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New leadership in the childminder association: A new beginning for childcare!
Altbach: New daycare parent association board wants to strengthen the form of care and address the challenges of daycare.
New leadership in the childminder association: A new beginning for childcare!
In the Esslingen district there is a change at the top of the childcare association. Since April 1, 2025, Nicole Lauer has led the association as the new managing director, while Petra Heller has taken over the economic management. Together they want to continue the association's success story and tackle the challenges of day care. The childminders' association, which was founded in 2010, now has around 1,180 members and includes 357 childminders, including only eight men. Last year they looked after around 1,400 children, two thirds of whom were under three years old. On average, one day care person looks after 3.9 children, which underlines the importance of this form of care in the region. NTZ reports.
On Monday, a technical discussion took place in Denkendorf, where childminders came together, organized by Nils Schmid (SPD). The participants also included Anke Hennig, the former childminder and current member of the Bundestag, who is strongly committed to the recognition of child day care. Hennig emphasized the opportunities for child day care, especially in relation to all-day care at schools. In her opinion, child day care should be recognized as an equivalent form of care for children under the age of three in order to address the shortage of skilled workers in the sector. There has been an increasing demand for this recently, while at the same time the number of carers has been declining. Esslinger Zeitung reports.
Challenges and demands
The day care workers are paid 7.50 euros per child per hour, but only for the pure care time. Organizational tasks are not included in this amount, which significantly increases the workload for many childminders. They must complete a total of 300 teaching units in a year to qualify. These factors, coupled with the high level of bureaucratic effort, lead to many carers leaving the profession early. In addition, older childminders often find working in daycare centers too stressful, so they consider working in schools. Esslinger Zeitung offers further insights.
During the technical discussion, ideas for improving the framework conditions were also discussed in order to increase the recognition of work in child day care. Hennig suggests introducing employment relationships subject to social security contributions and offering better specialist advice in order to increase the attractiveness of the profession. The childminders themselves also want more support so that they can better fulfill their important role in early childhood care.
The current figures show that the need for childcare places is great: In the Esslingen district there are five weeks of vacation and up to six weeks of paid sick leave for full-time employees. Despite these positive aspects, the decline in the number of carers is perceived as alarming. The question remains as to how politicians can provide efficient support here in order to meet the growing demand.