Families using Vienna's municipal kindergartens will get greater protection for their child's existing attendance hours if a parent goes on parental leave or becomes temporarily unemployed.
From the new kindergarten year in September, children who already have a Ganztagesplatz, or full-day place, will be allowed to keep that attendance model even if their parents' employment situation later changes, according to ORF Vienna.
But the change is also relevant to some families whose children didn't have full-day care.
MA 10, the City of Vienna department responsible for municipal kindergartens, confirmed to The Local that families whose previously allocated part-time hours were reduced because of parental leave or unemployment can ask to return to their original attendance model.
For example, if a child was originally allocated a part-time place until 2 pm and this was later reduced to half-day attendance until 12 pm because a parent became unemployed, the family can contact the kindergarten and ask to return to the original part-time schedule, MA 10 told The Local.
Until now, losing a job didn't normally mean losing the kindergarten place itself. But the City of Vienna's currently published terms allow it to change a child's Besuchsmodell, or attendance model, if a parent's employment ends.
That could mean a child having to be collected earlier.
Who will the new rule apply to?
The September change was initially reported in relation to children who already had full-day care.
MA 10 previously told MeinBezirk that children who had been allocated a full-day place and later lost that attendance model because of parental leave or unemployment could return to it.
The department has now clarified to The Local that the same possibility also exists where a previously allocated part-time model was reduced to half-day attendance for those reasons.
Families affected in the past should contact the management of their kindergarten and state that they want to return to the attendance model originally allocated to their child, MA 10 said. “The further steps will be clarified with the management of the respective location,” the department told The Local.
MA 10 did not, in its initial response, spell out whether kindergarten management can refuse such a request or under what circumstances. The Local has asked the department for further clarification.
The change doesn't, however, mean that families can request any attendance model they choose. It concerns a return to the schedule that had already been allocated before the family's employment circumstances changed.
Employment and education also remain important when families apply for a municipal kindergarten place in the first place. The City of Vienna's allocation criteria give priority to families where parents are working or in education, alongside criteria such as whether a sibling already attends the kindergarten and where the child lives.
The city also states that there is no general legal entitlement to a place in a municipal kindergarten.
The rule concerns städtische Kindergärten, meaning kindergartens run by the City of Vienna. It isn't a general rule for private kindergarten providers.
READ ALSO: Four things you should know before registering your child in a kindergarten in Vienna
What should parents do if their child's hours were reduced?
Parents whose child's attendance was cut because of unemployment or parental leave should first contact their kindergarten management, according to MA 10.
This includes families whose child went from full-day to shorter attendance as well as those whose previously allocated part-time schedule was reduced to half-day care.
Parents should ask to return to the originally allocated attendance model. MA 10 said the individual kindergarten management will then discuss the next steps with the family.
READ ALSO: Can you lose your child’s Vienna kindergarten spot if you leave your job?
Key vocabulary
Ganztagesplatz – full-day kindergarten place
Teilzeit – part-time attendance
Halbtags – half-day attendance
Besuchsmodell – attendance model or schedule
Karenz – parental leave
Leitung – kindergarten management or head
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