Exploring Early Childhood Special Education Teachers’ Wellbeing Through a Multidimensional Framework: A Mixed-Methods Study

• In Event: Outstanding Mixed Methods Dissertation Award

Abstract

Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) teacher wellbeing plays an important role in the retention of highly qualified professionals in the field, yet little is known about how ECSE teachers' varying experiences of wellbeing affect their intention to persist. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to investigate and understand profiles of ECSE teacher wellbeing. Specifically, latent class analysis was used to identify four quantitative profiles using previously established measures. Qualitative interviews with participants from each profile helped to clarify quantitative results and suggested two profiles of ECSE teacher wellbeing rather than the four identified through LCA. The study illustrates how mixed methods approaches resulted in insights that would not have been apparent using one method alone.

Author

• Heather Walter, George Mason University