Early Childhood Teachers’ Voices: Their Well-Being and Needs for Support

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - Health, Growth, Injury

Abstract

Researchers’ have increasingly studied teacher well-being, particularly psychological well-being including depression and stress, given its implications for classroom quality and impact on children’s learning and development (Hamre et al., 2014; Hindman & Bustamante, 2019; Jeon et al., 2014; Kwon et al., 2019). Some have identified potential factors that may contribute to teachers’ well-being (King et al., 2016; Li-Grining et al., 2010) including compensation, benefits, planning time, tenor of relationships with administrators and colleagues, and professional development opportunities (Whitebook et al., 2018). While these findings are important to understanding teacher well-being, most of these studies were conducted using surveys with limited predetermined sets of contributing factors, and an in-depth inquiry of teachers’ views on their well-being and what they need for improving their well-being, especially physical well-being, is scant (Hall-Kenyon et al., 2014; Wells, 2017). Thus, the present study used interviews and a phenomenological approach provide an in-depth examination of ECE teachers’ perceptions of their own physical and psychological well-being and what they may need to improve their well-being.
Method
Participants for this study were recruited in phase 2 of a larger, interdisciplinary, mixed methods study, Happy Teacher Project, examining overall teacher well-being (n=262, Kwon, 2019). Phase 2 participants were a subsample of 40 teachers (65% infant-toddler and 35% preschool) from 10 different ECE centers (e.g., private child care center, public prekindergarten, Head Start programs) in a midwestern state who were randomly selected from phase 1 and agreed to participate in interviews. Participating teachers had diverse racial and educational backgrounds (58% Caucasian, 15% African American, 10% Hispanic and 40% Bachelor’s Degree or higher) with an average of 12 years of experience teaching. Two researchers conducted semi-structured individual interviews on teachers’ perceived well-being and necessary resources and support for improvement for 30 to 45 minutes in their workplace. A phenomenological approach guided the analysis of transcripts to identify and describe the participants’ perceptions of their well-being and needs for support.
Results and Discussion
Our preliminary results found that most teachers felt happy working with children and the reward of teaching children buffered stressful situations at work. We found teachers had mixed perspectives on their physical health. Many teachers perceived they were healthy, however one third of teachers reported specific physical health issues, mostly related to ergonomic pains. These teachers commented they were aware their personal health issues negatively impacted their work and many stated ergonomic pains made work more challenging. Characteristics such as age and working conditions often amplified their difficulties. Also, about forty percent of teachers felt stressed. While teachers felt that the workplace was generally positive and provided some useful resources for their well-being, they also reported the need for various types of additional support to improve their physical and psychological well-being. The crucial resources included livable wage benefits, daily breaks, paid vacation days and sick leave, more well-being-related and professional support (e.g., dealing with their own mental health and children’s challenging behaviors), and both adult-and child-supported physical environment.

Authors

• Adrien Diane Malek-Lasater, University of Oklahoma-Tulsa
  Presenting Author

• Kyong-Ah Kwon, University of Oklahoma
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sun Geun Kim, University of Oklahoma
  Non-Presenting Author