Early Childhood Education Teacher Stress: Qualitative understandings and insights

Previous research demonstrates teacher stress to be an impediment to physical and mental well-being, to child outcomes, as well as to the relationship between teacher and child. Teacher stress is reported to take many forms. While working conditions (e.g., low pay, lack of support) may account for some of the teacher stress experienced, distinct teaching stress (i.e., the emotionality of working with young children) is experienced by teachers in early childhood classrooms. Moreover, the current zeitgeist (e.g., COVID-19, lack of economic support, gun violence in schools) additionally burdens teachers making learning directly from teachers the sources of their stress, the means by which they abate that stress, and how they perceive children are affected by their levels of stress imperative. Methods: Adding to the literature in a manner that promotes teacher voices and positionality, the current investigation qualitatively inquired of 6 Head Start (HS) teachers in a mid-Western, urban city-center during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, asking 1) What are HS teachers’ conceptions of stress, and 2) What are the histories, stories, and lived experiences of these teachers which undergird their conceptions. Results: Using techniques of individual and focus group interviews, data were inductively analyzed to reveal HS classrooms operating as a series of competing priorities, each of which, according to the teachers of this investigation, limited the means by which they could attend to their own stress and well-being and to the stress and well-being of students. Conclusions: Implications and recommendations are discussed.