2023

No reform measures have been initiated in this area to date.

2022

Act on the Further Development of Quality and Participation in Child Day Care

Quality development in day-care centres and in child day care is a task for society as a whole. Since 2019, the Federal Government has therefore been supporting the Länder with additional funds for quality development measures in child day care in order to further develop quality nationwide and to make a contribution to creating equal living conditions for growing up in the Federal territory. With the Act on the Further Development of Quality and Participation in Child Day Care (Gesetz zur Weiterentwicklung der Qualität und zur Teilhabe in der Kindertagesbetreuung), the so-called Good Child Day Care Act (Gute-KiTa-Gesetz), the Federal Government provided about Euro 5.5 billion for this purpose until 2022. With the Second Act on the Further Development of Quality and Participation in Child Day Care (Zweites Gesetz zur Weiterentwicklung der Qualität und zur Teilhabe in der Kindertagesbetreuung), the so-called Day-Care Centre Quality Act (KiTa-Qualitätsgesetz), the Federal Government is providing the Länder with a total of an additional Euro 4 billion for 2023 and 2024.

Joint Framework of the Länder for Early Education in Child Day Care Facilities

In March 2022, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (Kultusministerkonferenz) and the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Youth of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (Jugendministerkonferenz – JMK) updated the "Common Framework of the Länder for Early Education in Child Day Care Facilities" ('Gemeinsamer Rahmen der Länder für die frühe Bildung in Kindertageseinrichtungen‘) from 2004, which sets out the principles of educational work in the field of early childhood education and care. The binding "Common Framework" refers to support in day-care facilities for children over the entire period of early childhood education and care.

According to the "Common Framework", the focus of the educational and upbringing mandate of day-care facilities for children lies in the early strengthening of individual competences and learning dispositions, in language education integrated into everyday life, in the expansion, support and challenge of children's thirst for research, in the formation and upbringing of values, in the promotion of learning to learn and in the appropriation of the world in social contexts. Child day-care facilities also have the mandate to live inclusion as a pedagogically comprehensive principle and to offer all children good starting opportunities and development conditions. The aim is to enable participation, to promote a self-determined life and to enable all children to communicate and interact in the different areas of life.

For more information on the "Common Framework of the Länder for Early Education in Child Day Care Facilities", see the article on the guidelines for early childhood and care.

2021

Expansion of day care for children

In order to ensure that early childhood education, care and upbringing meet the needs of the children, the Federal Government supports the Länder with massive financial aid for the expansion of day-care centres. In June 2020, as part of the economic stimulus package, the Federal Cabinet decided to make an additional Euro 1 billion available for the expansion of day-care centres in 2020 and 2021. The "5th Investment Programme Childcare Financing 2020-2021" (‘5. Investitionsprogramm Kinderbetreuungsfinanzierung 2020-2021‘) made possible by the economic stimulus package is intended to create 90,000 new childcare places in day-care centres and in day care. However, the funds can also be used for reconstruction measures and for investments in new hygiene and room concepts, which are necessary due to the Corona pandemic. Due to the ongoing challenges in the context of the Corona pandemic, the deadlines of the Fifth Investment Programme were extended with the "Kitafinanzhilfenänderungsgesetz" of 25 June 2021. Thus, investments can be funded to create and equip additional childcare places that are approved by 30 June 2022.