Free Online Course
Our learning module for early childhood educators and program directors explores using mindfulness to support both staff well-being and children’s development.
Why do early childhood educators need support?
If you’re an early childhood educator, you probably already know the answer: Your job can be really stressful.
Burnout is one of the top three reasons cited for turnover in early education programs.
But let’s break it down:
- Your day is focused on caring for others, which means that you rarely get a break yourself—to plan, to eat without getting interrupted, or even to use the bathroom!
- The children in your care are still learning how to self-regulate and manage big feelings. While you know staying calm and centered helps them recover, that can be exhausting. Responding consistently, with compassion, to the needs and feelings of young children isn’t easy.
- You’re juggling adult relationships, too—busy families, administrators and colleagues.
- You’re a child’s first experience with learning environments—“school.” Their experience with you shapes their sense of learning as a positive, nurturing experience, or not. No pressure.
How can mindfulness help relieve ECE burnout?
About 40 years ago, Jon Kabat-Zinn became one of the pioneers of mindfulness as a stress reducer. He described mindfulness as “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.”
Slowing down and paying attention doesn’t come naturally to many people, nor does one of the key principles of mindfulness: replacing judgment with curiosity. But practicing mindfulness in non-stressful situations sets people up to remain calm(er) when the world becomes intense.
Studies show that mindfulness training that is specific, ongoing, and led by an expert has an impact on teachers in early childhood settings and on the children in their care. It’s an important strategy to avoiding teacher burnout.
Key findings:
- improved staff morale
- strengthened preschool teachers’ ability to manage emotional distress
- improved teachers’ sense of self-compassion, emotional regulation, and feelings of well-being
Did you know?
You can also teach mindfulness directly to children. And it works. Even with three-year-olds, as seen at the Child-Parent Centers in Tucson, Arizona.
Ready to give mindfulness a try?
We have a toolkit for that.
If you want to take a deep dive on self-care for early childhood educators and mindfulness in early childhood, it has links to trainings and apps—everything you need to make mindfulness a part of your everyday life.
If you prefer a lighter approach, it’s full of practical suggestions that you can use in your classroom, starting today.
Research on educator well-being
Explore six models of comprehensive and innovative wellness interventions designed to enhance early childhood educators’ well-being.
