Educator wellbeing and family engagement in Australian early learning settings: perspectives of early childhood educators and families

Lisa Murray, Patricia Eadie, Maria Fong, Kate Liley, Penny Markham, Kirsten Hardy
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Abstract

While the COVID-19 pandemic brought with it multiple challenges for families and the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) workforce, it also highlighted the essential role of ECEC in the lives of children and families and presented unique opportunities for innovation and learning. The current study sought to explore learnings from this uniquely challenging period, including the factors and strategies that best supported educator wellbeing and family engagement in ECEC settings, from the perspectives of families, centre directors and educators. In 2021, 104 Centre Directors/Educators and 102 families completed online surveys exploring wellbeing and educator–family relationships. Correlations suggest that robust professional wellbeing and resilience are potential enabling factors for strong family engagement, and that supportive organisational structures in ECEC settings are a protective factor for both educator wellbeing and family engagement. In addition, five effective family engagement strategies were derived from the qualitative data: (1) drawing on personal and professional knowledges to enrich children’s learning at home; (2) prioritising regular and reliable communication with families; (3) maintaining familiar relationships and a sense of community; (4) providing person-centred support and a bridge to other services; and (5) nurturing mutually supportive educator–family relationships. Learnings provide important insights that may inform ongoing quality improvements across different ECEC contexts, and to help safeguard against the negative impacts of future global crises.

澳大利亚早期教育机构中教育工作者的福祉和家庭参与:幼儿教育工作者和家庭的观点
虽然 COVID-19 大流行给家庭和幼儿教育与保育(ECEC)工作者带来了多重挑战,但它也凸显了幼儿教育与保育在儿童和家庭生活中的重要作用,并为创新和学习提供了独特的机会。本研究试图从家庭、中心主任和教育工作者的角度,探讨从这一独特的挑战时期中汲取的经验教训,包括在幼儿保育和教育环境中最能支持教育工作者福祉和家庭参与的因素和策略。2021 年,104 名中心主任/教育工作者和 102 个家庭完成了关于幸福感和教育工作者与家庭关系的在线调查。相关性表明,强有力的职业幸福感和复原力是家庭高度参与的潜在有利因素,而幼儿保育和教育机构的支持性组织结构则是教育工作者幸福感和家庭参与的保护因素。此外,从定性数据中得出了五种有效的家庭参与策略:(1)利用个人和专业知识丰富儿童在家中的学习;(2)优先考虑与家庭进行定期和可靠的沟通;(3)保持熟悉的关系和社区感;(4)提供以人为本的支持和连接其他服务的桥梁;以及(5)培养相互支持的教育者-家庭关系。这些经验教训提供了重要的启示,可为在不同的幼儿保育和教育背景下不断提高质量提供依据,并有助于防范未来全球危机的负面影响。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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