The New Zealand Early Childhood Educator

and Kōhanga Reo Hauora Health and

Wellbeing Survey

2021 Data

Dr Marcus Horwood
Dr Mark Rahimi
Dr Ben Arnold
Professor Phil Riley
 Produced and Published by:
Research for Educational Impact (REDI)
Faculty of Arts and Education
Deakin University
CRICOS Code: 00113B

© Copyright 2022

Suggested Citation: Horwood, M., Rahimi, M., Arnold, B., and Riley, P.
(2022). The New Zealand Early Childhood Education and Kōhanga Reo
Hauora Health and Wellbeing Survey: 2021 Data. Melbourne: Research for
Educational Impact (REDI). Deakin University.

NOT FOR RESALE. All material in this document is protected by copyright.

Use of these materials including copying or resale may infringe copyright
unless written permission has been obtained from the copyright owners.
1 Inquiries should be made to the publisher.

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 The Research Team

Chief Investigators
Dr Marcus Horwood
Dr Mark Rahimi
Dr Ben Arnold
Professor Philip Riley
Associate Professor Mohamed Abdelrazek

Project Manager
Ms. Emily Heap

Technical Support
Ms. Hanieh Alembarkadehi
Mr. Navit Choudhary

Acknowledgements
The Educator Health and Wellbeing Research Group at Deakin University are very
grateful to NZEI Te Riu Roa (NZEI) for funding this research. We would also like to thank
all the early childhood education Kōhanga Reo Hauora workforce who participated in
this research project. Your time and effort help us to understand the nature of early
childhood educators work and wellbeing in New Zealand.

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 Summary
In 2021, NZEI Te Riu Roa and the Educator Health and Wellbeing research group at
Deakin University started a partnership to deliver the New Zealand Early Childhood
Education and Kōhanga Reo Hauora Health and Wellbeing Survey. The survey provides
a picture of the work environments, working conditions, work experiences and health
and wellbeing of the early childhood education and Kōhanga Reo Hauora workforce
(respondents) in New Zealand. This report provides a summary of the main findings
from the 2021 survey.

Working conditions
Respondents reported higher levels of all major job demands when
compared with a healthy working population except work pace. Job
demands lead to increases in strain such as stress and consequent
burnout, and also reduce job satisfaction.

Caring for those with additional needs

The vast majority (88%) of respondents reported working in services that
have children with additional needs. A key stressor they identified was the
lack of resources or expertise to cater to the additional needs of their
students.

Passion for work, attrition, and recruitment

The majority of respondents (80%) are passionate about their work – a
significant difference to the global working population average of 11-13%.
This passion may justify the low levels of reported attrition (half of the ECE
centre managers reported only needing to replace up to 5% of their staff
per year). Most of these managers, however, reported having difficulty
finding replacement staff.

Health and wellbeing

Respondents report significantly higher levels of burnout, stress, and
sleeping troubles when compared with the general working population.

Musculoskeletal issues
Respondents reported high levels of musculoskeletal issues, with 73%
reporting experiencing lower back issues, and 58% reporting shoulder
issues during the last 12 months.

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 Comparisons between groups in the ECE sector
The report findings indicate the most significant differences between groups in the
ECE sector were associated with service type, employment experience, and regulatory
environment.

Differences between service types

Respondents working at privately owned education and care services
reported the lowest levels of all job resources and job satisfaction, and
highest levels of work-family conflict, stress, and burnout when compared
to other service types. Such respondents reported higher levels of
bullying, cyber bullying, and physical violence. Conversely, those working
at community based education and care services reported the highest
levels of job resources.

Impact of employment experience

Respondents with fewer than 4 years of experience reported lower self-
rated health when compared with those that have worked for more than 4
years. The proportion of respondents experiencing offensive behaviours is
more prevalent in all forms for those with fewer than 4 years of
experience when compared with those with 4 or more years of experience.

Impact of regulatory environment

Respondents working in services with better than minimum adult to child
ratios reported experiencing lower levels of all job demands, and work-
family conflict compared with those working in services at minimum ratios.
They also reported significantly higher levels of self-rated health, lower
levels of burnout, and lower levels of sleeping problems when compared
to those working in services at minimum ratio.

Besides the prevalence of cyber bullying, all forms of offensive behaviour

were more likely to be experienced by those working in centres at
minimum adult: child ratio compared with those working in centres with
better than minimum ratios. Notably, the likelihood of experiencing
physical violence was more than double in centres at minimum ratio for
respondents.

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 Recommendations
Overall respondents reported experiencing far higher job demands when compared
with a healthy working population, and consequently higher levels of burnout, stress,
and lower levels of job satisfaction. This must be addressed, either by reducing the
extent of job demands, or increasing job resources to act as a buffer. With the
majority of those responsible for centres and services reporting challenges to fill
vacancies. Improvements such as providing additional supports to assist with, and
reduce, current ECE educator workloads, and greater entitlements associated with
leave and remuneration, would assist in reducing the current stress and burnout
reported, increase job satisfaction, and entice more people to enter the sector.

The significant differences in metrics and outcomes for respondents working in

services with better than minimum adult: child ratios strongly suggests the current set
of regulations are not adequate to meet ECE educators’ needs, and may be placing
them at additional psychosocial and physical risk.

The privately owned education and care services are performing poorly on a multitude
of metrics when compared to the other service types. As such, further scrutiny by
those managing these services is strongly needed. It may be useful to direct attention
to other services types, notably those that are community based, to determine what
works well in these services and try replicating the successes.

