The early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector is built on relationships. Relationships between educators and children, as well as relationships among teams, families, and communities. High ECEC staff turnover continues to challenge services across Australia, making early childhood educator retention more critical than ever.
Retaining quality educators isn’t just about managing staff ratios. ECEC workforce retention strategies should also include plans for supporting the wellbeing of early childhood education teams, maintaining a consistent and enriching learning environment for children, and ensuring operational sustainability for schools and centres.
According to the Victorian Government’s Early Childhood Workforce Retention Guide, the cost of losing a team member is steep: up to 40% of an annual salary, not to mention the loss of knowledge, connection, and morale. By investing in early childhood educator retention strategies, the ECEC sector can provide consistently quality services for parents and children, and encourage more ECEC educators to not only enter the workforce, but to grow with their schools and centres.
Supporting Early Childhood Educator Retention: What Really Works
So, what actually works to support retention and keep early childhood educators feeling nurtured and fulfilled in their ECEC workplaces?
This guide outlines four key areas that make the biggest difference at the service level:
1. Skilled & Supported Leaders
As schools and centres rely on teamwork and collaboration, it’s been observed that the best leaders don’t take on the role of hero, but rather commit themselves to building teams that share the load and lift each other up.
In this way, leaders play a critical role in shaping workplace culture and staff experience for ECEC schools and centres. Investing in leadership in early childhood education, from ECEC leadership training to mentoring room leaders to centre directors, helps to create a ripple effect of promoting support, structure, and shared responsibility.
Through investing in leadership for early childhood education centres and schools, you not only reduce ECEC staff turnover – you also build stronger teams and inspire a consistently positive workplace culture in childcare centres.
2. Positive Workplace Cultures
Alongside promoting leadership opportunities in early childhood education, advocating for psychological safety, team connection, and a genuine sense of belonging are all essential considerations for keeping educators happy and committed to their ECEC workplaces. A positive workplace culture in childcare supports educator career development and early childhood workplace wellbeing.
Staff who feel valued, heard, and recognised are more likely to stay, and rightly so. This includes mentoring opportunities, diverse and inclusive teams, knowing when to upskill and practices that actively promote early childhood workplace wellbeing and emotional safety.
3. Defined Role Expectations
When early learning educators know what’s expected of them and feel supported to meet those expectations, they’re more likely to thrive in their ECEC workplaces. Clearly defining role expectations also greatly contributes to ECEC workforce retention strategies by outlining educator career development opportunities, and communicating to ECEC staff what they can expect if they were looking to progress professionally in their workplace.
To support improved definition of roles and professional responsibilities, ECEC school and centre directors can invest in clarity around organisational documentation, ensure realistic planning time for ECEC educators, and prioritise manageable workloads – particularly when working with children and families with complex needs.
Effective communication and childcare staff support strategies are a must, across not only organisational documentation preparation and management, but also in the consistent, day-to-day management of ECEC workforces.
4. Effective Systems & Processes
Good operational systems and processes reduce stress and create predictability, ensuring improved stability for ECEC staff. From collaborative rostering and strong onboarding and induction programs to thoughtful people and culture practices and consistent staffing models, time saving digital tools and systems make staff retention more successful and achievable.
When early childhood educators see active investment into the quality of their schools and centres, it empowers them to utilise these tools to improve the centre experience for children and parents. In this regard, investments in operational systems, processes, and even technologies for ECEC schools and centres is an investment in early childhood educator retention and career satisfaction.
Quality ECEC Depends on Keeping Great Educators
Holding on to a strong team of early childhood educators, room leaders, centre directors and other skilled members of the ECEC workforce is vital for improving early learning services and the ECEC sector in Australia. When educators stay, children benefit from stable relationships with educators, families build trust, and ECEC services operate with greater confidence and quality.
The full Early Childhood Workforce Retention Guide, published by the Department of Education Victoria is free to download and provides a wealth of information to help you improve your staff retention and workplace wellbeing.
At Practical Outcomes, we’re proud to support services and professionals in creating career pathways, building leadership capabilities, and fostering the kinds of environments that educators want to be part of to help you improve your staff retention, workplace wellbeing, and broader ECEC workforce retention strategies.
