in the eastern German federal states can only achieve a care key like in the west with additional skilled workers. According to the Bertelsmann Radar, 26,000 specialists would have to be hired.
>>Read more: The robot as a savior against the shortage of skilled workers? This might actually work in some cases.
The recently published National Education Report 2022 also focused on the lack of staff in the entire education system. According to this, a total of 180,000 skilled workers will be missing by 2030 – from educators to after-school care workers to teachers at general education and vocational schools.
Primary schools will be particularly affected in the coming years. Because in the past decade, the number of students there had fallen by five percent. In the day-care centers, on the other hand, it even rose by a good 20 percent between 2010 and 2020 due to higher birth rates and inward migration. In the next few years, these children will be crowding into elementary schools and after-school care centers.
More: The shortage of teachers could mean that Germany’s classes will be larger again in the future