Last week Dr Belinda Downey graduated with her PhD in Bathurswhile I was in Perth at the Speech Pathology Australia National Conference. I celebrated with her before I left for my 7-week trip - and was so pleased to see the photos and congratulate her this week on my return.
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DVC-A Gavin Brown and Dr Belinda Downey
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Dr Kelly Tribolet, Dr Andi Salamon, Dr Belinda Downey, Dr Doreen Rorrison, Dr Shukla Sikder
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Belinda's PhD was titled: Staying in the Early Childhood Education and Care Profession: Struggle, Hope and Connection
Her supervisors were: A/Prof Will Letts, Prof Sharynne McLeod, Dr Tamara Cumming, Dr Leanne Gibbs and Dr Doreen Rorrison.
Abstract:
Retention of early childhood educators (ECEs) has become a ‘wicked problem’ with estimates that more than 39,000 ECEs are currently required to meet workforce demands and projections that an additional 24,000 ECEs may be needed by 2025. Attrition or turnover of ECEs can negatively affect the relationships held with children and families, the quality of care and education and the educators’ workload. Wages and working conditions have been identified as one concern, but additional complex issues affecting retention, include professional recognition, administrative and regulatory burden and the intensity of the ECE role as well as compounding effects from these issues on those ECEs’ who remain. Retention in ECEC, specifically focused on the Northern Territory of Australia, provides a unique perspective regarding complex issues affecting retention in the ECEC sector. Therefore, this research investigates factors that enable or constrain ECEs’ retention in the Northern Territory.
The 34 participants were recruited through purposive random sampling across the ‘top end’ of the Northern Territory in Australia. Yarning sessions (cf. focus groups) were undertaken that discussed the ECEC profession, national sector reforms and retention. A constructivist grounded theory approach was used, and constant comparative analysis of the data was undertaken. This process led to the generation of a substantiative grounded theory to explain attrition and retention in the ECEC field, building connection builds retention. The relationships that educators built with the children, families, colleagues, their wider professional networks and their profession were identified as supporting retention.
The research findings generated one core category that was central to the data, adjusting practices and accommodating values, and two properties, struggle and hope. A basic social process of attrition and retention was identified that formed a three-stage process that became the basis of this thesis. In the first stage (becoming a professional), second stage (belonging in an organisation) and third stage (engaging with policy and legislation), participants either found hope in the connections developed and were retained, or they struggled to build connections through these stages, which led to turnover or attrition. The findings identified that ECEC retention could be supported when becoming a professional through the development of trusted, collaborative relationships, practice-level mentors and scaffolded examples of documentation and assessment. Similarly, belonging in an organisation was fostered through leadership that encouraged and supported inclusive practices and values-based approaches through robust conversations that encouraged professional autonomy and agency. Participants who engaged with the policy and legislation found that their understanding of practice and the terminology provided in the policies assisted participants’ ability to articulate and advocate for their profession.
The factors that increased ECEs’ retention was enabled through the connections these ECEs developed, which increased their motivation to ensure high-quality care and education and the probability of their retention. These findings supported the substantive grounded theory that building connection builds retention, which provides a possible solution moving into the future of the ECEC field’s ‘wicked problem’ of retention.
