{"title":"Turn-over and Retention Among Head Start Educators","authors":"Delia Vicente, Melanie Venegas, Alma D. Guerrero","doi":"10.1007/s10643-024-01685-x","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Educators shape the quality of early education programs and are essential to children’s learning and healthy development. However, the early childhood education field is often challenged in retaining educational staff. Using a descriptive research design this study explores turnover and retention through the voices of Head Start and Early Head Start education staff. Education staff identified retention factors to be, holding a job with meaning and purpose that made a positive difference for children, families and communities, access to professional development opportunities, and positive connections with colleagues. While, low wages, high volumes of paperwork, complex caseloads, lack of recognition, weak onboarding, teacher preparation practices, and lack of voice in program changes, were identified as turnover factors. Despite low wages educators voiced they are more likely to stay when their growth and relatedness needs are being met. Overall turnover and retention were influenced by an organization’s systems, practices, and working conditions and how well these met the human core needs of its staff.</p>","PeriodicalId":47818,"journal":{"name":"Early Childhood Education Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Early Childhood Education Journal","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-024-01685-x","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Educators shape the quality of early education programs and are essential to children’s learning and healthy development. However, the early childhood education field is often challenged in retaining educational staff. Using a descriptive research design this study explores turnover and retention through the voices of Head Start and Early Head Start education staff. Education staff identified retention factors to be, holding a job with meaning and purpose that made a positive difference for children, families and communities, access to professional development opportunities, and positive connections with colleagues. While, low wages, high volumes of paperwork, complex caseloads, lack of recognition, weak onboarding, teacher preparation practices, and lack of voice in program changes, were identified as turnover factors. Despite low wages educators voiced they are more likely to stay when their growth and relatedness needs are being met. Overall turnover and retention were influenced by an organization’s systems, practices, and working conditions and how well these met the human core needs of its staff.
期刊介绍:
Early Childhood Education Journal is a professional publication of original peer-reviewed articles that reflect exemplary practices in the field of contemporary early childhood education. Articles cover the social, physical, emotional, and intellectual development of children age birth through 8, analyzing issues, trends, and practices from an educational perspective. The journal publishes feature-length articles that skillfully blend 1) theory, research, and practice, 2) descriptions of outstanding early childhood programs worldwide, and 3) quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research. Early Childhood Education Journal is of interest not only to classroom teachers, child care providers, college and university faculty, and administrators, but also to other professionals in psychology, health care, family relations, and social services dedicated to the care of young children.
Areas of Emphasis:
International studies;
Educational programs in diverse settings;
Early learning across multiple domains;
Projects demonstrating inter-professional collaboration;
Qualitative and quantitative research and case studies;
Best practices in early childhood teacher education;
Theory, research, and practice relating to professional development;
Family, school, and community relationships;
Investigations related to curriculum and instruction;
Articles that link theory and best practices;
Reviews of research with well-articulated connections to the field