If you have a child of nursery age, this bill is worth knowing. The Bundestag is holding its first reading today of the Startchancen- und Qualitätsentwicklungsgesetz (SCQEG), which would set nationwide quality standards for childcare for the first time – and have every child assessed for development by the age of four at the latest.
The check covers language, social-emotional and motor skills, and maths, with the emphasis on language. Where a need is found, support is to be built into everyday Kita life, and results may be passed on to the primary school. Children who do not attend a Kita are to be covered too, with details left to the Länder. Practice today varies widely: according to the draft (Drucksache 21/8239), only three Länder have or are introducing mandatory checks across several areas, while in seven only language is or will soon be mandatory.
What Kitas are meant to get
Kitas with many children in “challenging circumstances” would receive, depending on size, 0.5 to 1.5 extra posts for language education and Kita social work, plus 80 to 240 minutes of specialist advice a week. The government lists family financial hardship, the language spoken at home and the child’s language level among the criteria. At least ten per cent of facilities in each Land are to benefit. All Kitas would get at least 30 extra minutes per child per week for planning and support.
From 2027 the federal government wants to give the Länder about €9.25bn over eight years, through a change in the VAT split. Federal Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) calls the bill “the decisive educational turning point of this legislative term”, saying the gap between children of low and high socio-economic status “opens up before school entry”. Cabinet approved the draft on 2 September; the law is to take effect in 2027, with the rules phasing in gradually.
Too little, or too much?
Criticism comes from two sides. The national network of Kita staff associations backs early language support but rejects the draft: children would be “pressed into grids” as needing or not needing support, it says, calling the funding a “financial core lie” and noting that binding staffing ratios are missing. The Länder do the sums: SPD education politician Gerald Eisenblätter warned in July that Saxony might receive only €48m instead of €97m, with educators’ preparation time falling on the state budget. “Whoever orders, pays,” he says. The Greens are asking the Bundestag for a joint education initiative of federal, state and local government with measurable targets.
Our assessment: the checks are likely to come – the fight is over money, staffing and data protection, and those decide whether a test turns into real support. The legislative process has only begun; Bundestag and Bundesrat still have to deliberate, and amendments are likely.
For families who speak Ukrainian or Russian at home: the family language is explicitly one of the criteria for extra Kita staffing. But a test at four is not a pass-or-fail German exam; it is meant to spot where support is needed. Parents need do nothing now – what matters is having a Kita place, because that is where the support starts. Whether your Kita is among those funded will ultimately be decided by your Land.
Sources: Bundestag, Bundesregierung, BMBFSFJ, News4teachers, Volksstimme/dpa
