Overview

• Nationwide, formally qualified staff account for 72% of pedagogical personnel per Kita, with eastern states averaging about 87% versus roughly 69% in the west.
• Thüringen has the highest share of qualified staff at 94.3%, Bavaria the lowest at 54.5%; Brandenburg stands at 90.9%, Berlin at 74.6%, and NRW at 74.1%.
• The share of Kitas reaching high qualification levels has fallen in many places, with Saarland down about 5 percentage points year over year and Saxony up about 2 points.
• A high level is defined as at least 82.5% qualified staff per Kita; only 3.6% of Bavarian Kitas meet it versus 89.7% in Thüringen, 85.9% in Saxony, 81.2% in Brandenburg, and 29.0% in NRW.
• Local disparities are extreme, ranging from Sömmerda (Thuringia) with 94% of Kitas at the high level to the Augsburg district (Bavaria) with 2.3%, as the study warns of de‑professionalisation and calls for clear definitions and sustained investment.