“Disregarded and undervalued”: early childhood teacher’s experiences of stress and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic

Figures & data

Table 1. CVRs for stress items.

Stress Item	CVR
Supporting children in social distancing	.92
Maintaining social distancing with colleagues at work	.98
Supporting children to increase their hygiene practices	.92
Maintaining hygienic standards of the environment at work	.98
The possibility of contracting COVID-19 myself from children, families or other educators	.98
The possibility of contracting COVID-19 myself and spreading it within my home environment	.98
The possibility of spreading COVID-19 to others within my community	.86
Reassuring families of our hygiene and social distancing procedures	.96
Providing connections to families and children who remained at home	.92
Changes in household income	.98

Table 2. CVRs for anxiety items.

Anxiety Item	CVR
Anticipating going to work	.98
At work	.90
Once left work for the day	.92

Table 3. Stress levels between ECTs and non-ECTs.

	Mean		F (1,73)	p	f
	ECT	Non-ECT
Supporting children in social distancing	3.42	2.52	13.25	<.01	.44
Maintaining hygienic standards of the environment at work.	3.52	2.81	6.54	.01	.33
The possibility of contracting COVID-19 myself from children,families or other educators.	3.91	2.95	8.91	<.01	.40
The possibility of contracting COVID-19 myself and spreading itwithin my home environment.	3.97	3.29	4.28	.04	.28
Providing connections to families and children who remained at home.	3.12	2.43	6.24	.02	.29

Note: 1 = no stress, 2 = mild stress, 3 = moderate stress, 4 = much stress, and 4 = extreme stress.

Table 4. ECTs’ stress during Stage 3 Lockdowns.

Stress items (Stage 3 Lockdown)	Mean	SD
Supporting children in social distancing	3.42	1.032
Maintaining social distancing with colleagues at work	2.61	1.088
Supporting children to increase their hygiene practices	2.88	.857
Maintaining hygienic standards of the environment at work.	3.52	1.121
The possibility of contracting COVID-19 myself from children, families or other educators.	3.91	1.284
The possibility of contracting COVID-19 myself and spreading it within my home environment.	3.97	1.447
The possibility of spreading COVID-19 to others within my community.	3.67	1.339
Reassuring families of our hygiene and social distancing procedures	3.03	.918
Providing connections to families and children who remained at home.	3.12	1.244
Changes in household income	1.88	1.293

Note: 1 = no stress, 2 = mild stress, 3 = moderate stress, 4 = much stress, and 4 = extreme stress.

Table 5. Anxiety among ECTs.

Anxiety in Stage 3 Lockdown	Mean	SD
Anticipating going to work	3.15	1.202
At work	3.09	1.284
Once you had left work for the day	2.52	1.302

Note: 1 = not anxious, 2 = mild anxious, 3 = moderate anxious, 4 = highly anxious, and 5 = extremely anxious.

Table 6. Correlation of anxiety among ECTs.

	2	3
Anticipating going to work	.639**	.528**
At work		.457**
Once you had left work for the day

Note: **p < .01, *p < .05.

Table 7. Desire to leave the profession for ECTs prior and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

	Mean	SD	n
leaving the early childhood profession: - Prior to COVID-19 pandemic	3.34	1.335	32
leaving the early childhood profession: - During COVID-19 pandemic	2.50	1.408	30

Note: 1 = definitely yes, 2 = probably yes, 3 = might or might not, 4 = probably not, 5 = definitely not.