The high levels of offensive behaviours against respondents are a serious cause for
concern. The high proportion of respondents experiencing offensive behaviours
underscores that this is an issue in need of urgent policy attention. The consequences
of offensive behaviours in ECE workplaces are likely to become costly for employers,
through time lost to ill health, Health, Safety, Security, and Environment claims against
employers’ responsibility for not providing a safe working environment, and reduced
functioning while at work because of the high levels of offensive behaviour in the
workplace. Considering the difficulties service managers are having with filling staff
vacancies, it is important to foster a welcoming workplace environment in particular
for these new employees.

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 Contents

The Research Team 2

Summary 3

Recommendations 5

Figures and Tables 7

Introduction 10

1. Research Aim and Group Comparisons 11

2. ECE Educator Psychosocial Work Environments 12

Educating those with Additional Needs 13

Passion for Work 13

Attrition and Recruitment 13

Musculoskeletal Issues 15

ECE Educator Work Environments: Job Demands 16

ECE Educator Work Environments: Job Resources 19

Sources of Support 22

3. ECE Educator Health and Wellbeing 23

ECE Educator Health and Wellbeing: Key Outcomes 26

ECE Educator Health and Wellbeing: Sources of Stress 29

4. Offensive Behaviours against ECE Educators 30

5. Summary 34

6 6. References 37

5 7. Appendix 39
 Figures and Tables

Figure 1: ECE educator respondents employment basis 12

Figure 2: Full-time ECE educator respondents average working hours 12

Figure 3: ECE educator respondents educating children with additional needs 13

Figure 4: Types of additional need 13

Figure 5: Percentage of workers Passionate about Work 13

Figure 6: ECE educators who leave their service in an average year 14

Figure 7: ECE educator respondent difficulty to fill staff vacancies 14

Figure 8: ECE educator respondents musculoskeletal issues 15

Table 1: Survey measures of ECE educator’s job demands 16

Figure 9: ECE educator five major job demands 17

Figure 10: ECE educator five major job demands between service types 17

Figure 11: ECE educator job demands between employment experience 18

Figure 12: ECE educator demands between regulatory environments 18

Table 2: Survey measures of ECE educator’s job resources 19

Figure 13: ECE educator job resources 20

Figure 14: ECE educator job resources between service types 20

Figure 15: ECE educator job resources between employment experience 21

Figure 16: ECE educator job resources between regulatory environments 21

Figure 17: ECE educator respondent sources of support 22

7 Table 3: Survey measures of experiences of work 23

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 Figures and Tables
Figure 18: ECE educator respondent experiences of work 23

Figure 19: ECE educator respondent experiences of work re service type 24

Figure 20: ECE educator respondent experiences of work re employment exp 24

Figure 21: ECE educator respondent experiences of work re reg env 25

Table 4: Survey measures of health and wellbeing 26

Figure 22: ECE educator respondent health and wellbeing key outcomes 26

Figure 23: ECE educator respondent wellbeing outcomes re service type 27

Figure 24: ECE educator respondent wellbeing outcomes re employment exp 27

Figure 25: ECE educator respondent wellbeing outcomes re reg env 28

Figure 26: ECE educator respondent sources of stress at work 29

Table 5: Survey measures of offensive behaviours 30

Figure 27: ECE educator respondent reported offensive behaviours 30

Figure 28: ECE educator respondent reported off behaviours re service type 31

Figure 29: ECE educator respondent reported off behaviours re employ exp 31

Figure 30: ECE educator respondent reported off behaviours re reg env 32

Figure 31: Perpetrators of bullying 32

Figure 32: Perpetrators of threats of violence 33

Figure 33: Perpetrators of physical violence 33

Appendix Figure 1: Sample distribution by role 39

Appendix Figure 2: Sample distribution by gender 40

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5 Appendix Figure 3: Sample distribution by service type 40

 Figures and Tables
Appendix Figure 4: Respondent ethnicity 41

Appendix Figure 5: Services that received an annual top-up for being isolated 41

Appendix Figure 6: Services intending to opt for pay parity funding 42

Appendix Figure 7: Services that qualify for targeted funding for disadvantage 42

 Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented early childhood education educators working
in early childhood education and Kōhanga Reo (ECE educators) with new challenges
and required them to adapt to frequent change and uncertainty. These new pressures
have added to concerns about ECE educator workloads and the adverse effects of
early childhood work on ECE educator health and wellbeing.

This report summarises the key findings of The New Zealand Early Childhood
Education and Kōhanga Reo Hauora Health and Wellbeing Survey (ECE Survey). The
ECE survey covers key dimensions of wellbeing at work, including:

· The psychosocial work environment

· School leaders’ experiences of work
. Key measures of school leaders’ health and wellbeing

A key instrument of the ECE survey is the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire

(COPSOQ-III).1 This questionnaire is regarded as the “gold standard” in occupational
health and safety self-report measures. The structure of the COPSOQ-III consists of
higher order domains (e.g., job demands) and contributing subdomains/scales (e.g.,
quantitative demands). These have been found to be very robust and stable measures
of the psychosocial work environment and health and wellbeing (Burr, Albertsen,
Rugulies, & Hannerz, 2010; Dicke et al, 2018; Kiss, De Meester, Kruse, Chavee, &
Braeckman, 2013; Thorsen & Bjorner, 2010). All COPSOQ domain scores are
transformed to 0-100 aiding comparisons across domains.

This report presents the average scores for the surveyed New Zealand ECE educators
on the main dimensions of the psychosocial work environment and health and
wellbeing. Where possible, ECE educator responses are compared with the average
scores from a healthy general working population (see next page) to illustrate the
similarities and/or unique challenges of ECE educator work.

