Day Care Centers in Brainport Area Experiment with Expat Partners to Address Childcare Shortage

Six day care centers in the Brainport area (Eindhoven and South East Brabant) will use expat partners to address the childcare shortage. This is an experiment in which fourteen women are participating.

The participants will follow a four-month training course. “There is a great need for trained workers in day care. The women who are trained are very motivated to start,” said Lara Poulson, teacher and project director at Summa College in Eindhoven.

The women are trained as group helpers in childcare. In addition to their studies, they work eight hours a week at a day care center in or near Eindhoven.

One of the partners is Divya Madhuri Reddy. She has been living in the Netherlands for nine years and would like to get a job. “I’m a pediatric nurse, but I was only at home. I didn’t think that was good, because I want to work,” she explains Broadcast Brabant.

American Amanda Flynn is also participating in the work study program. Her husband works at ASML. “I love that I can work now.” She studied psychology and worked at a youth shelter in Boston.

She is already noticing the cultural differences. “Our day care centers are more chaotic. I notice how social the children are here. They help each other, care for each other.”

To work in childcare, women must speak Dutch. “They mostly speak English and we now usually have Dutch childcare. They get a lot of Dutch lessons here at school. And in the groups we speak Dutch as much as possible they can until they learn the language,” said Hanneke van Loon from a childcare group.

If the pilot is successful, it may be extended to other sectors, such as health care.