Peer-reviewed article
Examining the relationships among child care providers' knowledge of child development, burnout, organizational climate, and expulsion risk: A brief report.
Wang J, Shapiro CJ, Collier T, Sharp J ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how child care providers' burnout, knowledge of child development, and workplace climate relate to their risk of expelling children from early care programs. The research surveyed 309 child care providers in the southeastern United States and found that provider burnout was significantly linked to higher expulsion risk attitudes. The findings suggest that reducing burnout and improving workplace climate could help create more inclusive early childhood education environments.
Key points
- Provider burnout was significantly associated with attitudes related to expulsion risk (β = .36, p < .001)
- Organizational climate was significantly associated with the hopelessness subscale of expulsion risk (β = -.21, p = .034)
- The sample reported relatively modest levels of burnout overall
- Expulsion creates immediate and long-term negative consequences for children and families
- Addressing provider burnout and organizational climate may reduce expulsion risk and promote inclusive early care settings
Limitations
This is a cross-sectional study with no comparison group, so causal relationships cannot be established. The study involved providers from only one state in the Southeastern United States, which limits generalizability to other regions or countries.
Abstract
Expulsion poses a significant barrier to high-quality and inclusive early care and education (ECE), leading to both immediate and long-term negative consequences for children and their families. This descriptive, exploratory study examined whether ECE providers' knowledge of child development, burnout, and organizational climate was associated with their attitudes and perceptions related to expulsion risk. A total of 309 ECE providers in one state in the Southeastern region of the United States taking part in a program evaluation completed an online survey prior to program implementation. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to assess associations among providers' knowledge of child development, burnout, organizational climate, and attitudes related to expulsion risk. Provider burnout was found to be significantly associated with providers' attitudes related to expulsion risk (β = .36, p < .001) despite relatively modest levels of burnout reported by this sample. Organizational climate was significantly associated only with the hopelessness subscale of the expulsion risk measure used (β = -.21, p = .034). Findings are somewhat consistent with prior research and have implications for the field regarding methods to address ECE provider burnout and organizational climate to mitigate expulsion risk and promote more inclusive ECE environments.