Professional childcarer-child ratio

Do you run a childcare organisation in the Netherlands? You must make sure the mandatory number of professional caregivers is present per group of children (Beroepskracht-kind ratio, BKR). You can calculate this childcarer-child ratio yourself.

What is the professional childcarer-child ratio?

The professional childcarer-child ratio is the ratio of the number of professional staff you must deploy for the number of children in a group or in the childcare location. The purpose of this ratio is to make sure the childcare is well matched to the children’s development. The younger a child is, the more care and attention they need. For example, a different ratio applies to babies than to children in out-of-school care (buitenschoolse opvang, bso). The professional childcarer-child ratio applies on-site as well as on outings.

Calculating the professional childcarer-child ratio

The ratio varies depending on:

• how many children there are and their ages
• the type of childcare: daycare, out-of-school care, or a combination of daycare and out-of-school care

For daycare, you calculate the ratio per group. For out-of-school care, you calculate it per location. For example, in baby groups (aged 0-1), 1 childcare professional can look after a maximum of 3 children. In after-school care centres, 1 childcare professional can be put in charge of up to 14 children aged 7 to 12. Read more about the calculation rules and a further explanation of the formulas (in Dutch). Different numbers apply to childminders.

The Municipal Health Service (GGD) uses the calculation tool during its quality inspections. You may count professionals in training, trainees, pedagogical policy officers, and other qualified professionals towards the professional childcarer-child ratio if they meet the conditions (in Dutch). Trainees can make up to a third of the numbers in the childcarer-child ratio in consultation with their college supervisors (in Dutch).

Please note: a temporary measure allows up to half the numbers in the childcarer-child ratio consist of professionals in training. This temporary measure is in place until at least 1 July 2028.

Three-hour rule

Is your childcare organisation open for at least 10 consecutive hours? You can deviate from the professional childcarer-child ratio up to 3 hours a day. This is the three-hour rule. You have to describe how you deal with the childcarer-child ratio and the three-hour rule in your pedagogical policy plan.

Attendance record

You must keep a record of:

• deployed professionals
• childrens’ attendance records (including the expected arrival and departure times)

With these records the GGD can check if you keep to the childcarer-child ratio and the three-hour rule.

Familiar-face criterion

When you deploy professional caregivers in your daycare, you must ensure that you comply with the familiar-face criterion. There must always be at least 1 familiar face for each child in their group during the day. How many familiar faces a child can have at most depends on the child’s age and the number of professional staff members in the group.

Four-eyes principle

At your daycare centre, you must keep to the four-eyes principle (in Dutch). This means that another adult must always be able to see or hear what a childcarer is doing with a child, for example by looking through a window or by listening in from another room. That adult may be another professional childcarer, but could, for example, also be a volunteer or trainee. You must request advice from the parents' committee on your interpretation of the four-eyes principle, and you must inform parents about your implementation of it.

The four-eyes principle does not apply to out-of-school care and childminding.

Group spaces

Group spaces in childcare centres must meet the requirements on safety, space, and construction for childcare centres. A core childcare group at a childcare centre has its own fixed group space. A child may be cared for in no more than 2 different group spaces per week. A basic childcare group at out-of-school facilities does not have a particular group space.

Do you have activities with a core childcare group at a location outside your fixed group space? In that case, the rule regarding the maximum size of the core childcare group does not apply temporarily.