Prekindergarten forms an important transition between home and formal learning in kindergarten, and prekindergarten teachers are essential contributors and influencers in their students' readiness into formal schooling. The problem addressed in this study was early childhood educators in one state in the southwestern United States are challenged…

A child's readiness for school can impact their trajectory in subsequent grades and later in life. Therefore, children must be prepared when transitioning to kindergarten. As a kindergarten teacher at a Title I elementary school, I noticed a lack of readiness and conducted this qualitative action research study to create a readiness plan for my…

Early childhood education (ECE) teachers have expressed being silenced, indicating their responses to everyday issues of political concern may be hidden. This voicelessness underscores the importance of examining strategies and spaces that incite ECE teachers to vocalise their political dialogues. The pandemic, as a crisis event, within Victoria,…

Theoretical models of job stress suggest that teachers' experience with burnout occurs, in part, because of an imbalance between job demands and the resources available to meet those demands. Using a diverse sample of 230 Head Start educators, the present study explored how school-based demands (i.e., class size, behavioral challenges) and…

The use of data to inform instruction has been linked to improved student outcomes, early identification of intervention needs, and teacher decision-making and efficacy. Additionally, data are used as a means of accountability within educational settings. However, little is known about data use practices among early grades teachers. The purpose of…

Early childhood center directors need to effectively function in their workplace so that they can provide leadership that supports quality. Their personal and professional well-being may affect how they support other educators. Few studies have investigated work-related well-being from directors' perspectives. This qualitative study investigated…

This study used mixed methods to explore how Israeli special education preschool teachers' professional identity and social support predict their job satisfaction. Participants in the quantitative portion included 192 Jewish special education preschool teachers (Mage = 34.37, SD = 8.75) with an average of 10.66 (SD = 8.40) years teaching. A…

The rapid shift in schools' demographics across the United States calls for a strategic and thoughtful change in the recruitment, retention, and development efforts of school districts as they cultivate the leadership pipeline to prepare future school leaders. District leadership pipeline programs must strategically and actively recruit and…

Early care and education (ECE) settings are influential in shaping children's early experiences. Informed by the Job Demands-Resources model, this study had two aims. First, we examined how ECE teachers' physical (i.e. muscular skeletal strain and infectious disease experience) and psychological (i.e. depression and job dissatisfaction) job strain…

Although efforts have been made to improve teacher professional development and ongoing supports, limited research has examined how early childhood education (ECE) teachers support each other informally. The present study describes how one type of informal support, collegial support (e.g. instrumental and expressive), enabled ECE teachers to cope…

Parenting a child with a disability can be stressful, and research has shown that burdens related to that care may overload parents and have negative effects on their quality of life. Thus, it is important to support families beginning early in their parenting experience and provide them with a strong foundation of tools and information. This…

Kindergarten Teachers' (KTs') work is different from that of school teachers' because they juggle the role of being caregivers for young children and tending to their physical, emotional and educational needs, with the task of being 'managers' or 'leaders' of their kindergarten units (Guo et al. in Teach Teach Educ 27(5):961-968, 2011a; Aizenberg…

This study aimed to assess the applicability of the Teachers' Resilience Scale (TRS) among Greek and Polish teachers and explore whether nationality and sociodemographic factors influence teachers' engagement with resilience protective factors. A total of 1622 teachers participated, providing TRS responses and sociodemographic information. Greek…

The COVID-19 crisis created stress, anxiety, and depression in early childhood educators, with particular adverse effects on minority and marginalized populations. The use of reflective supervision (RS) has helped childhood education (ECE) programs respond to the ill effects of the pandemic. Thus, it is important to explore the specific mechanisms…

Research Findings: This study investigated early childhood education and care (ECEC) teachers' experiences of occupational well-being during a two-year pre-primary education trial in Finland. Profile groups of the trial experimental group teachers (n = 376) were identified. We also examined whether the identified profiles differed with respect to…