This release is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Output. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release as it may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example, new administrative data sources.
This chapter provides information on ELC managers, their training and professional development. It also describes the job satisfaction, wellbeing and stress factors reported by ELC managers included in the survey.
More than 95% of ELC managers in both types of setting reported their education and training included early childhood development, well-being and learning. More than 80% of setting managers reported that their education and training included pedagogical leadership. Topics related to financial and human resource management were included to a lesser extent (See Table 2.1).
ELC managers were asked about professional development opportunities that they availed of in the last 12 months.
The most common professional development activity the setting managers participated in was attending courses, seminars or workshops. More than eight in ten ELC managers (86.2% of managers in pre-primary settings, 81.9% of managers in settings for children under age 3) reported having attended these either in person, online or both (See Figure 2.1 and Figure 2.2).
The next most frequent professional development activity undertaken by ELC managers was formal or informal leader networks. Less than 40% of managers from either type of setting participated in any other professional development opportunities (See Figure 2.1 and Figure 2.2).
ELC managers were asked their current level of need across 16 different areas of professional development. For both pre-primary settings and settings for children under age 3 the greatest need was in the areas of human resource and financial management. The need for professional development in human resources was the highest as 62.9% of managers in pre-primary settings and 66.4% of managers in settings for children under age 3 reported a medium or high level of need in this area (See Table 2.2 and Table 2.3). Lower requirements for professional development were reported in the areas of collaborating with parents/guardians and promoting equity and diversity.
ELC Managers were also asked to report on the presence of barriers to their professional development (See Figure 2.3 and Figure 2.4). They agreed the biggest barrier to manager participation was a lack of time due to other commitments or responsibilities (82.1% of managers in pre-primary settings, 76.5% of managers in settings for children under age 3 agreed or strongly agreed). Lack of staff to cover absence, conflicts with current work schedules, cost, and the lack of incentives to participate were also cited as barriers for managers to undertake professional development.
Access to appropriate transportation, access to digital resources, digital skills and a lack of pre-requisites were not considered by the majority of managers to be barriers to their participation in professional development activities (See Figure 2.3 and Figure 2.4).
ELC managers reported very high levels of enjoyment with their current job: 96.3% of managers in pre-primary settings and 94.3% of managers in settings for children under age 3 agreed or strongly agreed with the statement ‘I enjoy working at this ELC setting’ (See Table 2.4 and Table 2.5).
More than seven out of ten ELC setting managers in both pre-primary settings and settings for children under age 3 expressed high satisfaction levels with their job: 74.9% of managers in pre-primary settings and 73.9% of managers in settings for children under age 3 agreed or strongly agreed with the statement ‘All in all, I am satisfied with my job'. They also agreed or strongly agreed they were satisfied with the support from parents/guardians (80.2% of managers in pre-primary settings, 83.6% of managers in settings for children under age 3) and from staff (88.3% of managers in pre-primary settings, 87.7% of managers in settings for children under age 3).
More than seven in ten ELC managers from both settings (79.6% of managers in pre-primary settings, 77.5% of managers in settings for children under age 3) disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement ‘I think that ELC staff are valued in society’. More than six in ten (69.9% of managers in pre-primary settings, 61.8% of managers in settings for children under age 3) reported they were dissatisfied with their salary and more than seven in ten managers (70.2% of managers from pre-primary settings, 76.0% of managers in settings for children under age 3) felt they required more support from local, regional or national authorities.
ELC setting managers reported experiencing high levels of stress in work. Seven in ten (70.3%) managers from pre-primary settings (See Figure 2.5) and close to eight in ten (79.4%; See Figure 2.6) managers from settings for children under age 3 reported experiencing 'quite a bit' or 'a lot' of stress in their work.
More than three in ten managers (31.3% of managers from pre-primary settings, 39.1% of managers from settings for children under age 3) indicated their job leaves 'quite a bit' or 'a lot' of time for their personal life.
When asked about sources of stress in their work, ELC managers reported too much administrative work was their highest source of stress at 61.5% of managers in pre-primary settings and 53.7% of managers in settings for children under age 3. More than half (54.3% of managers in pre-primary settings, 51.1% of managers in settings for children under age 3) of the ELC managers reported that keeping up with changing requirements from local, regional or national authorities contributed a lot of stress to their work (See Figure 2.7 and Figure 2.8).
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