Early Childhood Educators’ Wellbeing Project

Early Childhood Educators’ Wellbeing Project

Assessing the wellbeing of early childhood educators

Compromised educator wellbeing is costly – to educators themselves but also to the organisations that employ them. These costs are ultimately borne by society. Costs can relate to absenteeism due to illness or injury, meaning organisations must employ casual staff and/or pay higher workers’ compensation premiums if claims are made. Absenteeism may also mean that children have unstable care arrangements and relationships with families may be compromised. However, relatively little is known about EC educators’ wellbeing.

About the projectThe logo for ECEWP: a yellow circle and crescent on a purple background, with a stylised plant in dull green growing up out of the crescent.

The Early Childhood Educators’ Wellbeing Project (ECEWP) defines educator wellbeing as “a dynamic state, involving the interaction of individual, relational, work-environmental, and sociocultural-political aspects and contexts. Educators’ well-being is the responsibility of the individual and the agents of these contexts, requiring ongoing direct and indirect supports, across psychological, physiological and ethical dimensions” (Cumming & Wong, 2018, p. 12).

Through our research, the ECEWP team is assessing:

  • educators’ psychological wellbeing through a range of psychometric assessments
  • educators’ physiological wellbeing through:
    • health screening
    • biometric measures of height, weight, flexibility and blood pressure
    • cortisol measures
    • cardio-respiratory activity and physical effort using wearable technology.
  • the impact of organisational and social factors on educators’ wellbeing
  • the impact of educators’ wellbeing on their interactions with children.

By taking this holistic view, the data we gather provides a comprehensive understanding of educators’ wellbeing that can inform interventions to better support and sustain the workforce. These interventions will have benefits for educators themselves, the services and organisations they work for and, importantly, for children and their families.

Key staff

Sandie Wong

Professor Sandie Wong, Co-Deputy Director of CRECE

Early childhood researcher Professor Sandie Wong (Macquarie University) co-leads the multidisciplinary research team investigating early childhood educators’ wellbeing and its links with educators’ interactions with children.

Professor Wong is responsible for the overall management of the project.

Tamara Cumming

Dr Tamara Cumming, member of CRECE

Co-leader Dr Tamara Cumming (Macquarie University) researches the emotional demands of early childhood work and the politics of their impact on educators’ wellbeing.

Dr Cumming is responsible for conceptual and theoretical aspects of the project, and leading the team's advocacy.

Rebecca Bull

Professor Rebecca Bull, CRECE Leadership Team

Professor Rebecca Bull (Macquarie University) is interested in factors that impact educator–child interactions and child development and learning.

Professor Bull is analysing data from the project and supporting the dissemination of findings.

Laura McFarland

Dr Laura McFarland

Dr Laura McFarland (University of Melbourne) is interested in researching the quality of educator–child interactions, as well as whole service approaches to supporting mental health in early childhood education services.

Dr McFarland is leading the educator–child interactions component of the project.

Sandy MacQuarrie

Dr Sandy MacQuarrie

Dr Sandy MacQuarrie (Griffith University) is a career paramedic who has translated his research into the health and wellness of paramedics to early childhood educators, with a focus on using biometric monitoring to measure and understand health status.

Dr MacQuarrie is responsible for the physiological component of the project.

Kim Woodland

Kim Woodland

Project Manager Kim Woodland (Macquarie University) assists the ECEWP team with coordination, communication and reporting.

International collaboration

WECARE (Wellbeing of early childhood educators: An international research alliance)

We have established an international alliance of researchers to work collaboratively across projects, in order to:

  • get a better understanding of the state of wellbeing of early childhood professionals
  • understand the shared versus context-specific impacts on educator wellbeing.

We are working with researchers from a range of country contexts, including Canada, Chile, China and Hong Kong SAR, England, Finland, Iceland, Indonesia, South Korea, Macau, the Netherlands, The Philippines, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States.

Sub-projects

Conceptualisation of educator wellbeing

This sub-project of the ECEWP conceptualised educator wellbeing (Cumming & Wong, 2019) and included a comprehensive literature review (Cumming, 2017).

We are also exploring how educators understand wellbeing both in Australia and internationally with researchers in Canada, Finland, Hong Kong SAR and Singapore.

Further information

State of educators’ wellbeing

This ongoing sub-project of the ECEWP, supported by multiple early childhood organisations, measures educators’ psychological and physiological wellbeing within organisational contexts.

