002_How to Actually Enjoy Your Job – It’s Your Choice! Show Notes

Description: We all know that teachers these days are super stressed. Every day in classrooms, teachers are dealing with thousands of needs, challenging behaviors like never before, inadequate staffing levels, high demands for keeping up with quality measures, paperwork and the latest initiatives, and not to mention inequitable salaries. So in the face of all of that stress, how is it possible that some early childhood teachers still actually enjoy their jobs? This podcast looks into that question and presents some of the latest research about what factors can influence your job satisfaction. You may be struggling, but there is still time to turn this year around! Sara will give you some ideas to ponder and some tips to try, for changing the way you feel, even in the face of some undeniably negative circumstances. Hang on, kids — there is hope and things CAN get better!

Resources from McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership at National Louis University

https://mccormickcenter.nl.edu

Take the “Early Childhood Job Satisfaction Survey” here: Link to Survey

Leaders: you can create the kind of Organizational Climate that leads to greater job satisfaction of your staff.

Here is a great resource for Leaders: Paula Jorde Bloom, Ann Hentschel and Jill Bella’s Book Inspiring Peak Performance

https://mccormickcenter.nl.edu/library/inspiring-peak-performance

Another awesome one in their series for leaders is A Great Place to Work

https://mccormickcenter.nl.edu/library/a-great-place-to-work

CLASS Assessment Scoring System –

CLASS™ is the only observational teacher-assessment tool that captures teacher behaviors linked to students gains and that has been proven to work in tens of thousands of classrooms, from preschool to high school and beyond.
Video: Effective Teacher-Child Interactions
CLASS in QRIS (Quality Rating and Improvement Systems)
CLASS Resources for Teachers
CLASS Resources for Coaches

Research We Cited in Podcast 002_How to Actually Enjoy Your Job

This article describes Lieny Jeon’s 2015 research:

Link to the Article

Follow up Study by Jeon, 2017 :

“Early Childhood Teachers’ Psychological Well-Being: Exploring Potential Predictors of Depression, Stress, and Emotional Exhaustion”

Link to the Study

Abstract: Early childhood teachers’ psychological well-being influences the nurturing and learning classroom climate in early care and education as well as children’s development. However, less is known about predictors of teachers’ psychological well-being in preschool. The purpose of this study was to explore associations between potential predictors of teachers’ psychological well-being—such as professional background, teaching efficacy, and work environment—and teachers’ self-perceived depression, stress, and emotional exhaustion after controlling for individual demographics. A total of 1,129 teachers serving preschool-age children (3- and 4-year-olds) in the United States participated in the study. Teachers responded to a questionnaire asking about their background, work environment, and social-emotional attributes. Multiple regression analysis revealed that levels of teachers’ self-efficacy and work environments are generally associated with their psychological well-being above and beyond their personal and professional backgrounds. Practice or Policy: The results of this study suggest that it is important to help teachers build teaching competence and efficacy and to prepare them to handle stressors from work environments in order to reduce their psychological burden. In addition, we suggest that positive work climates need to be created for teachers and children at the program level.

“Teacher’s Social Emotional Capacity: Factors Associated with Teachers’ Responsiveness and Professional Commitment” (2016) study by Buettner, Jeon, Hur and Garcia.

Link to the Study

Teacher Stress and Teacher Burnout –

“The Mediating Role of Workplace Social Support on the Relationship Between Trait Emotional Intelligence and Teacher Burnout.” 2015 study by Ju, Lan, Li, Feng, and You

Link to the Study

An integrated model of teacher burnout was developed based on this study’s results.
- Emotional intelligence is negatively associated with teacher burnout.
- Emotional intelligence is positively associated with workplace social support.
- Workplace social support partially mediated emotional intelligence and teacher burnout.
- The mediating relationship among variables is consistent across gender and age.

Organizational Climate and Quality: “Reexamining quality in early childhood education: Exploring the relationship between the organizational climate and the classroom.” 2013 Study by Dennis and O’Connor.

Link to the Study

Teacher Self Efficacy: