Written by Tarah Beduze
Staffing an early childhood ministry (ECM) can be a challenge and is one of the most difficult aspects of any director’s job. The staffing goal is to hire the best candidates in the field and retain the talented dedicated staff that already exists. What a lofty goal!
Early childhood ministry is a straining, tiring, exhausting, and sometimes frustrating field that doesn’t pay extremely well. As a result, candidates think carefully about pursuing the field or remaining in it. If you are someone looking into ECM employment or have been in the field for some time, you know that aside from the challenges in the field, there are wonderful blessings too.
Early childhood teachers help children form the building blocks for their entire educational life. They also guide children to tools that aid them in regulating their feelings and help them have positive social interactions with peers and adults. Children need those skills for life beyond the classroom. ECM staff create strong bonds with children and have wonderful opportunities to shape children’s futures.
Retaining High-Quality Staff
Despite these rewards, directors may have a hard time retaining staff. Research shows that staff leave if they do not feel that their responsibilities match their training (Cassidy, 2011), when their pay is not fair compensation for their responsibilities (Jeon, 2018; Kamrath, 2018), or when they lack needed support from coworkers (Whitebook, 2001) or school administrators (Kamrath, 2018).
So what can directors do to retain high-quality staff? First, address the disconnect between responsibilities and training. It is necessary for a director to be as clear as possible about the responsibilities that staff will have and train them appropriately. Think about allotting funds for continuing education.
Second, consider compensation levels. ECMs are typically nonprofit facilities that may be unable to pay staff what they wish they could. Yet directors should do their best to prioritize competitive wages. Offering pay increases after specific milestones or years of service can encourage people to remain (Kamrath, 2018) as can paying teachers more for taking on more responsibilities (Barlow, 2006).
Third, make sure coworkers and administration support the teachers. Directors create support through a cohesive and positive ECM culture. There are many different ways to unite a team, such as staff strengthening exercises at staff meetings, team teacher meetings and check-ins, personality tests with discussion, Bible studies, setting classroom goals, and time allotted for group and personal reflection. Keep in mind also that when a staff member is not capable of meeting expectations, challenging situations that create tension may arise. That tension between staff can lead to turnover, so make sure you have a group that is willing to pull their weight and work together.
Staff also needs to feel the support from administration. Ways in which administration can show support may be acknowledging teachers, recognizing their effort and achievements, and offering professional development (Kamrath, 2018). When offering professional development, administration can create a “learning community” (Kamrath, 2018) inside the facility and within the larger community.
Administration can also work to aid staff in creating specific plans and goals, and supplying staff with valuable relatable professional development. Think about supporting new staff by encouraging strong peer connections and try to offer achievable workloads by placing children with greater needs into classes with seasoned teachers initially (Williby, 2004).
Administration can also support staff by including them in school decisions and supplying them with ample materials (Williby, 2004). Additionally, keep in mind that when the ECM mission becomes the driving force for everything that is done within a program, it is much easier to create staff unity and positive coworker chemistry that helps to promote longevity. Finally, administration leadership skills become very important when building relationships and providing support for the staff of an ECM. These leadership skills also come into play when working with others outside of the program to promote openings and pursue other unique avenues to fill positions (Northouse, 2012).
Finding High-Quality Staff
Before any of this support can take place, however, the ECM must attract staff and find high-quality candidates to fill positions. There are several job posting strategies to think about and try when looking to hire candidates for an ECM. Strategies can include posting open positions where good candidates are likely to see them, offering incentives for current staff to reach out to their peers, and encouraging new candidates to enter the field. Poor promotion of open positions at an ECM can hinder effective recruitment of staff. Instead, directors can post positions on websites, host a job fair, and make recruitment materials functional and attractive.
Good recruitment materials feature visuals of staff and children, display the logo prominently, include a map and area activities if recruiting from a pool outside of your area, provide testimonials from current staff, and mention any incentives that are available (Williby, 2004). Next, post open positions everywhere and be creative. Post in the churches and area church bulletins if you are able, at job fairs, online and in the community, on the ECM social media pages, and on job posting websites such as indeed.com. Work with local colleges and universities to bring in student teachers, student employees, or recent graduates. Additionally, consider offering incentives to staff to promote the program to their peers, and in this way reach candidates who had not previously considered the ECE field.
Finally, a factor that can hinder attracting quality staff could be the location of a facility. For example, a rural location may not have resources to acquire staff due to the lack of people who live near the facility (Barlow, 2006). Solutions to the issue of location are not simple. To address this issue, there must be an awareness of this issue in the planning of a facility, or a facility may need to be moved.
Hopefully, these tips stimulate some creative ideas for directors needing a new approach to finding candidates. Finding and retaining high-quality staff can be stressful and difficult. When we are able to find great candidates in our ECMs, we have a greater opportunity to focus on the mission of the ECM and bring children into an environment where they not only grow from a developmental standpoint but also in their faith.
Tarah Beduze (’15) serves as the director at Key to Life Christian Childcare and Community Center-Weston WI. She is studying for her Master of Science in Educational Administration—Early Childhood Director emphasis.
References
Barlow, D. (2006, September). Education Digest, pp. 66, 69.
Cassidy, D. J., Lower, J. K., Kinter-Duffy, V. L., Hedge, A. V., & Shim, J. (2011, January 3). The Day-to-Day Reality of Teacher Turnover in Preschool Classrooms: An Analysis of Classroom Context and Teacher, Director, and Parent Perspectives. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 1-28.
Jeon, L., & Wells, M. B. (2018). Early Childhood Teachers’ Job Attitude: Workplace Satisfaction Affects Early Head Start and Head Start Teacher Turnover. In Child & Youth Care Forum (4th ed., Vol. 47, pp. 563-581). N.p.: Springer.
Kamrath, B., & Gregg, J. (2018, August). Escaping the Prison Classroom: A Case Study of Correctional Teacher Turnover and Retention. The Journal of Correctional Education, 69(2), 59-71.
Northouse, P. G. (2012). Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practices (Second ed., p. 6). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Whitebook, M., Sakai, L., Gerber, E., & Howes, C. (2001). Center for the Study of Child Care Workforce, Washington DC, and Institute of Industrial Relations, University of California, Berkeley. In Then & Now: Changes in Child Care Staffing, 1994-2000 (pp. 1-90). Berkeley, CA: U.S.A. by Harris Lithographics, Inc.
Williby, R. L. (2004, December). Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice, 8(2), 175-193.