To date, we have collected data on more than 100 educators and centre directors working in centre-based services across several Australian states and territories. Initial findings have been published (Cumming et al., 2020) in scholarly and practitioner outlets.

Measuring psychological wellbeing
  • Participants completed the Early Childhood Educator Wellbeing Survey (ECEWS) electronically.
  • The survey included a range of demographic questions, and health and psychological wellbeing measures.
  • The survey has a total of 80 questions, with a range of closed response types and two open-ended responses asking participants’ perspectives on educator wellbeing.
  • Three instruments were selected to measure psychological wellbeing:
    • the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale
    • the Maslach Burnout Inventory – Educator Survey
    • the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOC): Work Family Conflict Sub-Scale.
Measuring physiological wellbeing
  • Biometric screening. We measured educators’:
    • height, weight, body fat, flexibility and blood pressure.
    • heart rate, variability, recovery, ECG, breathing rate, ventilation, accelerometry, activity intensity, cadence, peak acceleration and steps using Hexoskin technology.
  • Biomarker screening. Educators’ cortisol levels were measured.
  • Health survey. Educators answered:
    • a Health Screening Questionnaire (MOS-SF36) to measure their physical, mental and general health.
    • three questions from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey.
Measuring organisational climate
  • Organisational climate was measured in the Early Childhood Educator Wellbeing Survey (ECEWS):
    • 18 items were used from the Early Childhood Workplace Environment Scale (ECWES)
    • five items from the Early Childhood Rating Scale
    • eight items from the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire Conflicts and Offensive Behaviours subscale.
  • Educators rated their organisational climate, the most valued aspects of their work, congruence with their ideal job, perceived versus desired decision-making influence, access to workplace facilities, adequacy of paid sick days, workplace bullying and harassment, feelings about work, time management and work-related stress, respect for personal identity at work, feeling of being respected, and psychological burden.
Further information
  • Cumming, T., Wong, S., & Logan, H. (2021). Early childhood educators’ well-being, work environments and ‘quality’: Possibilities for changing policy and practice. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 46(1), 50-65. https://doi.org/10.1177/1836939120979064
  • Wong, S., Cumming, T., MacQuarrie, A., Bull, R., Robertson, C., Saha, M., McFarland, L., & Logan, H. (2022). Holistic measurement of early childhood educators’ well-being: A protocol. International Journal of Research & Method in Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727X.2022.2128746

Organisational factors influencing educators’ wellbeing

This sub-project of the ECEWP explored how organisations support educators’ wellbeing (Logan et al., 2020), and how their approaches changed during COVID-19 (Logan et al., 2021).

Interviews were conducted with workplace wellbeing managers (or equivalent) to identify their views, knowledge and understandings of educators’ wellbeing, and to determine what supports were in place.

Measuring organisational climate
  • Organisational climate was measured in the Early Childhood Educator Wellbeing Survey (ECEWS):
    • 18 items were used from the Early Childhood Workplace Environment Scale (ECWES)
    • five items from the Early Childhood Rating Scale
    • eight items from the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire Conflicts and Offensive Behaviours subscale.
  • Educators rated their organisational climate, the most valued aspects of their work, congruence with their ideal job, perceived versus desired decision-making influence, access to workplace facilities, adequacy of paid sick days, workplace bullying and harassment, feelings about work, time management and work-related stress, respect for personal identity at work, feeling of being respected, and psychological burden.
Further information

Educators’ wellbeing during COVID-19

This sub-project of the ECEWP explored educators’ wellbeing in the context of COVID-19.

More than 800 educators responded to an online survey about the state of their psychological and physical health and the role their workplace played in supporting wellbeing during the pandemic.

Further information

Interventions to support educators’ wellbeing

Through these sub-projects of the ECEWP we are seeking to understand the impact of interventions aimed at supporting educators’ wellbeing.

We are currently working with EC providers to evaluate the impact of clinical supervision on centre directors’ wellbeing, and to document effective wellbeing initiatives.

Further information
  • Wong, S., Bull, R., Cumming, T., & McFarland, L. (2024). Supporting leaders in early childhood education settings: An evaluation of a clinical supervision program for centre directors. Cogent Education, 11(1), 2309749. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2024.2309749
  • Wong, S. (2023). A case study of clinical supervision to support early childhood leaders in times of natural disasters: 'It's not a designer handbag'. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. https://doi.org/10.1177/18369391231217266

Impacts of educators’ wellbeing on their interactions with children

As part of the ECEWP, we are currently exploring how educators’ wellbeing impacts their interactions with children.

