Why governments should support early childhood educators’ wellbeing

This post is written by Claire Blewitt, Research Fellow, Monash University; Yihan Sun, Research Assistant, Monash University; Mitchell Bowden, Engagement Lead – Policy and Projects, Monash University; Lee Cameron, Director - Trauma Informed Programs, Alannah & Madeline Foundation; Yvonne Burns, Head of Families & Children, Alannah & Madeline Foundation; Jessie Mitchell, Advocacy Manager, Alannah & Madeline Foundation and Rachael Bajayo, Manager – Impact and Evaluation, Alannah & Madeline Foundation.

• The problem: Early childhood educators are asked to provide psychosocial welfare support on top of education and care – this can come at the expense of their own wellbeing.
• Why it matters: Failing to support early childhood educators to manage their exposure to trauma is contributing to high rates of burnout, and a range of flow-on effects for the children and families they support.
• The solution: A range of strategies – from funding to organisational change, and capacity building – may help prevent further burnout and promote educator wellbeing.

Educators in Australian Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings are dealing with increasing complexity, and the risks to wellbeing – for them and the families they work with – can be overlooked.

Each week in Australia, roughly 1 million, or three in five children aged 0 - 4 years attend ECEC, where they are cared for and educated by skilled, knowledgeable and motivated early childhood professionals. Increasingly, these services and educators are supporting children and families impacted by, or at risk of trauma, including violence, poverty, neglect, and displacement. At the front line, educators must mitigate and manage risk while also meeting duty of care, mandatory reporting and educational requirements. And when compared to other professionals who provide similar support, such as mental health, child protection and social workers, they often do not have access to the same level of training, supervision, coaching or consultation. This can limit their capacity to practice in a trauma-informed way, and to manage impacts on their own wellbeing.

Investment in sector-wide capacity building (e.g. training, policies, processes, systems), may help prevent some of the burnout and wellbeing harm that can accompany trauma work; and ultimately enhance the education and care provided to families and children.

Increasingly, educators encounter trauma, be it as explicit or implicit disclosures of abuse and neglect; social, emotional or behavioural concerns; and even threats to safety - all while managing expectations about their responsibility, duty of care and sphere of influence.

Facing up to realities

Many aspects of the ECEC sector vary depending on the type of service (e.g. long day care, kindergarten, family day care) and educator experience and qualifications (e.g. Bachelor, Diploma, Certificate). However, a relatively universal experience is that of trauma.

Early childhood educators are increasingly working with children and families impacted by trauma. As a result, their exposure to trauma is daily, pervasive, and can go unnoticed.

“If you work with trauma, you experience trauma.”

Educator, Victoria

Many educators begin their careers with little or no training on how to support those experiencing trauma, or how to manage vicarious exposure - and for some - there is little on-the-job capacity building available. There is a good opportunity for governments, training providers, and the ECEC sector to continue working together, through funding, training and organisational change, to prevent educator burnout and promote wellbeing.

Increasingly, educators encounter trauma, be it as explicit or implicit disclosures of abuse and neglect; social, emotional or behavioural concerns; and even threats to safety - all while managing expectations about their responsibility, duty of care and sphere of influence. However, their positioning in the ‘education’ system means their pseudo-welfare work, and their resulting needs, can go unrecognised. As such, and recognising the many differences across organisations, educators are often not routinely or systemically supported in the ways that other practitioners with similar responsibilities are (e.g. formal supervision, coaching, self-care prompting, reflective practice, peer learning, and training).

As a result of this, and many other workforce pressures, the ECEC sector risks losing skilled and talented early childhood professionals through burnout, turnover, and/or leaving educators in a position where they may be unable to provide the care needed to vulnerable children.

“We are left on our own most of the time and [our managers], whilst lovely, are under the pump and don’t have the time to help us. They’re also teachers like us, and what we need is help to manage some of the challenging behaviours we see. We’re not social workers but we have a lot of vulnerability and families with real issues and no way to make real sense of it.”

Educator, Victoria

Recognising this, in 2019 Australia’s Alannah & Madeline Foundation established a trauma consulting service that has since supported 40 service providers and 310 kindergartens with one-on-one consultations, phone support and training. Internationally, other programs have provided similar support. For example, the USA’s Supportive Trauma Interventions for Educators and Sunshine Circles go beyond raising educators’ awareness, to providing coaching, support and practical tools that enable real-time responses. However, it is unrealistic and unsustainable for not-for-profits and peak bodies – without legislative, policy and funding support – to continue filling this void. It does not address the root causes and cannot easily be scaled up for equitable access.

What needs to be done

The following actions could support integrated and holistic, trauma-informed approaches within early years environments:

• Governments should collaborate across disciplines and sectors (e.g. NFP, ECEC) to continue and scale-up evidence-based programs that provide support and build ECEC services’ capacity to be trauma-informed. Governments should also revise ECEC education and training arrangements, to standardise access to trauma-informed training. These would complement Australian federal and state governments’ commitments to provide greater support to the ECEC sector, including bi-partisan plans to fund an extra year of preschool in Victoria and NSW.
• Tertiary early years education providers can continue to ensure ECEC training includes content on creating trauma-informed early years environments (e.g. Queensland University of Technology), working with governments and training regulators to standardise content where possible across courses delivered in Universities, TAFEs and training institutes.
• **Organisations **should continue to protect educators’ wellbeing, including encouraging self-care and promoting access to it; providing necessary on-the-job training; encouraging and sustaining supportive professional relationships; and valuing the contribution educators make.

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