Retaining Early Childhood Teachers: What Factors Contribute to High Job Satisfaction?
The results of a study on why early childhood teachers leave their jobs and factors such as better adult-to-child ratios that contribute to satisfaction in the workplace.
FULL REFERENCE: Jones, C., Hadley F., & Johnstone, M. (2017). Retaining early childhood teachers: What factors contribute to high job satisfaction in early childhood settings in Australia? NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal: Special Issue “Educators and their Work”, 20(2), 1-18.
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ABSTRACT: The Australian early childhood sector is grappling with high teacher turnover rates in a climate where the demand for teachers is higher than ever due to regulatory increases in qualifications and an influx of centre based services. The necessity to understand what inspires those teachers who remain in the sector and the factors enhancing their job satisfaction is pertinent in the current context. This article reports on a study of teacher job satisfaction while examining the potential of Deci and Ryan’s (1985) Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a mechanism for understanding this phenomenon. The study consisted of two phases. Phase one included 229 teachers completing an online survey measuring job satisfaction, intention to turnover, extrinsic factors as well as a major component of SDT (the three Basic Psychological Needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence in the workplace) with the W-BNS. In phase two, in-depth interviews were conducted with ten teachers who reported high levels of job satisfaction in their current workplaces from phase one. The ‘voices’ of these teachers support the findings from phase one by echoing the importance of meeting the three basic psychological needs in the workplace. This paper discusses the potential of SDT as a framework for understanding early childhood teacher job satisfaction and implications for policy and practice are also explored.
Key words: Job satisfaction; self-determination theory; early childhood teacher; staff turnover; long day care; retention.
INTRODUCTION
For this study, job satisfaction was defined as how satisfied a teacher is in their current workplace, and how happy they are in the overall Early Childhood (EC) profession. While job satisfaction in prior to school settings has been studied quite extensively (Bloom, 1986, 1988; Stremmel, Benson, & Powell, 1993; Whitebook & Sakai, 2003) there is limited Australian specific research and much of what is available is quite dated (Lyons, 1996, 1997; Rosier & Lloyd-Smith, 1996). This is problematic as the Australian EC sector is undergoing substantial growth requiring more teachers in prior to school settings (Productivity Commission, (PC), 2014; Sims & Waniganayake, 2015),
In the past decade (2003-2013), the number of approved EC services increased by 58%, with Long Day Care (LDC) services comprising just under half of this figure (PC, 2014). LDC centres are defined as providers of care for children from birth to school age, are open for at least ten hours per day, five days a week, and for at least 48 weeks per year. The introduction of the National Quality Framework (NQF), the regulatory system for EC organisations has also seen an emphasis on increased educator qualifications (Australian Children’s Education and Care Authority (ACECQA), 2011). The expansion of services has subsequently increased the number of educator positions (those who are employed to work directly with children); and the NQF regulations have increased the number of teachers (a person who holds an approved early childhood teaching qualification from a university) to meet the legislative requirements (ACECQA, 2016). This overall increase of EC teacher positions in the past decade has added further pressure to a sector already grappling with issues of retention and turnover (Bretherton, 2010; OECD, 2013).
