To Stay or to Leave: Factors Shaping Early Childhood Teachers’ Turnover and Retention Decisions

Schaack, Diana; Donovan, Courtney; Adejumo, Tobiloba O.; Ortega, Mari Carmen Gil

doi:10.1080/02568543.2021.1955779

Cited by 18 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…At the macro-level, factors influencing implementation of ECMHC include the broader system of early childhood, which is characterized by a multitude of structural and policy challenges. For example, compared to the K-12 system, the early education system is underfunded, and educators experience low wages (Whitebook et al, 2014), high stress and turnover (Schaack et al, 2020;Doromal et al, 2022), and report lacking adequate professional development (Gomez et al, 2015;Schaack et al, 2022).…”

Section: Conceptual Model Of Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation of an early childhood mental health consultation pilot in Virginia: Critical tensions and implications for scale-up

Partee

Sachdeva²,

Bivona³

et al. 2023

Front. Educ.

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Early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) is a targeted prevention service that aims to build the capacity of early care and education (ECE) professionals and foster supportive environments that promote children’s social–emotional competence and improve mental health and well-being. A key challenge to delivering ECMHC at scale is navigating complex multi-level factors to maximize successful implementation and program benefits at scale. The current study describes the implementation tensions arising during the first year of a pilot ECMHC program conducted in partnership across multiple agencies and a state’s department of education. In the 2021–2022 pilot year, ECMHC was offered as a free service to ECE programs in one large region of Virginia, with the goal of examining feasibility to scale statewide in future years. Consultation was implemented in 45 preschool classrooms across 30 programs. Implementation data were collected using consultation logs and participant surveys, and 20 participants (educators, families, program directors) participated in focus groups. Three implementation tensions are highlighted in this paper: (1) ideal plans versus reality of a new ECMHC roll-out; (2) how to support ECE professionals’ practice as it relates to children’s behavior, without contributing to a deficit view that children need to be “fixed;” and (3) systemic factors in the early childhood field that undermine the implementation and effectiveness of ECMHC. For each tension, we provide context from the larger literature on ECMHC, describe relevant decision points from Virginia’s pilot ECMHC program, and present implementation data to illustrate these tensions in practice. We conclude with reflections on lessons learned that have implications for other ECMHC and SEL intervention scale-up efforts.

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Section: Conceptual Model Of Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation of an early childhood mental health consultation pilot in Virginia: Critical tensions and implications for scale-up

Partee

Sachdeva²,

Bivona³

et al. 2023

Front. Educ.

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“…Existing research shows that although teachers report attachment to their work, the stress and expanding difficulty of teaching in ECE overshadow these benefits (e.g., Kwon et al, 2020; Schaack et al, 2021). Low compensation, lack of benefits, and lack of instructional resources drive teachers out of classrooms (Kwon et al, 2020; Schaack et al, 2021; Wells, 2017; Whitebook & Sakai, 2004).…”

Section: Identifying Site Job and Teacher Characteristics Related To ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Young children learn primarily through their interactions with sensitive adults (e.g., Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2007; Hamre, 2014), and the benefits of ECE hinge largely on stable relationships with caregivers (Markowitz et al, 2017; Sandstrom & Huerta, 2013). Turnover interrupts these developmental processes (Choi et al, 2019; Markowitz, 2019; Tran & Winsler, 2011) and creates stressful environments for leaders and teachers who remain at the site and must adjust to new duties or coworkers (Cassidy et al, 2011; Kwon et al, 2020; Schaack et al, 2021; Whitebook & Sakai, 2004). Additionally, turnover compromises quality improvement efforts.…”

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confidence: 99%

Teacher Turnover in Early Childhood Education: Longitudinal Evidence From the Universe of Publicly Funded Programs in Louisiana

Bellows

Bassok

Markowitz

2022

Educational Researcher

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This study uses longitudinal data to follow a cohort ( N = 4,465) of all early childhood education teachers working in publicly funded, center-based settings in Louisiana over a 3-year period. We present the proportion of teachers still at their sites across six time points between 2016 and 2019, providing the first statewide, longitudinal estimates of within-year and multiyear retention. We find that less than 40% teachers in the fall of 2016 are still at their site by the fall of 2019. Turnover is particularly high among childcare teachers (compared to teachers at Head Start or school-based pre-kindergarten), teachers of toddlers, and teachers new to their sites. Policy implications are discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The high turnover rates of preschool teachers impair children's early development, threaten the stability of teaching staff, and even hinder the improvement of preschool education (Wells, 2015;Schaack et al, 2022). However, high turnover rates of preschool teachers are increasingly common around the world (Hong, 2010;Wells, 2015;Schaack et al, 2022). In the United States, approximately 15-30% of early childhood teachers quit their jobs every year (Whitebook et al, 2014), while the annual turnover rate of some childcare institutions in Australia is as high as 60% (Jovanovic, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative workplace gossip and turnover intention among Chinese rural preschool teachers: The mediation of ego depletion and the moderation of bianzhi

Wang

2022

Front. Psychol.

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IntroductionIn China, the high turnover rates of teachers have become one of the biggest obstacles to the development of rural preschool education. Objective: Based on the social information processing theory and the strength model of selfcontrol, this study examined the relationship between negative workplace gossip and turnover intention and the role of ego depletion and bianzhi in this relationship.MethodsThe questionnaire method was applied, and 411 rural preschool teachers in Hubei Province, China, participated in the survey.ResultsThe correlation results showed that negative workplace gossip was positively correlated with ego depletion, and ego depletion was positively correlated with turnover intention. After controlling for age, negative workplace gossip positively predicted turnover intention. The mediation analysis indicated that ego depletion played a mediating role in the relationship between negative workplace gossip and turnover intention. Moreover, the mediation effect was moderated by bianzhi. Negative workplace gossip had a stronger effect on the ego depletion of teachers without bianzhi than on that of teachers with bianzhi.ConclusionThe current research is the first to clarify that ego depletion mediates the relationship between negative workplace gossip and turnover intention, and the mediation effect is moderated via bianzhi. These findings expand our understanding of the influential factors and formation mechanisms of turnover intention. In practice, this study provides a novel perspective for policymakers and administrators to reduce the turnover intention among rural preschool teachers in China.

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To Stay or to Leave: Factors Shaping Early Childhood Teachers’ Turnover and Retention Decisions

Cited by 18 publications

References 42 publications

Implementation of an early childhood mental health consultation pilot in Virginia: Critical tensions and implications for scale-up

Implementation of an early childhood mental health consultation pilot in Virginia: Critical tensions and implications for scale-up

Teacher Turnover in Early Childhood Education: Longitudinal Evidence From the Universe of Publicly Funded Programs in Louisiana

Negative workplace gossip and turnover intention among Chinese rural preschool teachers: The mediation of ego depletion and the moderation of bianzhi

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