2024
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Extension of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) (Ausbau der Kinderbetreuungseinrichtungen) - current agreement
Regulation and legislative documents
Status: Agreement concerning 2022/23-2026/27 - childcare offensive until 2030
Sources:
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Description:
The main focus of these expansion efforts is on child care offerings for children under 3 years of age, promoting qualified child-minder offerings, and extending opening times during the year. Childcare places for 3 to 6-year-olds will also be funded in order to close regional gaps in childcare.
Measures:
- focus on the expansion of institutional child care for children under the age of three
- flexibilisation and extension of opening hours
- impulses to improve the quality of care, especially the ratio of the number of children care by the number of kindergarten teachers
- promoting childminders as an alternative and supplement to kindergarten
- continuation of the non-contributory compulsory kindergarten for five-year-olds
- intensification and further development of language support
- obligatory teaching of values of Austrian society
- improved qualification of the qualified staff and specialized linguistic teachers
- focus on the transition from kindergarten to school
- definitions of a compulsory quality frame work through mandatory pedagogical documents and educational goals
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Amount of funding:
The federal government will spend a total of 1 billion Euro on earmarked subsidies during the next five years.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer is aiming for a childcare offensive. Together with the federal states, 4.5 billion euros are to be made available by 2030 to close the childcare gap between one and three years of age.
Monitoring:
The respective regional governments are responsible for monitoring compliance with the statutory obligations and supervising the staff and materials used in public kindergartens (nursing schools), which includes, among other things, a kindergarten inspectorate.
Involved bodies:
- Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research
- Austrian Federal Minister for Women, Families, Youth and Integration
- Regional Governments
- Municipalities
- Private providers
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2023
The new agreement was concluded (agreement concerning 2023-2027).
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