The Contributing Factors to the High Turnover of Early Childhood Education Teachers in Auckland, New Zealand https://doi.org/10.34074/rere.00207
By: Maria Abigail Andres Barnaby Pace Indrapriya Kularatne
Abstract
The objective of this investigation is to explore the contributing factors that cause the high turnover rate of Early Childhood Education (ECE) Teachers in Auckland, New Zealand. ECE teachers in this sector who have a history of leaving their childcare centres were interviewed in order to collect primary data. Thematic analysis was applied to the interview data to elicit the factors that cause ECE teachers to leave or stay in their current childcare centre, and practical strategies that childcare centre managers can adopt to increase the retention rate of their ECE teachers. Based on the findings, there are four predominant turnover factors: failure of the management to carry out their roles effectively, relational issues, heavy workload and low salary. Accordingly, four practical managerial strategies were recommended: increase management’s support to their ECE teachers by maintaining a manageable teacher-to-child ratio, instil a healthy team culture, offer a commensurate salary and increase the level of appreciation for ECE teachers.
Keywords:
Early Childhood Teachers, Turnover, Early Childhood Education, Retention, Factors.