Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? Predictors of Intention to Leave the Early Childhood Profession in Australia

• In Event: Global Perspectives on Early Care and Education (ECE) Workforce Well-Being and Working Conditions

Abstract

High-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) enables families to participate in paid employment and promotes positive outcomes for children, particularly for those who are disadvantaged (Bakken et al., 2017). In Australia, demand for and government investment in ECEC is increasing, to support parental workforce participation (Thorpe et al., 2023) and enhance child outcomes (e.g., the Federal Government’s Early Years Strategy, funded kindergarten for 3-year-olds in Victoria, and the Early Years Commitment in New South Wales which includes proposals for universal preschool access). At the same time, Australia is facing a workforce crisis (McDonald et al., 2018; Productivity Commission, 2023; Thorpe et al., 2023), with the lack of retention of early childhood educators bringing the potential for significant negative impacts for a large proportion of the country’s families and children.

The impact of staff turnover is multi-faceted, compromising the continuity of relationships with children and families, creating additional workload burden for staff who remain in their positions and to the service, and creating significant financial costs. While much has been written about reasons for turnover (i.e., leaving the sector), there has been less attention to the ‘intention to leave’ stage before educators actually leave their positions. This study used a mixed-methods, convergent parallel design to examine the extent to which work culture and climate (co-worker and supervisor relations, teamwork, organisational climate, autonomy and decision making) and work-related wellbeing (personal accomplishment, emotional exhaustion, professional respect, pay and benefits) contribute to intention to leave or stay in the profession. To examine whether the predictors of intention to leave differed depending on the role and responsibilities of the respondent, logistic regression was run as a multi-group analysis comparing those in leadership position (e.g., centre directors) to those in non-leadership positions (educators/teachers).

Our quantitative findings of survey responses from 713 early childhood professionals suggest that one in three respondents intended to leave the profession, more than half of these within five years. Emotional exhaustion predicted intention to leave in both groups. For centre directors, higher personal accomplishment and older age also predicted higher likelihood of intending to leave. For educators, lower satisfaction with pay and benefits and lower qualification level predicted intention to leave (see Table 4). Qualitative findings highlighted participants’ (n = 97) reasons for intention to leave the sector: feeling undervalued (e.g., low status in society, low priority from Government bodies), increased demands with inadequate support (e.g., too many competing demands, lack of work/life balance, administrative and regulatory overloads), and workforce issues (e.g., underpaid, lack of quality staffing).

The insights gained from these findings may assist in designing interventions, at both the individual and the systems level, to prevent intention turning into a decision to leave, and therefore improve workforce stability. This is especially timely in the Australian context, when attention to supporting the ECEC workforce is high on the political agenda, and real structural and organisational change is possible.

Authors

• Rebecca Bull, Macquarie University

• Laura McFarland, University of Melbourne

• Tamara Cumming, Macquarie University

• Sandie Wong, Macquarie University