Germany relies on immigrants to ease child care crisis

On a dull, overcast November morning in the city of Cologne, the voices of two dozen kindergarten children can be heard singing the Spanish song, "Sol solecito calientame un poquito," which means, "Sun, come out and warm me a little." Very few of these 2-to-6-year-olds can actually speak Spanish.

Their day care center is running things in two languages: Spanish and German. The bilingual day care center concept is a successful model, said staff member Jessica Rojas Flores. She was born in Bolivia, and came to Germany from Spain two years ago to work here.

"We don't always speak Spanish with the children, but we do sing Spanish nursery rhymes. We repeat certain words like chair, table and plate, so they are learning the language playfully. The children are also very empathetic –– they speak more slowly to me when I don't understand something right away," she said.

Numerous posters with Spanish vocabulary hang on the walls. Parents and children are greeted with "Buenas dias" and bid farewell with "Adios." As the Germans learn Spanish, the child care workers are learning German during the center's day-to-day operations.

Carmen Casares Naranjo describes some of the benefits of the bilingual approach. "Some parents recently told me quite proudly that their child can already count in Spanish, and that they know all of the words of the colors," she said. "What makes this bilingual concept so special is that it helps prepare the children for life –– for everyday life. Because they need to develop strategies for situations when they might find that they are not being understood."

Peruvian-born Cynthia Malca-Buchholz initiated the bilingual concept in 2013, and she is now the center's deputy director. The kindergarten's sponsor, the Fröbel Group, immediately got on board when she presented the idea.

However, Malca-Buchholz still finds herself reassuring parents that the second language will not overwhelm their child. She tells them the opposite is true: multilingualism will open doors. News of the day care's bilingualism is reaching potential skilled workers in Spain –– Malca-Buchholz has just received yet another job application.

Does this mean Germany is luring skilled workers away from countries that urgently need them? "No. Many trained child care workers in Spain or Latin America often can't find work, and end up working as waitresses," said Malca-Buchholz. "In Germany, we can offer them a chance to work in the field that they studied for four or five years."

Massive shortage of day care spots, qualified staff

The day care center's model of hiring skilled workers from abroad might well be an innovative solution to Germany's kindergarten crisis.

There is currently a shortfall of 430,000 day care spots in Germany. A survey by the Paritätischer Gesamtverband, an association of organizations dedicated to promoting parity, puts the shortfall of child care staff in Germany at 125,000. That means two educational specialists are lacking at every day care center.

The child care worker shortfall is especially dramatic in western Germany. Kindergartens in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, were forced to reduce services 3,600 times in September –– a record figure. And that was before the usual cold and flu season got underway.

When child care services are reduced, parents must either pick up their children early or have them join other groups of children until pickup time. In the worst-case scenario, a day care center might be closed for the day.

Wido Geis-Thöne, a family policy expert at the German Economic Institute in Cologne, explained how the situation just does not add up. "For more than 10 years, we've had a legal right to a day care spot for children under the age of 3. If I have a legal right, then I must also be able to provide every child with a spot," he told DW.

The child care crisis is also damaging the German economy. A recent study carried out by the Stepstone recruiting agency calculated that the day care crisis is causing €23 billion ($24.2 billion) worth of damage to the national economy. It stated that due to inadequate child care services, some 1.2 billion working hours go unfilled every year. In fact, some companies are reducing staff working hours, or even making staff redundant due to a complete lack of child care options.

'Every euro invested in early childhood education returns fourfold'

Geis-Thöne said the reason the crisis is mostly affecting western Germany comes down to historical factors.

"In the old West Germany, the long-standing rule was: just don't provide institutional child care. On the other hand, a child care system was established in the former East Germany because women were meant to have the opportunity to work. So the east has traditionally provided better child care, while the west only gradually expanded it."

Katja Ross, a nursery school teacher from the northern German city of Rostock, could not sit still while the day care crisis unfolded. She created the petition Every Child Counts, which was signed by 220,180 people. It calls for better working conditions in early childhood education. The campaign is the largest-ever movement for improvements to early child care in Germany.

Ross described her daily work experience to DW: "You arrive at the day care center in the morning, and you hope that at least half of your colleagues are there. There are urgent situations that need attending, everywhere. Ours is the first educational institution children attend. Everything that happens afterward is based on their day care center experience. Whatever basics the children haven't learned by the age of 6 are very difficult to instill later at school."

Ross and her fellow campaigners are demanding more specialists for language education and inclusion; binding minimum standards for staff; and the expansion of day care spots so that every child in Germany has a place. She doesn't believe the federal funds in the amount of €4 billion set out in the new Kita Quality Act for state support in 2025 and 2026 will be enough to achieve those goals.

"Every euro invested in early childhood education returns fourfold in the long term. Children who are well-supported at day care centers are more likely to achieve a higher level of education, which in turn impacts the pension fund," she said. "But courageous politicians are needed to get it started, politicians who can think beyond the four-year legislative term."

This article was originally written in German.

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