Examining Reasons for Leader Departures Across the Early Care and Education and K–12 Sectors

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 9:00 am
  In Roundtable Session: A Focus on Teacher and Leader Well-Being and Retention (Table 20)

Abstract

The working conditions and well-being of K-12 school leaders are characterized by high accountability and demands, extensive workload, limited control, as well as high stress, burnout, and secondary trauma. In comparison to research in the K-12 educational sector, much less is known about the nature of leadership in early care and education. Recent research has only begun to chart the landscape of support for educational leader well-being. Understanding needed supports would likely improve myriad leader outcomes such as motivation, well-being, and retention. The purpose of this study was to chart the reasons why ECE and K-12 leaders report leaving the profession and how these are linked with their perceptions of working conditions and overall well-being.

Authors

• Alison Wilson, University of Houston

• Timothy G. Ford, University of Oklahoma

• Angela Urick, Baylor University

• Kyong-Ah Kwon, University of Oklahoma