Teacher Well-Being in Early Childhood Education: Essential Lessons From Large-Scale Studies

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

As attention increasingly focuses on student wellbeing after COVID, this symposium addresses the less-discussed but equally pressing issue of teacher wellbeing in ECE contexts. Four papers, including a systematic literature review of the field and three studies of major, large-scale secondary datasets (American ECLSK and CARES and international OECD data) paint a clear picture of relatively high levels of depression and stress among many ECE teachers, given pressing job demands and low pay. More positively, papers also highlight workplace features that can support wellbeing; however, effects are small, leaving substantial challenges for teachers that the field needs to address. Findings sound an alarm around teacher ECE wellbeing and highlight specific strategies for essential future research.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Early Education and Child Development

Chair

• Linlin Wang

Papers

• Toward a Coherent Approach to Early Childhood Education Teacher Well-Being: A Systematic Review of the Literature - Annemarie H. Hindman, Temple University; Lia E. Sandilos, Lehigh University; Linlin Wang

• Pre-Primary Educators' Work Stress, Work Satisfaction, and Practice: An International Comparison of Seven Countries - Sooyeon Byun, University of Virginia; Lieny Jeon, University of Virginia

• Predictors of Kindergarten Teacher Job Satisfaction and Its Effects on Child Academic and Social Skill Development - Qiling Wu, Temple University; Annemarie H. Hindman, Temple University

• Demands and Resources in Head Start Classrooms: Identifying Associations With Teacher Burnout - Lia E. Sandilos, Lehigh University