
Introduction
Research Questions
- What was the well-being of Head Start teachers in 2021–2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic?
- How did the well-being of teachers change between fall 2021 and spring 2022?
- What supports did Head Start teachers report that their programs offered staff in 2021–2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic? Which ones did they receive?
- Did the supports for well-being that programs offered meet the needs of teachers in 2021–2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic? If not, what supports would have been useful?
- Was the number of supports that teachers reported their programs offered staff and they themselves received associated with their well-being in spring 2022?
- Which individual supports for well-being were associated with the well-being of teachers in spring 2022?
The well-being of Head Start teachers is essential to ensuring high-quality early care and education (ECE) and supporting children’s development. The COVID-19 pandemic raised unique challenges to teachers’ well-being. This brief explores Head Start teachers’ health, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, stress, and job satisfaction; the supports programs offered and the ones teachers used; and the associations between teachers’ well-being and those supports. It draws on data collected in fall 2021 and spring 2022 from the 2021-2022 Study of Family and Staff Well-Being in Head Start FACES Programs (the 2021-2022 Study), after nearly two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The findings reveal insights about the well-being of Head Start teachers in the wake of the pandemic and ways to support their well-being. They also show that funding and implementing different types of supports may promote teachers’ well-being, which could ultimately help address the workforce crisis.
Purpose
The purpose of this brief is to provide information about Head Start teachers’ well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, the supports programs offered and that teachers used, and associations between teachers’ well-being and those supports. ECE teachers commonly experience low wages, poor benefits, stressful work conditions, and secondary traumatic stress. Head Start program leaders must choose how to support staff in the context of limited funding; however, there is limited research to guide these choices. Therefore, this brief aims to provide insights into how teachers were doing in the fall of 2021 and spring of 2022, and how programs could support Head Start teachers’ well-being going forward.
Key Findings and Highlights
Teacher well-being
- In fall 2021, during the Omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, most teachers reported being in good health, but many also reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, and job stress related to the pandemic. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were higher than they were in similar groups before the pandemic (Bernstein et al. 2019; Terlizzi and Villarroel 2020).
- In spring 2022, as COVID-19 rates generally decreased (New York Times 2023), teachers’ well-being improved, with significant reductions in anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, and job stress related to the pandemic. In addition, although some teachers reported job-related stress, most had high job satisfaction.
Supports for teacher well-being
- In spring 2022, teachers said that their programs offered a variety of supports for well-being in the past year, with nearly all of them saying their program offered at least one support.
- Almost half of teachers said their programs offered staff a permanent wage or salary increase in the past year. They also said their programs offered a variety of non-wage supports for economic well-being (such as bonuses or other monetary incentives), supports for psychological and physical well-being (such as resources or programs to support self-care), and workplace supports (such as resources to support their personal health and safety).
- Although most teachers thought the supports they received met their needs, some of them reported that other supports they did not receive would have been useful.
Associations between supports and teacher well-being
- In spring 2022, teachers’ reports of receiving more supports were associated with some aspects of better well-being:
- Receiving more supports for wage increases, non-wage supports for economic well-being, supports for psychological and physical well-being, and workplace supports were associated with lower levels of job-related stress.
- Receiving more supports for psychological and physical well-being and more workplace supports were associated with better health and job satisfaction.
- Receiving more workplace supports was associated with lower levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms.
- Specific individual supports within these categories, however, were not uniquely associated with teacher reports of well-being.
Methods
For the 2021—2022 Study, we aimed to recruit a nationally representative sample of Head Start programs. However, given lower-than-expected program participation and response rates, we do not recommend assuming the resulting sample is nationally representative.
This brief uses data from the fall 2021 and spring 2022 teacher surveys. We report percentages and averages (means) to examine well-being for the 146 teachers responding to both the fall and spring surveys (Research Question 1) and examine changes based on paired sample t-tests from a multilevel regression with teachers nested within centers and programs (Research Question 2). We report percentages and averages (means) to examine the supports that, according to the 358 teachers completing the spring survey, were (1) offered by their programs and (2) used or received by teachers (Research Question 3). We also report percentages and averages (means) of teachers’ satisfaction with the supports offered (Research Question 4). We then examine the associations between teachers’ reports of well-being and the number of each type of support offered (wage increases, non-wage supports for economic well-being, psychological and physical supports, and workplace supports) by using multilevel regressions (Research Question 5). Finally, we examine the association between each support, over and above the other supports of that type, by using multilevel regressions (Research Question 6). The sample for the associational analyses is the 358 teachers who completed the spring survey.
Citation
Harding, Jessica F., Alex Baum, Addison Larson, Louisa Tarullo, and Sara Bernstein. (2024). “Head Start Teachers’ Well-Being and Program Supports for Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Fall 2021 to Spring 2022.” OPRE Report 2024-124. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Glossary
- FACES:
- Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey
- COVID-19, or coronavirus disease 19:
- An infectious disease that was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and a public health emergency by the U.S. in March 2020.