Pending funding, we will work with ten partner EC organisations on this exciting research.

PhD candidate Salima Yeung is also using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) infant observation tool to look at the impact of early childhood educators’ wellbeing on their interactions with infants.

Pilot projects

Caregiver Interaction Profile Scale

This pilot project examines use of the Caregiver Interaction Profile Scale (CIPS), a measure of educator–child interaction quality, in the Australian early childhood education context.

Supporting educator wellbeing and promoting quality interactions between educators and children is essential to give children the best start in early education. However, the measurement of educator-child interaction quality can be problematic.

Measures typically focus on group-level quality, rather than the quality of interactions between the educator and an individual child, which can differ. We are piloting CIPS to measure the quality of individual educator–child interactions.

The study is being conducted by:

  • Professor Rebecca Bull (Macquarie School of Education)
  • Professor Sandie Wong (Macquarie School of Education)
  • Dr Tamara Cumming (Macquarie School of Education)
  • Dr Laura McFarland (University of Melbourne).

Hair cortisol

This project aims to determine the acceptability to early childhood educators (ECE), and the methodological feasibility, of using hair cortisol to measure ECE stress.

A few studies have attempted to measure ECE stress using salivary cortisol levels, a steroid hormone linked to stress response. There are difficulties, however, in obtaining reliable cortisol data outside of laboratory settings.

Findings will inform a larger mixed methods study of ECE wellbeing.

The study is being conducted by:

  • Professor Sandie Wong (Macquarie School of Education)
  • Professor Rebecca Bull (Macquarie School of Education)
  • Dr Tamara Cumming (Macquarie School of Education)
  • Dr David Cantor (Australian Proteome Analysis Facility [APAF], Macquarie University)
  • Dr Laura McFarland (University of Melbourne)
  • Dr Mari Saha (Tempere University, Finland).

Additional information

ECEWP timeline

YearMilestones
2023
  • ECEWP website launches in April
  • Data collection completed for hair cortisol pilot study
  • Data collection ongoing for Caregiver Interaction Profile Scale (CIPS) pilot study
  • Presentations are given to the ACT, NSW and Victorian Government Departments of Education
  • The team contributes to early childhood education and care inquiries by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Productivity Commission
  • First joint presentations from our international collaboration (WECARE) at the 12th OMEP Asia-Pacific Conference in December
2022
  • An online stakeholder update event with more than 40 participants is held to share research findings, future directions and ways to contribute
  • A protocol paper on the holistic measurement of educators’ wellbeing is published (Wong et al.)
  • A pilot study begins on the (first) use of the Caregiver Interaction Profile Scale (CIPS) to measure the quality of educator-child interactions in Australia
  • A pilot study begins on the feasibility of using hair samples to measure cortisol
  • ECEWP partners with Community Connections Solutions Australia (CCSA) to examine what works for supporting early childhood (EC) educators’ wellbeing
  • The team contributes to a submission to the NSW Government’s Women’s Economic Opportunities Review
2021
  • Laura McFarland joins the project team
  • The survey is replicated with more than 800 EC educators across Australia
  • The study is partially replicated in Canada, Finland, Hong Kong SAR and China, allowing international comparisons of educators’ wellbeing
  • A generous donation is received from a national EC organisation to support continuing research into educators’ wellbeing
  • The team contributes to consultation on the National Quality Standard and new National Workforce Strategy
2020
  • Rebecca Bull joins the project team and hosts the first meeting with international collaborators
  • The team lobbies the federal and state governments to increase support for EC educators during the COVID-19 pandemic
  • The team is commissioned by industry partners to conduct workshops on wellbeing for EC services across Australia
2019
  • A stakeholder roundtable event attracts more than 40 participants to hear initial findings of the pilot project and provide feedback on research directions
  • ECEWP holistic protocol used in contract research examining the effects of clinical supervision on EC centre directors
2018
  • A holistic conceptualisation of EC educators’ wellbeing is published (Cumming & Wong, 2018)
  • A pilot project, using standard and innovative tools, objectively measures 30 educators’ psychological and physiological wellbeing within their work environment. 
    Researchers: Sandie Wong, Tamara Cumming, Helen Logan, Sandy MacQuarrie 
    Project Manager: Kim Woodland
2017
  • A comprehensive literature review on EC educators’ wellbeing is published (Cumming, 2017)

ECEWP newsletters

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