Why Do Child Care Teachers Leave? Why Do They Stay? – Pre-Pandemic Evidence

ABSTRACT

Turnover of child care staff is associated with lower care quality and compromised children’s development. While turnover rates in the child care sector have steadily been high, the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded the global staffing crisis. This article therefore aims to explore the correlates and reasons for turnover intention, turnover, and retention among child care teachers in two steps: The first study tested the Job Demands-Resources model using structural equation modeling. The second study assessed actual turnover and retention and explored the reasons for teachers staying and leaving in a smaller subsample 3 years later using correlational and content analyzes. Research Findings: The theoretical model fit the data well, indicating that job demands and job resources predict turnover intention mediated via job satisfaction and burnout. Overall, the motivational pathway was stronger than the energetic pathway. Furthermore, turnover intention predicted turnover 3 years later. The content analysis revealed that the team climate was a main reason for retention; leadership quality and a lack of advancement opportunities were crucial for job and occupational turnover. Practice or Policy: The results inform policy makers about measures to retain child care teachers and hence ensure care quality.

Acknowledgments

My deepest gratitude goes to Dr. Marcy Whitebook. Thank you so much for your professional and personal support and your neverending dedication. You are a true inspiration.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. In Switzerland, the early care and education system usually includes 1-year (internship) and 3-year (apprenticeship) temporary employment arrangements. After assistant teachers have completed their internship or apprenticeship position, they are required to find a new job corresponding to their new qualifications.

2. The OECD (2010) and the European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice/Eurostat (2014) refer to these teachers also as “auxiliary staff.” We use the more common term “assistant teachers.”

3. In this article, we use the terms “child care teachers” and “teaching staff” when we refer to both groups of teachers – lead teachers and assistant teachers. Otherwise, we use the specific terms “lead teachers” or “assistant teachers”

4. We usually distinguish between the participants who left their job and the participants who left the profession; where we speak of “leaving” or “leavers,” we refer to both groups.

5. Leadership refers to the director of the child care center, and management refers to the governing agency’s management. Since the participants often did not distinguish between these superiors, we report them together.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Swiss National Fonds [159143].