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Early Childcare Teachers’ Sources of Stress and their Associations with Reflective Teaching Practices

Fri, April 9, 10:15 to 11:15am EDT (10:15 to 11:15am EDT), Virtual

Abstract

Introduction. Early childcare teachers (ECTs) are responsible for creating an environment that supports the development of infants’ and toddlers’ social and emotional development (Bagdi & Vacca, 2005). ECTs must engage in sensitive and responsive caregiving that requires great mental (Shulman, 2004) and emotional (Pugliesi, 1999) capacity from them. Stress impacts ECTs’ capacity to engage in sensitive and responsive care and ECTs may experience stress from a number of different sources. For instance, job-related stress is associated with ECTs’ lower sensitivity and responsiveness to children (Chang, 2009) and their decreased ability to respond to children’s negative emotions (Zinsser, 2013). Sources of stress for teachers range from personal to work-related stressors (Berlin, 2020; Hall-Kenyon, 2014); however, most of this work was conducted with preschool teachers or with teachers of older children. This study aims to better understand the sources of stress (primarily work- and caregiving-related stressors) experienced by infant/toddler ECTs and how sources of stress are related to ECTs’ reflective teaching practices.

Methods. The current study examined Early Head Start infant/toddler teachers’ stress throughout the course of the year. Teachers completed pretest surveys on reflective practices at the beginning of the study, followed by two ecological momentary assessment surveys, via a smartphone application, twice a week for 40 weeks, in which they reported on sources of stress. Reflective practices included teachers’ endorsement of a reflective stance in their work, specifically the importance they place on observing, listening, wondering and responding to the needs of infants/toddlers and their families (Observe, Listen, Wonder, Respond measure; Tomlin et al., 2009); and, emotion beliefs (Emotional Styles Questionnaire; Lagacé‐Séguin & Coplan, 2005). Sources of stress included: workload, children’s behaviors, personal life, workplace program policies, interactions with colleagues, interactions with supervisors/administration, and interactions with parents/families. Baseline data (i.e., the first two weeks of data) from this study were preliminarily analyzed. Trajectories of sources of stress and associations with teachers’ practices over time will be presented at the conference.

Results. Teachers reported workload, children’s behaviors, and personal life as the three sources of stress contributing the most to their daily stress (Table 1), with means generally in the 3.30-3.44 of 7 range. While workload was not associated with reflective practices, children’s behaviors were negatively associated with the value teachers placed on observing and listening to the needs of infants/toddlers and families (Table 2). Interactions with colleagues were negatively associated with teachers’ observe and listen scores, while interactions with parents were negatively associated with teachers’ emotional coaching, observe, and listen scores. Although personal life stress was reported as frequently contributing to daily stress, it was not related to teachers’ practices. Program policies and administration were not associated with reflective practices.

Conclusions. Preliminary analyses suggest some variation in teachers’ sources of stress and their associations with teachers’ practices. Additional longitudinal analyses will be employed to examine sources of stress and teachers’ practices over time. Study results may have implications for professional development efforts to support ECT’s well-being and high-quality practices.

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