Since 2018, employees in elementary education (kindergartens, playrooms, following-school care centers) have been using January 24th to address their demands to politicians on this day. Activities are planned once more today.
According to Statistics Austria, there were around 9,700 institutional childcare facilities in Austria in the 2022/23 childcare year. Of these, around 4,600 were kindergartens (for children from 2.5 or three years old until they start school), around 2,700 of the facilities were crèches (for under three-year-olds) and 1,600 were mixed-age facilities (between 1.5 and 15 years, age limits vary depending on the federal state). and almost 900 hoards. A total of 388,300 children were cared for in these facilities.
According to the OECD study “Education at a Glance” in Austria, around 0.7 percent of GDP will be invested in elementary education in 2022. This is less than the EU average (0.8 percent) – the OECD average is 0.9 percent of GDP.
There are already too few staff in kindergartens, and since 2021 there have been several protests for more money, better conditions and nationwide uniform rules for elementary education.
A study commissioned by the Ministry of Education suggests that the personnel shortage will become even worse: if population development, childcare quotas as well as staff departures and replacements are taken into account, there might be a shortage of around 13,700 skilled workers by 2030. If the care ratio, which is also required of the staff, was improved, it would even be 20,200.
