Occupational well-being and teamwork in Finnish early childhood education

• Published in: Journal of Early Childhood Education Research 2023-04, Vol.12 (2), p.71-97
• Main Authors: Kumpulainen, Kata-Riikka, Sajaniemi, Nina, Suhonen, Eira, Pitkäniemi, Harri
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ECE professional; multi-professional teamwork; occupational well-being; systems intelligence
• ISSN: 2323-7414; 2323-7414
• DOI: 10.58955/jecer.v12i2.119784

The study examined Finnish early childhood education professionals’ (ECEP) (n = 107) experiences of occupational well-being and systems intelligent teamwork. Occupational well-being was measured with basic psychological job satisfaction, work engagement and burnout. In the analysis of variances by rank, the ECEPs’ had high work engagement, felt competent and relatedness in a working community. By contrast, their autonomy was low, and they felt exhausted, even though the overall burnout level was low. Extensive working experience increased work-related well-being and perceiving socioemotional systems in work. The ECE teachers had the highest work engagement, basic psychological need satisfaction and lowest burnout, but didn’t feel strongly competent in perceiving systemic interaction structures. On the other hand, the ECE social pedagogues felt most competent in systems intelligence behavior. The ECE childcarers valued the support of the systems intelligence team. In the cluster analysis, we identified two different clusters representing the level of occupational well-being and systems intelligence. The solution presented a connection between the ECE teachers with high work-related well-being and systems intelligence. We suggest that the multi-professional teamwork should be developed according to the ECEPs’ diverse educational background and that professional responsibilities be made more consistent with their education.