Childcare Study Shows: East Beats West

Current policymakers hope the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) recent study on childcare in Germany will boost their controversial attempts to invest more money in preschool education.

The OECD Childcare Study -- known by its nickname Kindergarten PISA after the recent OECD study that internationally ranked upper-level students -- was unveiled this week. It pointedly praised the variety and number of daycare, preschool and kindergarten spots available in the eastern German states. But it also pointed out childcare in western states is sadly lacking in comparison.

The care offered in eastern Germany were "among the best" in the entire OECD study, the OECD said. But the long-held belief in western Germany that children should stay at home at least until the age of three has kept that region from developing enough childcare offerings to meet the growing demand. And recently, the entire notion that young children do not belong in childcare has come under new examination.

According to the study, there are childcare spots in the eastern states for 37 percent of all children under three; in the west the number is a staggeringly low 2.7 percent. Almost all other western European countries offer a broad option of childcare to preschoolers.

Food for political action?

The OECD study gives support to German politicians who are agitating for more childcare for younger children. Federal Minister for Family Affairs Renate Schmidt said in Berlin that Germany spends altogether too little money on early childhood development, education and parenting support. Maria Böhmer, deputy parliamentary group leader for the opposition Christian Democrats, noted that the study showed big deficits in the education for childcare providers in Germany.

The OECD study supported these claims, especially criticizing childcare provider training in Germany. But a 2002 plan agreed to by the Kultusministerium, the interstate German body in charge of education, made no provisions to change training for daycare providers. A national stance on the issue is necessary, the OECD said. But in Germany, education issues are generally decided on a per-state basis.

Schmidt agreed that the study disclosed considerable need for reform. "When we want to have comparable living conditions across our country, we have to have uniform standards for the care of children and teenagers," she said. All children in Germany from birth on should have the same opportunities, "whoever their parents are and whatever state they live in."