Early Childhood Educators’ Perceptions of Their Emotional State, Relationships with Parents, Challenges, and Opportunities During the Early Stage of the Pandemic

Abstract

This article presents a study about the impact of COVID-19 on childcare center educators in Quebec (Canada). Regulated childcare services were closed due to the pandemic between March 16 and May 31, 2020, in areas considered "hot" (highly affected by the pandemic). During this time, some centers were transformed into "emergency childcare services" available to parents considered to be essential workers. Therefore, few children attended, and most educators worked remotely. In May 2020, 372 educators completed an online questionnaire regarding their emotional state, challenges, and learning opportunities. Results indicate that half of the respondents reported a decrease in their level of well-being at work and an increase in their stress level. Educators working remotely were more likely to report a lower level of stress than when working with children at daycare (36.1% vs 19.7%). Despite these findings, educators estimated that the parents who used their emergency childcare service presented either high (37.7%) or average (32.2%) levels of wellbeing. The factors that educators identified as facilitating their interactions with families included parental recognition of their work (11.68%) and direct contact with them (12.62%). While many tasks accomplished at home were done for the first time during this period (i.e., creating video capsules for children and parents, virtual meetings with children and colleagues), a large majority of respondents reported that these tasks made them feel useful. Working at their own pace (34.7%) was seen as the principal advantage of remote working. Finally, 28.84% mentioned that the reduced ratio (1:2 or 1:3) was a facilitating factor that they would like to maintain during the upcoming reopening phase. The discussion uses the Job Demands and Resources theoretical framework (Bakker and Demerouti in Wellbeing 3(2): 1-28, 2014; Dicke et al. in J Occupat Health Psychol 23(2): 262-277, 2017) to explain the educators' work-related demands and emotional state in both remote and CPE working pandemic contexts. In conclusion, we argued that this pandemic reveals the complexity, but also the essential nature of the work of early childhood educators, in particular by identifying their needs for support and recognition essential to their professional commitment.

COVID-19 pandemic-related anxiety, stress, and depression among teachers: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…On the other hand, teachers' level of job satisfaction [39,71], positive affect [62], dispositional joy and buoyance in teaching [62], ICT self-efficacy [74], self-efficacy [35,72], sense of control [75], attitudes about online education [74], the perceived supervisor support [74], self-rated health [68], work stability [46], motivation for professional development [73], and psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness [75] were found to be negatively associated with teachers' perceived stress. In addition, risk factors associated with teachers' increased odds of developing anxiety symptoms included: conducting face-to-face teaching [57,76], having low motivation for online teaching [65]; having no experience in online teaching [66]; raising vocal loudness when conducting online-teaching [58]; experiencing family-work conflict [71], having caregiving responsibilities [46,54,66]; had developed COVID-19 related symptoms [70]; had a relative or friend died from COVID-19 [70]; and having chronic pathology or living with others with chronic pathology [47].…”

Challenges Faced by Childcare Directors During COVID-19: Leading During A Global Pandemic

“…These pandemic-induced changes meant fewer opportunities for teachers to talk with parents. Research shows that communication between childcare teachers and caregivers is critical to both parties (Bigras et al, 2021 ). Parents who were home-bound during the pandemic found that teacher communication–in terms of suggestions for age-appropriate activities–helped parents cope with stress (Zhang et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Several studies have found that children and families benefited from the pandemic-induced changes in center-parent communication (Soltero-Gonzalez & Gillanders, 2021 ; Bigras et al, 2021 ; Linnavalli & Kalland, 2021 ). Enrolling children in childcare during the pandemic appeared to benefit parent-child relationships, and parents reported that resources offered by centers helped them to cope with stress (Zhang et al, 2021 ).…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the important role of childcare for essential workers and those on the front line of the pandemic (Bigras et al, 2021 ). Support from the local, state, and federal governments has been crucial to ensure that quality childcare continues to be available for those who depend on a consistent and stable environment for their children.…”

Early Childhood Education Teacher Well-Being: Performativity as a Means of Coping

“…Research undertaken during the pandemic demonstrated that teachers experienced upheaval regarding approaches and methods of teaching (Kim, 2020 ), including the change from in-person to remote learning (Dias et al, 2020 ; Steed & Leech, 2021 ). Important to this investigation, overall teaching experiences (Kim et al, 2021 ), how teachers interacted with students (Szente, 2020 ), and the emotional toll (Bigras et al, 2021 ) of the pandemic additionally burden stressed ECE teachers. As a result, national data indicated that 35% of the ECE workforce was laid off between February and April of 2020 (U.S. Department of Labor, 2022 ).…”