A study from the Bertelsmann Stiftung emphasizes these regional disparities, revealing that many facilities rely on personnel without formal qualifications, which threatens the overall quality of early childhood education.

Qualified staff are generally defined as those with formal credentials such as degrees in social pedagogy, social work, or early childhood education, and scientific evidence links higher qualification levels to better educational quality.

The decreasing Fachkraftquoten are driven by shortages of qualified personnel and cost pressures, leading municipalities to employ staff from non-pedagogical backgrounds, which risks de-professionalization.

Regional disparities in early childhood education staffing are significant across Germany, with East German states like Thuringia boasting high qualification rates exceeding 87%, while Bavaria lags at just 54.5%, and only 3.6% of preschools meet high qualification standards.

The well-established scientific connection between staff qualifications and quality raises concerns about the declining proportion of qualified personnel in many regions.

Cost pressures are a primary factor, prompting hiring of less qualified staff, which undermines the professional standards of early childhood education.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, less than a third of Kitas meet the high qualification threshold of 82.5%, with only about 30.7% of teams having more than 80% qualified staff in 2024, reflecting ongoing challenges in maintaining quality.

This decline in qualified staff threatens Germany’s international standing, as many EU countries maintain higher ratios of qualified early childhood educators.

Demographic shifts, including declining birth rates in the East and labor shortages in the West, contribute to regional disparities and staffing challenges in early childhood education.

Within states, urban-rural divides are stark; for example, in Augsburg, only 2.3% of preschools meet high qualification thresholds, compared to 94% in Sömmerda, Thüringen, highlighting uneven distribution of qualified staff.

Experts advocate for a unified definition of qualified staff across all states and call for increased federal and state funding to support quality standards.

This trend includes the involvement of professionals like gynecologists or physiotherapists in pedagogical roles, often without specific early childhood training, due to financial constraints.