The quality of the reception of toddlers in nurseries was one of the important issues for the government. Jean-Christophe Combe, the Minister of Solidarity, has decided to tackle this problem head-on. On Wednesday June 28, he announced several measures aimed, in particular, at facilitating the controls of establishments and helping the sector to increase the salaries of professionals.
“We will put in place more frequent, more targeted checks. Rather than checking the height of the door handles, it is above all necessary to check that the children are well, ”he stressed in an interview with Le Parisien posted online on Wednesday evening. “We have to get out of health standards to better control the well-being of the child, the respect of his rhythm. Nursery professionals are not there to look after children, but to support them in their awakening, “insisted Jean-Christophe Combe, who must detail these announcements during a trip to Nancy on Friday.
These measures come a few weeks after the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Igas) advocated far-reaching reforms to better prevent child abuse in crèches, and pointed out that the “quality of reception” there sometimes left something to be desired. .
After the announcements of Élisabeth Borne, the Prime Minister, at the beginning of June, which related in particular to the creation of thousands of additional places in nurseries, this time it is a question of deploying the “qualitative” aspect of the reforms planned for this sector, explained the minister’s entourage.
A “repository of good professional practices” will be put in place, and crèche employees will have dedicated, paid time for meetings aimed at improving their practices, the minister further listed.
The government will also “intervene directly to raise wages”, and thus help a sector which is struggling to recruit and where 10,000 positions are to be filled, underlined Jean-Christophe Combe. “We have planned to grant 200 million euros each year to support the revaluations”, which can reach “10% on average for childcare assistants and 6% on average for educators of young children”, he added. He specifies.