Minimum staff to child ratios vary across the world – from none in Germany, Denmark and Sweden to 1:35 in Japanese kindergartens. In the UK, we tend to think that the fewer the children per adult, the better the care. Politicians are often tempted to use them as a lever to try to decrease childcare costs, with the DfE’s review of childcare delivery costs suggesting that nurseries could cut spending by as much as 15 per cent simply by working closer to ratio.
But this country’s ‘less is more’ rationale is not always shared – such as in Norway and Finland, which have a statutory maximum.
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