Smiling Mind and KPMG have recently released the Australian Mental Wellbeing Index Report 1 that described the wellbeing of Australian adults during the first quarter of 2022. Some of the adults represented in the Australian Mental Wellbeing Index Report 1, are early childhood educators. We need to seriously consider the wellbeing outcomes of early childhood educators as the basis of high-quality education and care in the early childhood sector and their capacity to contribute to the wellbeing of their communities.
The report examined areas of wellbeing including emotional awareness, focus and attention, emotional regulation, relationships and social connection, sleep, and stress.
The index indicated that many of the areas were low over this period of time which the report acknowledges is not surprising due to the many uncertainties experienced from COVID-19, natural disasters and other national and global issues.
During this time those working in early childhood education settings have been expected to continue to provide high quality education and care for children and families. This has been in many instances, whilst working behind a mask for the day and implementing other forever changing directives from government department and service governing bodies. These directives have included how and when families access the service with front door drop offs that means minimal contact with families to build relationships and exchange valuable information about the child’s current needs and developmental outcomes. The report demonstrated that relationships and social connections were at lower levels than previously seen in the year prior but still provide an important contribution to mental wellbeing.
This is significant due to the multiple number of relationships within an early childhood service, including educators with each other and families and importantly with the children. Educators need to build meaningful attachment relationships with children as a foundation for high quality education and developmental outcomes for these children. This relationship development relies on consistent interactions with the same educators. This has been disrupted due to lockdowns, illness, and isolation of educators and many leaving the sector all together.
Educators’ relationships with each other underpins their wellbeing and ability to form meaningful connections with children and families. This has been impacted due to physical distancing in staff rooms, lack of face to face formal and informal gatherings and the interconnectedness of other aspects of wellbeing examined in the report such as stress, emotional awareness, and regulation.
The vital role that early childhood educators play in our communities has been highlighted during the pandemic. They contribute to wellbeing and developmental outcomes for children, while building capacity of educators, and supporting families to allow workforce participation (the recent Jobs and Skills Summit 2022 raised some of these ideas that hopefully will be acted upon before long).
We need to consider how to rebuild and take measures to build valuable relationships and connections in early childhood education across the multiple levels of relationships within early childhood education and care settings to improve wellbeing. It is possible to build high quality positive relationships on all levels with awareness, consideration, and small daily actions.
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