Term

Summer 2018

Capstone

Capstone Project

Degree Name

MAEd

Facilitator(s)

Laura Halldin

Content Expert

Julie Riess

Abstract

Burnout is a serious psychological condition characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of reduced personal accomplishment (Maslach, 1982). When early childhood educators experience burnout, it undermines educational quality, puts children’s emotional development at risk, and compromises teachers’ mental health. Furthermore, burnout contributes to the alarmingly high rate of teacher turnover in the field of early childhood education. This project addresses the research question: How can early childhood program leaders learn to implement supportive strategies to promote teacher retention and increase job satisfaction? The project is comprised of a series of professional development sessions and a comprehensive resource handbook intended to educate, equip, and empower early childhood program leaders to use research-based strategies to promote teacher engagement, job satisfaction, and long-term retention. Using the burnout-engagement continuum (Maslach & Leiter, 2008) as a guide, the resources prompt participants to consider five broad categories of strategies: leadership techniques, adaptations to the physical environment, structural adaptations to the workday, collegial environment and workplace supports, and outside resources. The goal of the project is to support the early childhood workforce and promote high quality early childhood education by increasing teachers’ job satisfaction and strengthening their commitment to the field.

Project Type

Professional Development

Keywords

Early Childhood, Leadership

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Included in

Education Commons

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