If you walk into almost any Colorado Head Start classroom, the first thing you’ll notice is the noise. It’s the happy, tired, constant noise of little kids exploring the world. It’s hot work. If the data are correct, it’s also breaking the people who do it in a quiet way.
Early childhood educators in Colorado are getting tired at a rate that should worry anyone who is paying attention. During the school year, almost half of all early childhood education teachers in the US say they are very stressed out every day. In contrast, about 25% of American workers say the same thing. These aren’t just numbers. They talk about real people who sit in child-sized chairs for nine to twelve hours a day, deal with difficult behaviors, don’t take many breaks, and make an average of $18.50 an hour, even though almost four in ten of Colorado’s early education workers are also eligible for public assistance programs like SNAP and Medicaid.
There is something unsettling about that picture that isn’t talked about enough. There are people in this country who are living on the edge of poverty who are trusted to guide the youngest children.
Once you start to look, it’s harder to ignore the physical toll. Researchers have found that early childhood educators are more likely to have long-term conditions like diabetes, back pain, and severe headaches than workers in other fields with the same level of education and income. The rate of depression among Head Start teachers is between 25% and 32%, while the rate of depression in the general workforce is around 18%. One possible cause is the nature of the work itself: the emotional work of taking care of poor children and the physical strain of a job that is rarely called “physically demanding” but always is.
For more than fifteen years, researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health have been looking into this group of people. That’s a lot of time to let a problem get worse. Their group is now one of six national research groups that get money from the federal government to look into the health and happiness of teachers and come up with ways to stop burnout before it leads to resignation. The simple story about stress is more complicated by what they’ve learned along the way.
Researchers looked at 332 Head Start workers in rural and urban areas of Colorado. They found that teachers in rural areas, who usually make less money and have less schooling, were less emotionally worn out than teachers in urban areas. The working theory is based on community: people who live in rural areas tend to have closer friendships and a more stable work schedule. In cities, on the other hand, teachers have to deal with bigger class sizes and stricter rules that students must follow. The fire is hotter. They are, however, more resilient and optimistic, which is an interesting finding that shows stress and strength aren’t always opposites.
This study led to the creation of the WELL program, which stands for “Well-Being of the ECE Workforce in Low-Resource Locations.” It’s not a major change. It’s more useful: mindfulness and coping skills training in the workplace, weekly text-based tips, and help designing what some sites are calling “relaxation lounges”—real places where staff can relax between sessions. The approach was based on what Head Start workers said they needed, which doesn’t happen very often.
The early results are cautiously good. Most of the people who took part said they were happy with the program. Seventy-seven percent said their center actively encouraged them to be involved. As one participant put it, the program taught her that it’s okay to stop, ask for help, and take a step back when a child is pushing every limit and getting more and more angry. It’s not hard to do that intervention. It could be the right one, though.
It’s still not clear if programs like WELL can grow quickly enough to fix a workforce crisis that has been caused by decades of not having enough money for them. Keep an eye on the early signs.
