Lisbon
Practical Life
Childcare, Babysitting
Almost 90% of children between the ages of 0-3 are taken care of by
family or informal arrangements. There are however some regulated care
centres that exist. These include:
- Creches which take care of children between 0-3 years of age. In
the crèches, group sizes are twelve in public centres or ten in
private centres, with child-staff ratios of 12:2 or 10:2.
- Child minders who take care of children between three months and
three years in their own home. The Lisbon area in particular has many
childminders. A childminder takes care of children between the ages of
three months and three years in their own home. Childminders may take
care of a maximum of four children, or three if they have a child of
their own who is younger than three years of age.
- Kindergartens which cater to children between 3 and 5 years of age. Kindergartens are staffed by child educators (educadores de infância) with a four-year university or polytechnic training. The maximum size for a kindergarten class is 25.
7/09/2009