Two Case Studies of Preschool Psychosocial Safety Climates

Abstract

With the call from federal and state officials to increase access to high-quality early childhood education only growing louder, programs continue to struggle to attract and support a workforce capable of providing such instruction and care. One critical component of this support is the construction of a workplace environment that teachers perceive as psychologically safe and in which they feel capable of engaging in the challenging work of early childhood education. In the present set of case studies, the authors explore the extent to which a previously developed model of psychosocial safety climate applies to preschool contexts. Using teacher focus groups and administrator interviews the authors present examples of directors’ management practices and center’s policies and procedures that reflect a degree of valuing of teacher well-being and psychological safety. Additionally, the ways teachers’ experiences of the climate relate to their beliefs and behaviors in the classroom are explored.