Sunday, April 29, 2007

Kindergartens - some numbers

In March 2007 in the local newspaper I could read the following:

By the end of 2006 there were 6425 kindergartens in Norway.
Of these, 3354 were private kindergartens, 2818 were run by local councils and 73 by the state or by a fylke (region/regional council).

Another 30 000 new kindergarten places should be ready by the end of 2007 in order to fulfill the government's promise for full kindergarten coverage for children from the age of one to five.
This does not mean that all these children must go to kindergarten, but that it should be possible, if the parents wish so.

22800 kindergarten teachers are working in the existing kindergartens, but only one third of these are certified kindergarten teachers.

The maximum price for a full week in kindergarten for one child is 1750 Norwegian crowns (nearly 350 US dollars). Some children come for only two or three days a week , and pay accordingly.

That was the information the newspaper gave.

Some of my questions:
How many Norwegian children go to kindergarten now in 2007, and how is that divided by age?
What percentage of Norwegian parents want their one to five year old children in a kindergarten?
Will the government be able to keep the promise of enough kindergartens by the end of 2007?
Is sending your child to kindergarten parttime based on saving money, or is it caused by other reasons?

Compared to my other country, here one kindergarten can have from two to five units, each with around 20 children, and the kindergarten is roughly open from seven in the morning till five in the afternoon, with a team of grownups to cover for the long hours. The work is therefore quite different.

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