Understanding Early Childhood Educators' Well-Being: Links to Professional Development, Teacher-Child Interactions and Child Outcomes
Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This dissertation presents three independent studies that all focus on understanding early childhood educators' well-being.The first study identifies characteristics of prekindergarten teachers that relate to teachers' responsiveness to the professional development program MyTeachingPartner.Teachers' anxiety and readiness to change related to multiple indicators of responsiveness.Teachers who were more anxious and less ready to change were less responsive to the intervention.The second study examines how Head Start teachers' depressive symptoms relate to their provision of emotionally supportive interactions and children's social and emotional development.A direct association was found between teachers' depressive symptoms and children's socialemotional outcomes.Children in classrooms with more depressed teachers made significantly fewer positive gains in problem behaviors and social skills.The third study utilized a mixed methods approach to explore if and why preschool teachers' selfefficacy, burnout, and stress, changed in the Effective Classroom Interactions online professional development intervention.Teachers who took the online course experienced increased emotional exhaustion and decreased self-efficacy when not provided opportunities to express emotions and/or receive supportive feedback.Collectively, these three studies demonstrate the importance of teachers' well-being in (1) engaging in professional development (2) supporting children's development, as well as (3) how professional development impacts teachers' well-being.
DOI: 10.18130/v36866
Author: Amy Roberts
Institution: University of Virginia
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Funder: Institute of Education Sciences
OpenAlex ID: W4249374017