ifo Education Barometer: Majority of Germans support expansion of early childhood education

A clear majority of Germans would like to see an expansion of early childhood education. As the new education barometer from the Munich Ifo Institute shows, 72 percent are in favor of a compulsory preschool year. 89 percent are in favor of mandatory language tests at the age of four and a half.

“Early childhood education lays important foundations for the cognitive, linguistic, social and emotional development of children,” said the head of the ifo Center for the Economics of Education, Ludger Wößmann. It is therefore important that all children receive high-quality early childhood education.

The majority of respondents are satisfied with their daycare centers. Almost two thirds (65 percent) of parents gave their child's daycare center a grade of 1 or 2. Interestingly, the rating of their own daycare center was much better than the rating of all daycare centers nationwide, said the ifo Institute.

For the Ifo Education Barometer 2026, 3,033 people (between 18 and 69 years old) and 965 parents with children aged up to six years in Germany were surveyed in May and June.