Please refer to the Appendix for the survey sample demographic information, survey
caveats, and additional information regarding the measures and methodology used.

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1 More information about the survey is included in Appendix 1

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 1. Research Aim and Group Comparisons
The aim of this longitudinal research project is to track ECE educator experiences,
work environments, and their health and wellbeing annually. The evidence generated
through our analysis is intended to inform policies and strategies to promote safe,
healthy work environments and appropriate support for New Zealand ECE
professionals.

Sub-Groups
To best understand the experiences of ECE educators in different environments and
between different demographics, in this report we have also analysed the differences
between some key sub-groups where feasible, such as: Service Type, Employment
Arrangement, and Regulatory Environment.

Service Type
ECE educator responses were compared between those working in Kindergarten (54%
of the survey sample), those in community based education and care services (20%),
and those in privately owned education and care services (26%).

Employment Experience
The responses from ECE educators that had been in their current employment
agreement for 4 or more years were compared with those from respondents that
were part of their agreement for fewer than 4 years.

Regulatory Environment
Respondents working in services meeting minimum adult: child ratios were compared
with those working in services that were better than minimum adult: child ratios.

Population Comparison
We were able to compare a number of the responses from the respondents with
responses from a general working population considered one of the ‘healthiest’ in the
world. We note, however, these data were collected in 2010 in a country with
different legal and cultural environments to that of New Zealand (in Demark). As such,
interpreting the comparisons should be taken with caution. As this is the first year of
data collection on NZ ECE educators, we were unable to compare this year’s
responses to a prior year. From the 2022 report onwards such a comparison will be
possible and will provide insight into trends over time.

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 2. ECE Educator Psychosocial Work Environments
The psychosocial work environment refers to the set of conditions under which ECE
educators perform their work in services, such as job demands, work organisation,
content of work or social relations at work. Psychosocial working conditions in the
ECE sector are experienced by individual- and groups of- ECE educators and elicit
cognitive and emotional responses that lead to mental and physical health outcomes.
In this section of the report, we consider ECE educator psychosocial work
environments. We begin by reviewing ECE educator respondent average working
hours before considering the major demands that they face and the resources that
they have available to them.

ECE Educator Work Environments:

Employment and Average Working Hours
Three quarters of respondents (78%) have full-time positions. Of these respondents,
74.3% worked on average between 36 and 45 hours a week. 22% of full-time
respondents reported working over 45 hours on average per week.

Casual 4% Othe r 5%
Part -tim e
(3 days a week ) 1%

11
Part- %
time
(4 da
ys a w
eek )

78%
Full-t ime

Figure 1: Respondents' employment basis

12
Figure 2:Full-time respondents' average working hours per week (%)
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 Educating those with Additional Needs
Of the total survey sample, 88% of respondents
reported working in centres that have children
with additional needs.

The most prevalent additional needs were

associated with speech and language (82%)
closely followed by behavioural issues (76%).

This large proportion of respondents reporting 88%

educating children with additional needs likely
explains why one of the highest reported
stressors for respondents is from a lack of
specialist support for dealing with children with
additional needs (see page 27).
Figure 3: Respondents educating
children with additional needs

82% 76%
35% 31% 11%

Speech and Language Behaviour Health Physical Other

Figure 4: Types of additional need

Passion for Work

The majority of respondents were invested in their work, with 80% considered
passionate. This is in substantial contrast to the 11-13% of people deemed passionate
about their work in the global working population. Indeed, passionate workers are
more dedicated to their professions, and typically report higher levels of job
satisfaction. With that said, passionate workers may be more willing to tolerate
greater job demands or poor working conditions, placing them at greater risk of
illbeing such as burnout.

80% 12%

13 Respondents Global Working Population

Figure 5: Percentage of respondents passionate about work
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 Attrition and Recruitment
The respondents responsible for centres and services (72) were asked “What
percentage of employees leave your service in an average year?”, with half (50%)
responding that less than 5% of employees leave their service on average each year.
This low level of attrition may be a result of the high levels of reported work passion.

Figure 6: ECE educators who leave their service in an average year (%)

Although most respondents did not report experiencing an issue with attrition,
respondents responsible for centres and services reported experiencing challenges
when trying to fill staff vacancies, with 36% reporting it being very difficult, and 31%
reporting it being somewhat difficult. This suggests there is a shortage of ECE
educators to meet demand.

Figure 7: Respondent difficulty to fill staff vacancies (%)

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 Musculoskeletal Issues
Resondents were also asked whether as a result of their work activities, had they at
any time during the last 12 months had musculoskeletal issues (such as ache, pain,
discomfort, numbness). Concerningly, issues with their lower backs and shoulders
were reported by over half of all respondents.

Figure 8: Respondents who reported musculoskeletal issues (%)

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 ECE Educator Work Environments: Job Demands
Job demands are the physical, psychological, social and organisational aspects of a
job that require continuous physical and/or psychological (cognitive and emotional)
effort. In the survey, ECE educators were asked about their experiences of five major
job demands: quantitative demands, work pace, cognitive demands, emotional
demands and demands for hiding emotions.

Table 1: Survey measures of ECE educator’s job demands

Quantitative Demands reflect the amount of work an individual experiences

relative to their ability to complete that work. They can be assessed as an
incongruity between the number of tasks and the time available to perform
the tasks in a satisfactory manner. Work Pace assesses the speed at which
tasks must be performed. It is a measure of the intensity of work.

