Eurydice

Objectives and accessibility

There are various childcare facilities and services. In addition to child day-care centre-based facilities (see Chapter 4.2), there are also home-based services, i.e. day-care families.

Day-care families care on a regular basis for one or more children at home. The care is very flexible and may be on an hourly, half-day or full-day basis. Day-care families care for both children under school age and children of school age.

Steering documents

Childcare

Admission requirements and choice of ECEC setting

Attendance of pre-school or the first learning cycle is mandatory. Children reaching the eligible age by the fixed qualifying date (this is usually 31 July) start the primary level at the beginning of the new school year (autumn). The children are usually between four and five years old. 

Admission requirements and choice of ECEC setting

The age at which children are accepted (generally from three months at the earliest until entry to compulsory pre-school at 4-5 years of age) depends on the centre-based facility.

Place guarantee to ECEC

Childcare

There is in principle no legal guarantee to a place in a day-care centre-based facility or day-care family. The use of childcare services is voluntary and at the discretion of parents, who pay a share of the costs.