Early Childhood Teachers’ ACEs and Workplace Supports Predict Indicators of Workplace Well-being

• In Event: A Holistic Approach to Early Childhood Educators’ Well-being and Work Environments

Abstract

Teacher well-being is important for children as well as teachers. Teacher well-being can affect classroom quality, which influences children’s academic outcomes and well-being (Roffey, 2012).There are many indicators of teacher well-being; three that are specific to the workplace include self-efficacy, positive work engagement, and compassion fatigue (Rusu & Colomeischi, 2020; Zee & Koomen, 2016). Higher self-efficacy is a protective factor for promoting resilience and preventing burnout (Day, 2008; Shoji et al., 2016). Work engagement refers to a positive, fulfilling connection to one’s work, and represents a dimension of positive work-related well-being (Bakker, Demerouti, & Sanz-Vergel, 2014). In contrast, compassion fatigue, a result of caring for others who experience trauma negatively affects teachers’ well-being (Durkin et al., 2013).
To support early childhood teachers’ well-being, research is needed about contributing factors to work-related well-being, such as self-efficacy, work engagement, and compassion fatigue. Specifically, it is important to examine professional support from colleagues and supervisors as contributors to teachers’ work-related well-being because these sources of support may serve as malleable targets for intervention. These factors should be considered alongside contextual factors of teachers’ lives that also impact well-being. Prior research indicates that teachers with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may suffer from lifelong challenges to well-being (Poole et al., 2018). Teachers’ ACEs may be especially important to consider when they are caring for children impacted by trauma, which may activate their own prior trauma and affect their work-related well-being.
This study examines the simultaneous and independent effects of supervisor and coworker support, as well as teachers’ ACEs (both the conventional 10 ACEs and a more inclusive extended ACEs index; Burke Harris & Renschler, 2015), on three self-reported outcomes: teacher self-efficacy (Teacher Self-efficacy Short Form; Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001), positive work engagement (Utrecht Work Engagement Scale; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004), and compassion fatigue (Compassion Fatigue-Short Scale; Adams et al., 2006). Forty-eight early childhood teachers (95% female) from Head Start (33%), home-based (33%), and center-based (33%) programs participated. Teachers reported their position as: director/owner (18%), head teacher (54%) and assistant/other (27%). Teachers’ education level was: 8% high school diploma, 21% some college credit, 27% Associate’s degree, 33% Bachelor’s degree, and 10% graduate degree.
Results from bivariate correlations indicated that work engagement was significantly associated with supervisor support and self-efficacy was significantly correlated with education, extended ACEs, coworker support, and work engagement (Table 1). Compassion fatigue was significantly correlated with extended ACEs. A linear regression was conducted for each outcome. Findings revealed teachers’ perceptions of coworker support significantly predicted teacher self-efficacy (β = .28, p = .05; See Table 2), supervisor support predicted work engagement (β = .33, p = .04), and extended ACEs predicted compassion fatigue (β = .35, p = .02). These findings expand the literature in that it includes supervisor and coworker support independently rather than “social support” as a whole. These findings also expand the knowledge regarding the long-term associations between ACEs and well-being with a focus on early childhood teachers’ work-related well-being.

Authors

• Caitlyn Abshire, Oregon State University - Corvallis
  Presenting Author

• Shannon Tierney Lipscomb, Oregon State University
  Non-Presenting Author