Cognitive Demands assesses demands involving the cognitive abilities of ECE

educators. The relationship between Cognitive Demands and wellbeing is
complex. Facing new tasks or overcoming new challenges triggers strain but
because it involves task variation or learning, it can also increase job
satisfaction and facilitate personal development.

Emotional Demands assesses when ECE educators must deal with or are
confronted with other people’s feelings at work or placed in emotionally
demanding situations. Other people comprise both people not employed at
the workplace (e.g., parents and students) and people employed at the
workplace (e.g., colleagues, superiors or subordinates).

Demands for Hiding Emotions assesses when an employee must conceal

their own feelings at work from other people. Other people comprise both
people not employed at the workplace (e.g., parents and students) and people
employed at the workplace (e.g., colleagues, superiors, or subordinates). The
scale shows the amount of time individuals spend in surface acting
(pretending an emotion that is not felt) or down-regulating (hiding) felt
emotions.

Respondents reported regularly experiencing all five major demands at work (see
Table 1). They also regularly dealt with emotionally challenging situations (emotional
demands) and frequently had to conceal their emotions at work (see Figure 9).
Compared to a healthy working general population, Respondents more frequently
experienced major demands at work.

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 The findings suggest that on average New Zealand ECE educators work in very
demanding environments where they are required to contend with a large volume of
work, very frequently engage in mentally taxing tasks/activities, and are regularly
required to deal with the emotions of others and manage their own emotions.
Respondents were found to report experiencing substantially higher levels of all
major demands when compared with the general population except work pace.

Figure 9: ECE educator five major job demands

Note: 0 indicates that respondents never/hardly ever experience these demands and 100
indicates that they always experience them.

Comparing Service Types

In most instances, the extent of the five major job demands reported by respondents
did not vary significantly between service types. Respondents working in community
based education and care services, however, reported notably lower levels of
quantitative demands when compared with the other service types.

Figure 10: ECE educator five major job demands between service types

Note: 0 indicates that respondents never/hardly ever experience these demands and 100
indicates that they always experience them.
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 Comparing Employment Experience
No discernible differences were noticeable between reported job demands when
comparing employment experience.

Figure 11: ECE educator five major job demands between employment experience
Note: 0 indicates that respondents never/hardly ever experience these demands and 100
indicates that they always experience them.

Comparing Regulatory Environments

Respondents working in services with better than minimum adult: child ratios
reported experiencing lower levels of all job demands compared with those working
in services at minimum ratio.

Figure 12: ECE educator five major job demands between regulatory environments

Note: 0 indicates that respondents never/hardly ever experience these demands and 100
indicates that they always experience them.

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 ECE Educator Work Environments: Job Resources
Job resources are the aspects of ECE educator work that enables them to achieve
work goals, and stimulate personal growth, learning and development. Workplace
resources are the physical and social resources available in the workplace setting.
They may include strong work relationships, clear trust between colleagues and
management, among many other factors. In this section we report on the following
job resources: quality of leadership, social support from colleagues, social community
at work, trust and justice.

Table 2: Survey measures of ECE educator’s job resources

Quality of Leadership assesses the next higher managers’ leadership in

different contexts and domains.

Social Support from Colleagues assesses ECE educators’ impressions of the

possibility to obtain support from colleagues if one should need it.

Social Community at Work assesses whether there is a feeling of being part

of the group of employees at the workplace (e.g., if employee’s relations are
good and if they work well together).

Trust Regarding Management (Vertical Trust) assesses whether the

employees can trust the management and vice versa. Vertical trust can be
observed in the communication between the management and the employees.

Mutual Trust between Employees (Horizontal Trust) assesses whether the

employees can trust each other in daily work or not. Trust can be observed in
the communication in the workplace, e.g., if one freely can express attitudes
and feelings without fear of negative reactions.

Justice assesses whether workers are treated fairly.

In 2021, respondents reported that they experienced most of the job resources to
some extent. On average, they reported that they ‘often’ felt a strong sense of
community at work and that they experienced a good degree of trust regarding
management and also mutual trust between employees. However, social support
from colleagues appeared to be quite limited, with most reporting ‘sometimes’ having
such support available (Figure 13).

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 Compared to the healthy working population, the respondents experienced similar
levels of job resources.

Figure 13: ECE educator job resources

Note: 0 indicates that the respondents never/hardly ever experience these resources and 100
indicates that they always experience them.

Comparing Service Types

When comparing ECE educator job resources between service types, a few
discrepancies are evident. Respondents working at privately owned education and
care services reported the lowest levels of all resources when compared to the other
service types, with the largest discrepancy regarding the quality of leadership.
Conversely, those working at community based education and care services reported
the highest levels of job resources, including when compared with the healthy
population, except regarding the extent of social support from colleagues.

Figure 14: ECE educator job resources between service types

Note: 0 indicates that the respondents never/hardly ever experience these resources and 100
indicates that they always experience them.

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 Comparing Employment Experience
When comparing the respondents based on their employment experience, there were
a few differences, with those having worked for 4 or more years as an ECE educator
reporting higher levels of quality of leadership, social support from colleagues, sense
of community at work, and mutual trust between employees compared to those that
had worked fewer than 4 years.

Figure 15: ECE educator five major job resources between employment experience

Note: 0 indicates that the respondents never/hardly ever experience these demands and 100
indicates that they always experience them.

Comparing Regulatory Environments

Only 2 notable differences of reported ECE educator job resources were evident when
comparing between those working in services at minimum adult: child ratio compared
with those working in services better than minimum ratio; trust regarding
management, and justice were higher for those working in services better than
minimum ratio.

