The authors of this report present selected findings from the first American Pre-K Teacher Survey, administered to public school-based pre-kindergarten (pre-K) teachers in March and April 2024. The authors provide new information about the well-being, pay, and working conditions of public school-based pre-K teachers. The authors compare pre-K…

Teacher well-being (TWB) is crucial in supporting successfully functioning schools. TWB helps maintain high-quality teaching, promotes positive academic and behavior outcomes among students, and facilitates a healthy school climate and community. Despite its significant association with individual and organizational outcomes within schools, TWB…

Special needs educators (SNEs) who work with children in need of special support (CINSS) have an important function in preschool, i.e. supporting CINSS and supporting the development of inclusive learning environments. Furthermore, they are professionals whose working conditions are demanding. That said, there is little research on their…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of teachers' P-O fit levels on their turnover intentions and the role of psychological well-being in this relationship. Data collected from 507 teachers, through the scales measuring teachers' P-O fit, well-being and intent to leave the teaching profession and intent to move to another school,…

First 5 Los Angeles County partnered with the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) to explore the state of child care centers and family child care (FCC) providers. As part of the California Early Care and Education Workforce Study, CSCCE conducted surveys in 2020 and 2023 to measure both individual- and site-level factors. In…

The capacities of early childhood educators to function well in their work environments are critical to providing high-quality programs for children. Few studies have investigated work-related wellbeing of educators from an organisational perspective. This paper reports findings from a qualitative study that investigated the perspectives about the…

Research Findings: The aim of this study was to examine associations between two aspects of teachers' occupational well-being, i.e., teaching-related stress and work engagement, and the quality of teacher-child interactions in Finnish kindergarten classrooms. Participants were 47 kindergarten teachers with their classrooms of 6-year-old children.…

Research Findings: The aim of the present study was to identify profiles of kindergarten teachers based on the observed quality of interactions with the children in their classrooms and to explore possible differences between the profiles in terms of teachers' occupational well-being and teacher and classroom characteristics. Participants were 54…

Early educators are the key to quality early care and education (ECE) services, and there is broad consensus that high-quality care and learning environments for young children depend on educators who are skilled at nurturing children's development and learning. Yet, inadequate working conditions and low pay routinely hamper educators in their…

Working in early childhood education exposes preschool teachers to a wide variety of work stressors that deplete energy and necessitate recovery. Based on the effort-recovery model and conservation of resources theory, this two-wave study examined the effects of recovery experiences (i.e., psychological detachment and relaxation) on the…

While many efforts to improve the quality of early care and education (ECE) have focused on increasing teachers' and caregivers' competencies and knowledge specific to the teaching of young children, a small body of research suggests that an ECE workforce that is mentally healthy can provide the best-quality care for children. The primary research…

Stress has been shown to negatively impact early childhood teachers' abilities to provide high quality, responsive environments for young children. Previous studies of early childhood teacher stress have focused on the tasks and responsibilities inherent in the job as well as on structural conditions within the field of early childhood education.…

High turnover rates of early care and education teachers reduce the quality of education; unsatisfied teachers, suffering from stress or emotional exhaustion, are less equipped to promote children's development and more likely to leave the classroom. We used data from a national survey of US early childhood educators (n = 1129) to examine…

In recent years early childhood education, along with the professionalization of staff working in this field, has been at the forefront of public interest. However, the well-being of professionals working in early childhood education has been explored only sporadically. In our cross-sectional, quantitative, descriptive research we surveyed the…

The "Early Childhood Workforce Index" provides a state-by-state look at policies and conditions affecting the early care and education workforce. This biennial report has tracked state progress since 2016. This third, 2020 edition of the Index continues to track state policies in essential areas like workforce qualifications, work…