Significantly more adults in kindergartens

kindergartens boy child toy toysA boy offers a girl a toy in kindergarten. Photo: Kasman / pixabay.com

1000 more kindergartens meet the requirement for staffing standards

The staffing density in Norwegian kindergartens has increased significantly from 2017 to 2018. “This is very good news and shows that the policy works! More adults in the kindergarten entail a better offer for the children – More adults who can see to the children, and create good frameworks for both play and development. We are, however, not yet across the finishing line, the municipalities and private kindergartens must continue to employ more adults so that everyone meets the requirements,” the Minister of Knowledge and Integration, Jan Tore Sanner, exclaims in a press release.


The Norwegian Government introduced a minimum standard for staffing in the kindergarten last autumn. A standard which emphasises that there should be at least one employee per three children under the age of three and one per six children for the rest of them.

In one year, nearly 1000 more kindergartens meet the requirement of a maximum of 6 children per employee. It is primarily the municipal kindergartens that have improved their staffing, and there are 500 more private than municipal kindergartens that do not meet the norm.

“The trend is going in the right direction, and many kindergarten owners have done a good job. There are, Nevertheless, still many kindergarten owners who are not there yet. I have a clear expectation that the positive development we see for 2018 will continue over the next few years,” Sanner (Conservatives) continues.

“The Christian Democrats (KrF) has long been working for more employees in the kindergartens. For us, it has been particularly important to strengthen the staffing around the youngest children. As the Minister for Children and Family, I am very concerned that the Norwegian Government reaches our goals for staffing and quality in kindergartens,” Minister for Children and Family, Kjell-Ingolf Ropstad, contributes.

More minority language children in kindergartens

There are 50,900 minority-language children attending a kindergarten in 2018, an increase of 4.6 per cent from 2017. The last five years there has been a steady increase in all age groups. The proportion of minority-language children increased by 4.6 percentage points from 2013 to 2017.

“These are figures that makes me happy. Learning Norwegian early in life provides children with an important foundation for mastering and learning. Both in kindergarten and when they are about to attend school. Especially for children, who come from homes where there is no spoken Norwegian, an adequate kindergarten is important. It is very good that an increasing number of children from minority backgrounds attend kindergartens,” Sanner elaborates.

In total, 18 per cent of children in kindergartens come from minority language families. Most of the 10 largest municipalities in Norway are above the national average. Drammen and Oslo have the largest proportion of minority language children in their nurseries.

Employee density in Norwegian kindergartens. 2017-2018

  2017 2018
Kids per adult Municipal Private Municipal Private
712 442 871 570
5,6 to 5,9 549 485 763 636
6 449 261 609 412
6,1 to 6,4 664 736 335 668
>= 6,5 302 626 70 239


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