Figure 16: ECE educator job resources between regulatory environments

Note: 0 indicates that the respondents never/hardly ever experience these demands and 100
indicates that they always experience them.

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 Sources of Support
As shown in Figure 17, the majority of respondents (65%) reported friends and family
outside of the workplace were their main source of support. This includes family
members, partners, and friend outside the workplace. The second highest source of
support (55%) was from professional relationships, including those with colleagues
within their own workplace, and colleagues outside their workplace. Friendships in
the workplace, such as with colleagues and managers, were a source of support for
27% of the respondents. The lowest reported sources of support for the respondents
were from medical professionals (medical practitioners, psychologist/counsellor), and
external organisations (Ministry of Education, professional association/union) with
13% and 12% respectively. Fortunately, no respondents indicated they had no sources
of support (typically a subset of individuals in a working population indicates that
they have no sources of support).

Figure 17: Respondent sources of support (%)

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 3. ECE Educator Health and Wellbeing
In this section, we report on ECE educator health and wellbeing during 2021. We
begin by considering key measures of ECE educator experiences of work before
analysing the main health and wellbeing outcomes included in the survey.

Experiences of Work
ECE experiences of their work indicate how they feel about their working conditions
and how their work impacts on their lives outside of work. In this section we report
on two key measures of early childhood educators’ work experience: job satisfaction
and work-family conflict. The respondents reported considerably higher levels of
work-family conflict when compared with the healthy working population, however
the difference between job satisfaction was minimal.

Table 3: Survey measures of experiences of work

Job satisfaction assesses the degree of pleasure or positive emotions that

ECE educators experience as a result of their work

Work-family conflict measures the consequences of work on family/personal

life.

Figure 18: Respondent experiences of work

Note: 0 indicates that the respondents never/hardly ever experience these conditions and 100
indicates that they always experience them.
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 Comparing Service Types
Respondents working in privately owned education and care services reported
significantly lower levels of job satisfaction when compared with the other service
types, and they reported the highest level of work-family conflict (though not
significantly different when compared with respondents working in kindergarten).

Figure 19: Respondent experiences of work between service type

Note: 0 indicates that respondents never/hardly ever experience these conditions and 100
indicates that they always experience them.

Comparing Employment Experience

No discernible difference is shown between the reported levels of job satisfaction or
work-family conflict when comparing respondent employment experience.

Figure 20: Respondent experiences of work between employment experience

Note: 0 indicates that the respondents never/hardly ever experience these conditions and 100
indicates that they always experience them.

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 Comparing Regulatory Environments
No discernible difference is shown between the reported levels of job satisfaction
comparing ECE educator regulatory environments, however respondents working in
services with better than adult: child minimum ratio reported significantly lower
levels of work-family conflict when compared with those working in services at
minimum ratio.

Figure 21: Respondent experiences of work between regulatory environments

Note: 0 indicates that the respondents never/hardly ever experience these conditions and 100
indicates that they always experience them.

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 ECE Educator Health and Wellbeing: Key Outcomes
ECE educator experiences at work elicit cognitive and emotional processes that lead
to mental and physical health outcomes. This section of the report summarises ECE
educator experiences of four major health and wellbeing outcomes: self-rated health,
burnout, sleeping troubles and stress.

Table 4: Survey measures of health and wellbeing

Self-rated health is a rating of the overall general health experienced by an

employee.

Burnout assesses the degree of physical and mental fatigue/exhaustion of an

employee.

Sleeping troubles deal with sleep length, determined by e.g. sleeping in,
waking up, interruptions and of quality of sleep.

Stress is defined as a reaction of the individual, a combination of tension and

unwillingness. As elevated stress levels over a longer period are detrimental to
health, it is necessary to determine long-term, or chronic stress.

In 2021, the respondents rated their overall state of health as approximately 59 out of
100. On this scale, 100 is the best possible state of health and 0 the worst. On
average, the respondents reported that they experienced sleeping troubles, stress
and burnout ‘some of the time’.

Compared to the healthy working population, the respondents reported similar levels
of general health, yet significantly higher levels of burnout, stress, and sleeping
troubles.

Figure 22: Respondent health and wellbeing key outcomes

26 Note: 0 indicates that the respondents never/hardly ever experience these conditions and 100
indicates that they always experience them.
5
 Comparing Service Types
The respondents working in privately owned education and care services reported the
lowest levels of self-rated health, and highest levels of burnout and stress. It was
those working in kindergarten, however, that reported the highest levels of sleeping
troubles.

Figure 23: Respondent health and wellbeing outcomes between service type
Note: 0 indicates that the respondents never/hardly ever experience these conditions and 100
indicates that they always experience them.

Comparing Employment Experience

Respondents who had fewer than 4 years of experience in their current employment
agreement reported lower levels of self-rated health when compared with those that
have worked for more than 4 years. The more experienced respondents, however,
reported considerably higher sleeping troubles than the less experienced
respondents.

Figure 24: Respondent health and wellbeing outcomes between employment experience

27 Note: 0 indicates that the respondents never/hardly ever experience these conditions and 100
indicates that they always experience them.

 Comparing Regulatory Environments

The respondents working in services better than minimum adult: child ratio reported
significantly higher levels of self-rated health, lower levels of burnout, and lower
levels of sleeping problems when compared to those working in services at minimum
ratio.

Figure 25: Respondent health and wellbeing outcomes between regulatory environments

Note: 0 indicates that the respondents never/hardly ever experience these conditions and 100
indicates that they always experience them.

