Date of Award

5-2016

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Kelly S. Brown

Second Advisor

Sara E. Spruce

Third Advisor

H. Stanton Tuttle

Scholarship Domain(s)

Scholarship of Discovery, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Abstract

The need for quality child care and early childhood education has greatly increased over the last decade. The literature has provided multiple definitions of what constitutes quality care; one key factor was teacher consistency. This study examined the perspectives of leaders and teachers working in early childhood centers about their work environment and the relationship of the environment, including leadership characteristics, to teacher retention. Participants completed the Early Childhood Work Environment Survey about their perceptions of multiple organizational practices. Analysis of the data revealed that there was a significant relationship between a teacher’s perception of supervisor support and their commitment to stay at their current place of employment. Additional results indicated that the early childhood leader has a central role in the overall functioning of the childcare center with supervisor support having a significant relationship to all other dimensions of the work environment. Because of the multifaceted leadership role in early childhood it is suggested that leadership does influence a teacher’s retention decision.

Comments

Ed.D. dissertation completed in 2016 for Olivet Nazarene University.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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