PARENTS ARE CONFRONTED WITH A SHORTAGE OF CHILDCARE PROVIDERS

1 child-minder taking care of 9 toddlers is, unfortunately, no longer the exception these days. The Flemish childcare sector is struggling, for various reasons. Time to turn the tide, says ACV Puls colleague Nathalie Winters.

What exactly is happening in the childcare sector?

Winters: “Parents are being confronted with a shortage of childcare providers, whether their child is already in care or has yet to be born. Some day care centres have to close their doors because of staff shortages, which results in parents having to find an alternative solution.

Take Femke, for example, who gave birth in August. She had found a child-minder months before, but when she reached out after giving birth, it turned out the child-minder was 3 months pregnant. In September, Femke had to look for another solution.”

Femke Peeters: “Vinn had just been born and I was looking for a new child-minder. I contacted everyone. I even posted a call on Facebook. Eventually, I found a day care centre in Zoutleeuw that had only opened shortly before. That is 20 minutes from my home and 40 minutes from my work. It would take me an hour to drop my son off and get to work. Fortunately, my mother-in-law and I kept looking and found a last-minute spot in a day care centre in Lummen. So, it worked out fine, but it caused us a lot of stress when we wanted to enjoy our time with our baby.”

Why is there such a great staff shortage?

Winters: “The profession of childcare provider has been characterised by labour shortages for years: it is becoming less and less attractive. The most important reason is the workload. Today, we have a ratio of 1 child-minder for 9 children in day care centres and 1 to 8 for child-minders at home. It can be compared to working on the assembly line. Child-minders are often exclusively performing caring tasks.

Children are not given the attention they deserve and that is alarming. There is almost no time to encourage motor and emotional development. Let alone to prepare the children for school… The quality of childcare is deteriorating, despite all the efforts of childcare providers.”

“In addition to the workload, remuneration is also a problem. It depends on the recognition and subsidisation each childcare initiative receives. There is also a structural inequality in the number of days of paid leave and wages.

If you work in after-school care or an independent day care centre, you will receive up to 600 euro gross less at the end of the month at the start of your career. Your wage does not increase as you gain experience, which means that you are at half the monthly wage of a colleague working in subsidised childcare after 20 years.

Finally, there is also a great lack of social recognition for the job of childcare providers. This mix of factors makes the job incredibly unattractive.”

In what sense have steps been taken in that regard?

Winters: “The Flemish government is allocating 115 million euro to childcare from January next year. This will partially harmonise wages and create extra childcare spaces. Unfortunately, that budget is not sufficient to change the child-minder-child ratio. We need more budget for that. Much more.

ACV is working on a future project on childcare. The agency Growing Up is developing a participatory strategic plan in cooperation with the workforce. This will also include a financial plan.

The next government is also instructed to continue working on the project and to provide the necessary resources. At ACV, we participate in the discussions and oversee the implementation of the plans.

What does the plan of action look like? And what role can ACV play in it?

Winters: “The plan will focus on the workforce in childcare and on the pedagogical, social and economic function. Our childcare sector plan will address all these issues. ACV focuses on equal pay for equal work, less workload thanks to a ratio of 1 to 5 and a correct employee status for child-minders at home.

ACV regularly exerts influence on the Flemish government: by raising questions on certain matters and putting them in the spotlight. We are also developing a strategic action plan together with our militants, with which we already achieved great results in 2022. A great motivation to continue in the same vein in 2023.

As a trade union, we want to force society and politicians to make different policy decisions. Investing in childcare is taking care of tomorrow’s future. High-quality childcare offers parents the possibility to confidently go to work and earn an income, which will in turn ensure more prosperity and hopefully also more welfare.”

What can parents and employees in childcare do?

Winters: “I recommend they follow us on social media, become ACV members and participate in our non-profit actions.”

Never Work Alone 2023 | Author: Tine Sinnaeve | Image: Shutterstock