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 ECE Educator Health and Wellbeing: Sources of Stress
In terms of the sources of stress, excessive demands, such as sheer quantity of work
and lack of time to focus on teaching and learning, were reported as the biggest
stressors for the respondents (76%). Illbeing, such as mental health issues of staff was
the second leading source of stress reported at 59%, closely followed by support
deficits (e.g., lack of specialist support for dealing with children, inability to get
relievers, staff absences) at 58% and child and whānau/parent related issues, such as
behavioural and learning needs issues, were reported as sources of stress by 56% of
respondents.

Figure 26: Respondent sources of stress at work (%)

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 4. Offensive Behaviours against ECE Educators
Recent studies indicate that disruptive and extreme behaviour from primary aged
students is a growing cause for concern for teachers in New Zealand (Wylie and
Macdonald, 2019). Wylie & MacDonald (2019) found that primary school teachers’
reports of disruptive student behaviour and of feeling unsafe in English-medium
primary schools had increased noticeably in recent years. Data on ECE educators
regarding this, however, is lacking. In this section, we focus on a sample of early ECE
educator experiences of offensive behaviours in ECE services. We report on
experiences of four offensive behaviours during the last 12 months: threats of
violence, physical violence, bullying and cyber-bullying.

Table 5: Survey measures of offensive behaviours

Threats of violence is the exposure to a threat of violence in the workplace.

Physical violence is the exposure to physical violence in the workplace.

Bullying is the repeated exposure to unpleasant or degrading treatment in

the workplace, and the person finds it difficult to defend themselves against
it.

Cyber bullying is the repeated exposure to unpleasant or degrading

treatment via the internet, such as through social media platforms, in which
the person finds it difficult to defend themselves against.

Overall, 30% of the respondents reported experiencing bullying during the last 12
months, and 25% reported experiencing actual physical violence.

Figure 27: Respondents reported offensive behaviours (%)

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 Comparing Service Types
Respondents working in privately owned education and care services reported
substantially higher levels of bullying, cyber bullying, and physical violence, when
compared with the other service types. However, such respondents reported lower
levels of experiencing threats of violence.

Figure 28: Respondent reported offensive behaviours between service type (%)

Comparing Employment Experience

As shown in the Figure 29, the proportion of respondents experiencing offensive
behaviours is more prevalent in all forms for those being part of their agreement for
less than 4 years when compared with those being part of their current agreement for
4 or more years. Bullying was the most common offensive behaviour experienced (25-
34%), and cyber bullying being the rarest (2-4%).

Figure 29: Respondent reported offensive behaviours between employment experience (%)

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 Comparing Regulatory Environments
Besides the prevalence of cyber bullying, all forms of offensive behaviour were more
likely to be experienced by those working in centres at minimum adult: child ratio
compared with those working in centres with better than minimum ratio. Notably, the
likelihood of experiencing physical violence was more than double in centres at
minimum ratio for respondents (Figure 30).

Figure 30: Respondent reported offensive behaviours between regulatory environments (%)

Offensive Behaviour Perpetrators

The following section breaks down the percentage of survey respondents that
experienced offensive behaviour based on the perpetrator of the behaviour. We note
only 2% of ECE educator respondents reported cyber bullying, all from parents/carers.
As such, this has not been further explored.

Bullying

Of the survey respondents, 15% indicated they had experienced bullying from
colleagues, followed by 5% reporting the bullying came from parents, and 1% from
tamariki/children.

Figure 31: Perpetrators of bullying (%)

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 Threats of Violence
Of the survey respondents, 14% indicated they had experienced threats of violence
from Tamariki/children, followed by 5% reporting the threats came from parents, and
1% from colleagues.

Figure 32: Perpetrators of threats of violence (%)

Physical Violence
Of the respondents, 25% reported experiencing physical violence from
Tamariki/children, with 2% reporting the physical violence came from parents.

Figure 33: Perpetrators of physical violence (%)

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 5. Summary
Work demands and resources need to be in balance for good psychological health at
work. High job demands and low job resources may cause job strain and eventually
result in burnout (Bakker and Demerouti, 2007). However, high job resources buffer
job demands, reducing their negative impact on individuals.

NZ ECE Educator Respondents

The respondents reported experiencing substantially higher levels of all major
demands when compared with the general population except work pace. Compared
to the healthy working population, the respondents reported similar levels of general
health, yet significantly higher levels of burnout, stress, and sleeping troubles.
Further, they reported high musculoskeletal issues, with the majority reporting lower
back and shoulder issues during the last 12 months. The 2022 and 2023 surveys will
enable us to consider whether these scores remain consistent over time and the
impact that the COVID-19 pandemic may have had on the results.

The high levels of offensive behaviours against respondents are a serious cause for
concern. The high proportion of respondents experiencing offensive behaviours
underscores that this is an issue in need of urgent policy attention. The consequences
of offensive behaviours in ECE workplaces are likely to become costly for employers,
through time lost to ill health, Health, Safety, Security, and Environment claims
against employers’ responsibility for not providing a safe working environment, and
reduced functioning while at work because of the high levels of offensive behaviour in
the workplace. These issues could be systematically addressed through a
comprehensive investigation that examines:

differences in the occupational risk of the different types of ECE educators, to

identify
who is most at risk;
why, and what can be done to protect them; and governance structures,
information
flow between adults; and
external influences on centre functioning.

Service Type
The respondents working at privately owned education and care services reported
the lowest levels of all resources when compared to the other service types, with the
largest discrepancy regarding the quality of leadership. These respondents also
reported the highest level of work-family conflict, the lowest levels of self-rated
health, and highest levels of burnout and stress.

