Joint declaration on quality standards in daycare facilities for children

[28. 3. 2017] On occasion of the 2017 German Child and Youth Welfare Congress 27 welfare, children rights, social and familiy organisations as well as trade unions jointly call for mandatory, nationwide consistent and scientificly sound standards in child care facilities. The organisations welcome the results that have been made by the state and federal states and assume, that even in this legislative period mandatory measures will be compiled, which take up on the existing processes in the federal states. The aim is to ensure a high quality in child care facilities all over Germany in foreseeable future.

Jointly they claim:

A high quality in early childhood care and education pays off – not just for the children themselves, but also for society. This is because high quality care and education can effectively compensate different starting conditions and future opportunities of the children. It contributes to reduce educational disadvantages, to overcome poverty and to economically and socially stabilize life courses.

We highly welcome that the different governmental levels have reacted to the rising demand for child care and has recently strongly expanded child care facilities and child day care. Now the quality of child care has to be discussed more intensely as well. This is the only way to ensure that every child is adequately supported in its development and education towards a self reliable and socially competent personality.

To achieve this urgently necessary improvement of the quality of child care, we need both serious political efforts as well as considerable additional financial expenses, for which the federal level, the states and the municipalities hold a joint responsibility.


Additionally, public and private bodies, trade unions, non-governmental organizations and parent representatives need to collaboratively accompany this process of quality improvement.


In order to secure a high quality of child care all over Germany, scientifically sound standards, mandatory and nationwide, need to be implemented.

These standards must deal with the following quality aspects:

  • Access to early child care services: Opening and closing times, all-day offers and costs for families
  • Qualification of educational staff including nationwide standardized regulations for their training
  • Educational staff – child – ratio and group sizes: The ratio must include only educational professionals and the maximum group size must be according to the needs and ages of the children
  • Guidelines for the pedagogical work respecting the rights as codified in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, i.e. the right to play, education, participation and self-development
  • Responsible educational partnership: Relationship of child, parents and educational staff, having the best interest of the child at the center.
  • Permanent quality assurance and development: Monitoring on federal or state level as well as securing the organizational framework for further quality development.
Unterstützer der gemeinsamen Erklärung

Coordination:

Arbeitsgemeinschaft der deutschen Familienorganisationen (AGF) e.V.
Sven Iversen, +49 30 – 2902825-70, info [@] ag-familie [.] de

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