The Ministry of Family Affairs is therefore stepping up its efforts to recruit staff for child daycare and, from the 2025/26 school year, will once again be funding around 900 additional practice-integrated training places to become a state-certified childcare worker (piA-K).

The state government is making a total of around eleven million euros available to the providers of childcare facilities for the funding program in the period from 2025 to 2026 for the provision of up to 900 training places. The practice-integrated training will be remunerated from the first day. Applications for funding can be submitted via the Förderung.NRW platform from Friday, June 13 until Thursday, July 31, 2025, when the funding guideline comes into force.

Family Minister Josefine Paul: "Childcare workers are an important and indispensable pillar of educational work in our childcare facilities. I am delighted that we are once again able to support the daycare providers in investing in the future of young people. In addition to promoting practice-integrated training for nursery teachers, we are also supporting piA for nursery nurses as part of our skilled worker offensive. Early childhood education is a priority for the state government. That's why, despite the challenging budget situation, we are investing a further eleven million euros in the continued funding of practice-integrated training."

State-certified nursery nurses are employed in North Rhine-Westphalian daycare centers as so-called supplementary staff. Since the 2021/2022 school year, the two-year training course to become a state-certified childcare assistant can also be completed in the form of practice-integrated training (piA). In this case, significantly more training time is spent in practice in a childcare facility. In addition, the students receive remuneration from the outset.

The funding is particularly aimed at training places for young people who are completing initial training. Providers who wish to qualify daycare assistants as childcare workers, for example, should check the possibilities of a more suitable employee qualification with the relevant employment agency before submitting an application.

You can find out how to apply for funding.NRW here: https://www.xn--frderung-n4a.nrw/onlineantrag/programm/61

The piA-K funding guideline 2025 can be found here: https://recht.nrw.de/lmi/owa/br_bes_text?anw_nr=1&gld_nr=2&ugl_nr=216&bes_id=55171