Teacher turnover has been high in kindergartens and such high turnover leads to unstable and inadequate staffing. Kindergarten teachers have been exposed to potentially harmful noise levels and have suffered from gastrointestinal problems as well as backache because of the lack of adult furniture, resulting in a frequent need to squat and bend when interacting with children and to use children’s furniture to perform their duties.
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In particular, workplace environmental noise and lighting conditions have been shown to influence workers’ stress as well as their short-term memory and work performance. For example, workstation design has been found significantly to predict workers’ moods and their feelings about work, performance and health. These environmental features influence the well-being of workers. Aspects of the kindergarten work environment include the workspace, classroom size, staff lockers, parents’ corners and staffing.
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Kindergarten education has employed >10 000 teachers to teach 140 000 children aged 32–68 months. Īlthough Hong Kong is a small city (with an area 7 million, with a majority (94%) of Chinese ethnicity. Consideration of teachers’ well-being is pivotal to providing quality education as kindergarten education can enhance young children’s motivation to learn in subsequent schooling. This study aimed to develop a context-based rating scale that assesses kindergarten teachers’ perceived work environment in Hong Kong and its association with well-being, which comprises a person’s work, personal and mental health. Given that cultural values and education systems differ between Eastern and Western populations, Western instruments designed to measure teachers’ perceived work environment may be less valid in Eastern settings such as Hong Kong. Notably the measurements employed by these studies were primarily based on educational settings in the West.
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A recent study using a translated Western instrument that measured kindergarten teachers’ perceived school cultures reported that teachers with more positive perceptions of school culture tended to show higher levels of well-being. A literature search of electronic databases (including Medline, PsycINFO and ERIC, which have wide coverage on health, education and educational psychology) identified two studies: the first discussed the health status of kindergarten workers and the second translated a teaching stress inventory to identify sources of stress in Hong Kong kindergarten teachers and found that time management and work-related stressors, such as tight work schedules and long work hours, were the two most salient elements. IntroductionĪlthough teaching is known to be a stressful occupation, few studies have examined the perceived work environment and well-being of kindergarten teachers. Kindergarten teachers, well-being, work environment rating scale.