From the point of view of the FDP, the state government must do significantly more when it comes to education and also do more to combat the shortage of skilled workers in daycare centers. “An educational catastrophe in the state of Baden-Württemberg is emerging,” said parliamentary group leader Hans-Ulrich Rülke on Wednesday. In the field of early childhood education, most things are in trouble. Together with the spokesman for the parliamentary group for early childhood education, Dennis Birnstock, Rülke presented a position paper on this.
A heated debate had recently broken out, especially about the lack of staff in day-care centers – but the municipalities and not the state are actually responsible. Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann made that clear the day before: “It’s their job, not mine,” said the Green politician on Tuesday. The country can support that – but not magic. “It reminds me a bit of a captain who, referring to the helmsman, says in the middle of a storm, ‘ok, I’m going to sleep now,'” Birnstock said. Of course, the main responsibility lies with the municipalities. “But the country must not sit back here.”
In the paper, the FDP parliamentary group calls for, among other things, an expansion of the catalog of skilled workers, with which other professional groups could work as educators. In order to get the staff shortage under control, foreign specialists – with sufficient language skills – must also have easier access. Like the Verdi union last week, Rülke and Birnstock also called for the capacities of practice-integrated training to be significantly expanded.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Education said: “The FDP’s proposals do not give reason to expect a major breakthrough in the current situation.” For example, there is already a campaign to upgrade the job profile of educators. The ministry spokesman described the demand by the FDP parliamentary group to set up a “daycare center summit” to bring all the actors together as “remarkable”. “Because we regularly bring all partners from the field together.” In addition, the training capacities have been regularly increased in the past.
The President of the Municipal Council, Steffen Jäger, said that the legal entitlement set by the federal government and the standards set by the state have now “unfortunately made it impossible for a rapidly growing number of institutions to fulfill their tasks.” A serious dialogue is needed about how the best possible solution can be designed with the resources that are available and can realistically be made available. “The local authorities are always ready for such a dialogue. However, simply pointing the finger at the local authorities does not help.”
