The education inspectorate does not think it is a good idea to use students to combat staff shortages in childcare. As a result, the Eindhoven city council has abandoned its intention to condone the deployment of employees without a diploma.
Eindhoven saw the deployment of people who are still studying to work in childcare as a good solution to temporarily combat the shortages in childcare. However, the education inspectorate announced in October that it had a completely different view on the matter, the council wrote in a letter to the municipal council.
The measure would compromise the quality of childcare, which entails risks, especially for children who are at risk of falling behind. Municipalities may choose to use less stringent enforcement for childcare, but that consideration can only be made per violation and should not be used as a policy instrument, it is said.
No intervention
The Eindhoven council said it was disappointed with the position taken by the inspectorate together with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The municipality accuses The Hague of having known for a long time that there would be a staff shortage in childcare, but still no action was taken in time. Some childcare centres may have to be closed as a result of this decision.
The Hague is said to be working on creating more flexibility in childcare, so that non-certified staff can be deployed more easily. However, the steps that Eindhoven took were too far ahead of this.
Source: www.studio040.nl
Translated by Yawar Abbas
