Ten points that show how kita has changed - all about kita

KiTas are always a mirror of their respective times. Every decade has different answers to the questions: What is best for my child? What role does day care play for the education of the youngest?

The New Education Working Group (ANE) has been observing and accompanying these developments for over 70 years. Many parents know the association as the publisher of the advice letters to parents. We met at the ANE CEO Dr. Heidemarie Arnhold inquires: What are the biggest differences when comparing daycare centers before and today? We have summarized your answers in ten points:

1) KiTa has become an important educational offer

Kindergartens and day care facilities were previously intended for mere care. Parents who depended on it for professional reasons used the offer as a substitute for family care. Over time, however, the understanding of education has changed significantly: Today, daycare centers are recognized as a necessary educational and support offer in the life of every child. That is why, theoretically, every family, regardless of their occupational load, is entitled to a childcare place for their child between one and six years.

2) Not only mothers, but also fathers claim care

Today, not only mothers, but also fathers have the desire to combine family and work, and even claim childcare for their child. You can see this very well at the growing number of fathers who take parental leave or apply for ElterngeldPlus. In the past, children only went to daycare when the mother went to work, otherwise they were looked after at home. This one-sided role model has fundamentally changed.

3) The demands of parents on the quality of daycare centers have increased

Because daycare centers are no longer seen as mere childcare, but as an important educational offering, understandably the demands of parents on the quality of the facilities increase. While mothers and fathers used to only look at whether the building was okay and the kindergarten teachers were nice, today they pay close attention to what the daycare center offers their child. They want it to learn as much as possible and to be promoted well. Parents have different ideas about how this should look like.

4) The range of daycare for children has become more diverse

Today there are more different offers of day care for children than before: Depending on the region, parents have the choice between Waldorf, Montessori and Fröbel kindergartens, multilingual and bilingual daycare centers, music, MINT (mathematics, computer science, science, technology) and media focus , Forest kitas and countless other orientations. State like free Carriers try to develop a special kindergarten offer for each market. In the past, parents had the choice between a Catholic and a Protestant kindergarten, if at all. There were only very few Waldorf and Montessori institutions.

Mother, daughter and grandma talk about their day-care center together. Whether it’s premises, staff or preschool, everyone remembers something special – as a child, but also as a mother.

5) Children have more rights in daycare

Most children were previously patronized by adults and had little rights. With the recognition of children’s rights in Germany in the 1990s, boys and girls take on a different role in the triangular relationship between parent-teacher-child: they are treated equally. They are not only granted the right to a certain range of games and education, but also the right to complain, to have a say and to be heard (here you can find out about children’s rights). Educators are obliged to give the children in kindergarten these options and to allow them a certain amount of personal responsibility.

6) Children are protected against physical and mental violence in daycare

What many parents do not know: The right of children to non-violent upbringing was only anchored in the law in 2000. Long before this time, most daycare centers refrained from chastising children, as was still the case in the 1950s. But only with the improved public awareness that children should not be treated with physical or psychological violence has the understanding of education in daycare centers really changed: The specialists now enter into a more equitable relationship with the children, they explain and argue more them more freedom.

7) There are inclusive instead of separate funding offers

In international comparison, Germany has always been in a good position when it comes to promoting disadvantaged or disabled children. But at that time there were other ideas of inclusion: Disabled children were mostly “taken out” of their context and supported in special institutions. Today’s concept of inclusion makes no distinction between disabled and non-disabled children, because every child got to yes individually promoted. This means that children with disabilities should not go to a special institution, but to the regular kindergarten and receive appropriate care there. This in turn presents KiTas with special challenges.

The profession of educators has changed

The claim to education, the diversity of content and the inclusion have contributed, among other things, to the fact that the educators’ understanding of the profession has changed: namely moving away from mere care, such as giving, sleeping and employing, to targeted educational support for children. The skilled workers must therefore be able to do much more than before, and their training and further education are more important. Parents, for whom quality is important, also look more often at the qualifications and experience of the staff.

9) More and more parents want to participate in the daycare

Participation is desirable and very important. It will only be stressful for daycare if parents do not differentiate between their own role and that of the educators. Nor can you be from all parents expect, that they are actively involved in the daycare for the promotion of their children. Because some simply don’t have time, they lack the knowledge of how important education is or they are not yet proficient in the German language.

10) The demands placed on daycare parents have increased

Nowadays, parents have to make many important decisions for their daycare child: Which facility is the best for my child? What should it learn? How should it be funded? Not only have the demands placed on the parents’ previous education changed, but also on their personality: outsiders often expect that mothers and fathers will always behave correctly, calmly and patiently even in emotional and stressful situations – for example, when they get mad at the supermarket checkout , They make parents personally responsible for what their children do. It is overlooked that parents are not semi-professional educators, everyone can make mistakes.

What educational opportunities are there for daycare children in Germany? What are the rights in Germany for children of different ages? What are our obligations as parents? What happens if I move to another state??

In simple texts and in six languages there are answers to questions about the German education system in the free parent app ANE educational guide .

"Here I can decide for myself"

On a daycare tour, children showed us what they can determine themselves and which rules they have to follow.

Concepts under the microscope: what is a Montessori day care center?

Participation and child orientation: what do you think?

If adults methodically ask the children what they want, they can find out amazing things.

… is the editor of the parents’ portal and a freelancer in the program communication "German Kita Prize" of the German Children and Youth Foundation.

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Ten points that show how kita has changed – all about kita

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