As has long been the case in other federal states, Hesse is now also getting a state representation for the parents of daycare children.

The corresponding draft law is to come into force on January 1, 2023.

The committee should deal with overarching, general questions and with structural problems that go beyond the individual institutions and municipalities and have to be solved at state or federal level.

How can the teacher shortage be curbed?

How can gaps in the care offer be closed?

How can the quality of childcare be improved?

What requirements must apply to the training of educators?

These and other questions will be discussed in future in the parents' state representation.

Organization and tasks still unclear

How exactly the body will be organized and what tasks it will have is still unclear.

This is to be regulated in an ordinance that still has to be drawn up and enacted.

There isn't much time for that.

However, the draft law speaks of a “lean procedure”.

This gives hope for the simplest possible structures and electoral processes.

Not too many parents will vie for a seat on the board.

Because the office means not only a lot of responsibility, but also a lot of work.

It is always an impressive experience how stubbornly some parents can remain silent when the election of the parents' council is due at a parents' evening in the day care center.

Few want to get involved in their free time.

Pressure to initiate change

The use of parent councils is all the more meritorious.

Because experience teaches that it takes pressure to initiate change.

Certainly, the country is not idle, for example with the training offensive.

But there is still a great shortage of educators.

This is made clear by the fact that the deadline by which the facilities must meet the minimum statutory staffing requirements has been extended by two years to mid-2024.

With the organized parent representation, day care center parents finally get a powerful voice.

How important this is became clear at the beginning of the corona pandemic, when little attention was paid to the care of small children.

But even today there is no shortage of topics for the State Parents' Advisory Board.

The biggest problem is the shortage of skilled workers.

To this day there are no reliable figures as to how many educators are missing in Hesse.

The successor plan for the language day-care centers is also urgent.

A state parents' council acts as a mouthpiece and multiplier.

It is not just one of many initiatives, but also the democratically legitimized state representation of daycare parents.

This gives his word special weight.