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Recent Data on the Health and Well-Being of Early Childhood Educators

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Walter Gilliam at the LEARN Conference

How well are those who care?

Explore recent data on highlighting early childhood educator's physical health, mental health and financial well-being.

Over the past few years, Dr. Walter Gilliam and his team at the Buffett Early Childhood Institute engaged in a large scale epidemiologic study with the participation of more than 126,000 child care professionals across the country. Initial results of this study were revealed at the 2024 LEARN Conference. ​

Tune in as he covers what the data reveal about key questions like: 

  • During the pandemic, early childhood educators were more likely to die from COVID than other essential workers. Why? 
  • Rates of diagnosable depression for early childhood education professionals increased 10% from 2020 to 2021. Why? 
  • For those who left the early childhood education field during the pandemic, how high of a retention bonus would have made them consider staying for another year? 
  • How does an educator’s racial identity affect rates of depression and stress? 
  • Are early childhood education professionals reporting a higher level of ‘challenging behaviors’ compared to pre-pandemic? 
  • How can we advance supports for early childhood educators? 
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The Health, Mental Health, and General Wellbeing of Our Early Childhood Education Professionals

Fill out the form below to view the full presentation of this fascinating data.

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What educators are saying about the data

Share this page and join past attendees in our effort to highlight the need for systemic change

  • “This was a great webinar and provided data to back what I had witnessed in my own community.”
  • “As a new mental health consultant coming from school social work, this has been an incredibly enlightening discussion in terms of perception and respect for teachers and the field as a whole. Of course, we know these things but this discussion has conceptualized things for me as a new consultant!” 
  • “I attended this session at the Zero to Three Conference. This talk blew me away. It connected to what I saw and heard in the Early Childhood program I work at.”
  • “Dr. Gilliam is so incredibly knowledgeable and a tremendous resource and advocate.”
  • “This entire webinar needs to be on a national broadcast, everyone needs to know what we have gone through and continue to go through.” 

How can programs support educator well-being?

Explore six models of comprehensive and innovative wellness interventions designed to enhance early childhood educators’ well-being.

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