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 Conversely, those working at community-based education and care services reported
the highest levels of job resources, including when compared with the healthy
population, except regarding the extent of social support from colleagues. It was the
respondents working in kindergarten, however, that reported the highest levels of
sleeping troubles. Finally, private sector respondents reported substantially higher
levels of bullying, cyber bullying, and physical violence, when compared with the
other service types. However, such respondents reported lower levels of
experiencing threats of violence. These findings suggest when compared with the
other ECE service types, the privately owned education and care services are
performing poorly on a multitude of metrics. As such, further scrutiny by those
managing these services is strongly needed.

Employment Experience
Respondents that have worked for 4 or more years as an ECE educator reported
higher levels of quality of leadership, social support from colleagues, sense of
community at work, and mutual trust between employees compared to the
respondents that had worked fewer than 4 years. Respondents who had fewer than
4 years of experience in their current employment agreement reported lower levels
of self-rated health when compared with those that had worked for more than 4
years. The more experienced respondents, however, reported considerably higher
sleeping troubles than the less experienced respondents. Finally, the proportion of
respondents experiencing offensive behaviours is more prevalent in all forms for
those being part of their agreement for less than 4 years when compared with those
being part of their current agreement for 4 or more years. Considering the
difficulties service managers are having with filling staff vacancies, it is important to
foster a welcoming workplace environment in particular for these new employees.

Regulatory Environment
The respondents working in services with a better than minimum adult: child ratio
reported experiencing lower levels of all job demands compared with those working
in services at minimum ratio. They reported significantly lower levels of work-family
conflict, burnout, and sleeping problems and higher levels of self-rated health, trust
regarding management, and justice when compared with though working in services
at minimum ratio. Besides the prevalence of cyber bullying, all forms of offensive
behaviour were more likely to be experienced by those working in centres at
minimum ratio compared with those working in centres at better than minimum
ratio.

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 Notably, the likelihood of experiencing physical violence was more than double in
centres at minimum ratio for respondents. The significant differences in metrics and
outcomes for respondents working in services with a better than minimum ratio
suggests the current set of regulations are not adequate to meet ECE educators’
needs, and may be placing them at additional psychosocial and physical risk. More in-
depth research is required regarding the impact external regulatory factors have on
psychosocial and physical risks to ECE educators. If these survey findings are
consistently reflective of the general ECE educator population, immediate substantial
and thorough review of external regulatory factors is necessary to ensure they are
conducive to both ECE educator and child wellbeing outcomes.

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 6. References
Babor, T. F., Higgins-Biddle, J. C., Saunders, J. B., & Monteiro, M. G. (2001). AUDIT: The alcohol
use disorders identification test. Guidelines for use in primary care (W. H. Organization Ed. 2nd
ed.). Geneva.

Bakker, Arnold, B., and Demerouti, E. (2007). The job demands‐resources model: State of the art.
Journal of
Managerial Psychology.

Burr, H., Albertsen, K., Rugulies, R., & Hannerz, H. (2010). Do dimensions from the Copenhagen
Psychosocial Questionnaire predict vitality and mental health over and above the job strain and
effort—reward imbalance models? Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 38(3_suppl), 59-68.

Caruso, C. C., Hitchcock, E. M., Dick, R. B., Russo, J. M., & Schmit, J. M. (2004). Overtime and
extended work shifts: Recent findings on illnesses, injuries, and health behaviors. Cincinnati: U.
S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The "What" and "Why" of goal pursuits: Human needs and the
self determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227-268. DOI:
10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01.

Dicke, T., Marsh, H. W., Riley, P., Parker, P. D., Guo, J., & Horwood, M. (2018). Validating the
Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ-II) using set-ESEM: Identifying psychosocial
risk factors in a sample of school principals. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, DOI:
10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00584.

Johnson, M, Hickey, L, and Fink-Jensen, K, (2010). The Psychosocial Work Environment A Survey
of New Zealand Workers, Research New Zealand, (Unpublished).

Kiss, P., De Meester, M., Kruse, A., Chavée, B., & Braeckman, L. (2013). Comparison between the
first and second versions of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire: psychosocial risk
factors for a high need for recovery after work. International Archives of Occupational and
Environmental Health, 86(1), 17-24. DOI: 10.1007/s00420-012-0741-0.

Pejtersen, J. H., Kristensen, T. S., Borg, V., & Bjorner, J. B. (2010). The second version of the
Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 38(Suppl 3), 8-
24.

Price Waterhouse Coopers (2014) Creating a mentally healthy workplace, Return on investment
analysis. Retrieved on 1 March 2021 from https://www.headsup.org.au/docs/default-
source/default-documentlibrary/research-by-pricewaterhouse-coopers.pdf?sfvrsn=3149534d_2.

Richardson, J., Khan, M., Iezzi, A., Sinha, K., Mihalopoulos, C., Herrman, H., et al. (2009). The
37 AQoL-8D (PsyQoL) MAU Instrument: Overview September 2009. Melbourne: Centre for Health
Economics, Monash University.

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 Richardson, J., Iezzi., K. M. A., & Maxwell, A. (2014). Validity and reliability of the Assessment of
Quality of Life (AQoL)-8D multi-attribute utility instrument. The Patient - Patient-Centered
Outcomes Research, 7(1), 85-96.

Thorsen, S. V., & Bjorner, J. B. (2010). Reliability of the Copenhagen psychosocial questionnaire.
Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 38(3_suppl), 25-32. DOI: 10.1177/1403494809349859.

Trepanier, S.-G., Fernet, C., Austin, S., Forest, J., & Vallerand, R. J. (2014). Linking job demands
and resources to burnout and work engagement: Does passion underlie these differential
relationships? Motivation and Emotion, 38(3), 353-366. DOI: 10.1007/s11031-013-9384-z.

Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of
positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
54(6), 1063. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063.

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 7. Appendix

Survey Participants
In 2021, 228 New Zealand ECE educators completed the survey (27 being partial
completions). The number of respondents is lower than what we would typically
expect, likely due to the substantial challenges and disruptions caused by the COVID-
19 pandemic.

We stress that, although these data may reflect the current situation and trends
among ECE educators, there is no guarantee this sample represents the broader ECE
educator population. These data, however, highlight areas of interest that warrant
further exploration and research. A greater proportion of the population would be
needed to be surveyed to ensure the findings are representative.

Role
Of the 228 participants that completed the survey 85 (37.3%) were Certificated
Kaiako/Teachers in Kindergarten, 51 (22.4%) Certificated Kaiako/Teachers in
Education and Care, 38 (16.7%) Head Teachers and 18 (7.9%) were Centre Managers.

Appendix Figure 1: Sample distribution by role (%)

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 Gender
The gender breakdown for the sample was 214 (94%) female, 10 (4.4%) male, 3 (1.3%)
gender-diverse and 1 participant (0.2%) preferred not to say.

Appendix Figure 2: Sample distribution by gender (%)

Service Type
Of the participating ECE educators, 120 worked in Kindergarten (54%), 45 (20%)
worked in Community based Education and Care Services and 59 (26%) worked in
privately owned Education and Care Services.

Appendix Figure 3: Sample distribution by service type (%)

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 Respondent Ethnicity
The majority of respondents have New Zealand European/Paokeha ethnicity (62.3%).

Appendix Figure 4: Respondent Ethnicity (%)

Annual Top-Up for Isolated Services

Only a small proportion of respondents indicated their service received an annual
top-up for being an isolated service (11%). Over a third, however, indicated they did
not know whether such funding was received at their service (37%).

41 Appendix Figure 5: Services that received an Annual Top-Up for

being isolated (%)

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 Pay Parity Funding
Almost half (48%) of respondents indicated their service plans to opt for the new Pay
Party funding to support higher teacher salaries from January 2022.

Appendix Figure 6: Services intending to opt for Pay Parity funding (%)

Targeted Funding for Disadvantage

Almost half (48%) of the respondents indicated their service qualified for Targeted
Funding for Disadvantage.

Appendix Figure 7: Services that qualify for Targeted Funding for

Disadvantage (%)

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 Participant Care
Each participant received an interactive, user specific report of their survey responses
benchmarked against responses of their peers and members of the general
population upon their completion of the survey.

The survey included the assessment of three “red flag” risk indicators: Self-harm;
Quality of Life; and Occupational Health. The red flag indicators are calculated as
follows:
Self-harm – a participant response of “sometimes”, “often” or “all the time” to the
question “Do you ever feel like hurting yourself?”
Quality of Life – when aggregate scores on quality of life items fell two standard
deviations below the mean for the school leader population.
Occupational Health – when the composite psychosocial risk score fell into the
high or very high-risk groups.

The report of any individual or combination of the three triggers resulted in the
participant receiving a red flag notification, informing them of the indicator(s). The
notification also included links to Employee Assistance Programs and local support
services.

The survey
The survey captured three types of information drawn from existing robust and
widely used instruments.
1. Comprehensive ECE demographic items.
2. Personal demographic and historical information.
3. Early childhood educators’ quality of life, psychosocial coping, and other metrics
were investigated by employing the following measures:
a. The Assessment of Quality of Life – 8D (AQoL-8D; Richardson, et al., 2009;
Richardson, Iezzi & Maxwell, 2014).
b. The Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire-II (COPSOQ-III; Pejtersen, et al.,
2010).
c. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT: Babour et al., 2001),
developed for the World Health Organisation.
d. Passion (Trepanier, Fernet, Austin, Forest & Vallerand, 2014; Vallerand, 2015).
e. The Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS: Watson, Clark, and Tellegen,
1988).
f. Basic Psychological Needs at Work Scale (BPNWS: Deci & Ryan, 2004; Van den
Broeck, Ferris, Chang, & Rosen, 2016).
g. ‘Life Events’.
h. COVID-19 related questions were added.

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 The combination of items from these instruments allows for a comprehensive analysis
of variation in both occupational health, safety, and wellbeing, as a function of
geolocation, school type, sector differences and the personal attributes of the early
childhood educators themselves.

Our survey instrument relies heavily on the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire

(COPSOQ-III). This questionnaire is regarded as the “gold standard” in occupational
health and safety self-report measures. It has been translated into more than 25
languages and is filled out by hundreds of thousands of workers each year. The
structure of the COPSOQ-III consists of higher order domains and contributing
subdomains/scales. These have been found to be very robust and stable measures, by
both ourselves (Dicke et al., 2018) and others (Burr, Albertsen, Rugulies, & Hannerz,
2010; Kiss, De Meester, Kruse, Chavee, & Braeckman, 2013; Thorsen & Bjorner, 2010).
All COPSOQ domain scores are transformed to 0-100 aiding comparisons across
domains.

To maintain the participant anonymity, aggregate data is reported at demographic

grouping levels. Some subgroups, such as gender, were unable to be reported due to
insufficient sample size. Reporting results of subgroups of insufficient size may not
provide a true reflection of the subgroup; and risk identifying early childhood
educators if reported by the small subgroup. As some participants only partially
completed the survey, some of the participant numbers for domains and subscales
may vary. Subgroup distributions will be reported as a percentage of the survey
sample size.

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