This report examines teaching staff assessments of their work environments in New York state across the five SEQUAL domains: Teaching Supports, Learning Community, Job Crafting, Adult Well-Being, and Program Leadership with a focus on how their program environment contributes to or hinders their ability to apply their knowledge and skills and improve their practice. In addition to teaching staff perceptions of their work environments, assessments of how responses varied by teacher and site characteristics are documented. Findings reveal that common workplace challenges pose barriers to early child care educator well-being and classroom effectiveness. Findings also demonstrate the value of program policies that ensure dependable workplace supports and policies such as provisions for paid planning and reporting time.

This report is part of our Teachers’ Voices (SEQUAL) series. To facilitate bringing teachers’ voices into quality improvement strategies, the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) developed Supportive Environmental Quality Underlying Adult Learning, or SEQUAL, as a tool to document teaching staff perspectives about workplace conditions that impact their practice and program quality. SEQUAL can be used as a research, educational, or technical assistance tool.

This report examines teaching staff assessments of their work environments in Minnesota across the five SEQUAL domains: Teaching Supports, Learning Community, Job Crafting, Adult Well-Being, and Program Leadership with a focus on how their program environment contributes to or hinders their ability to apply their knowledge and skills and improve their practice. In addition to teaching staff perceptions of their work environments, assessments of how responses varied by teacher and site characteristics are documented. Findings reveal that common workplace challenges pose barriers to early child care educator well-being and classroom effectiveness. Findings also demonstrate the value of program policies that ensure dependable workplace supports and policies such as provisions for paid planning and reporting time.

This report is part of our Teachers’ Voices (SEQUAL) series. To facilitate bringing teachers’ voices into quality improvement strategies, the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) developed Supportive Environmental Quality Underlying Adult Learning, or SEQUAL, as a tool to document teaching staff perspectives about workplace conditions that impact their practice and program quality. SEQUAL can be used as a research, educational, or technical assistance tool.

This report examines teaching staff assessments of their work environments in Miami-Dade County across the five SEQUAL domains: Teaching Supports, Learning Community, Job Crafting, Adult Well-Being, and Program Leadership with a focus on how their program environment contributes to or hinders their ability to apply their knowledge and skills and improve their practice. In addition to teaching staff perceptions of their work environments, assessments of how responses varied by teacher and site characteristics are documented. Findings reveal that common workplace challenges pose barriers to early child care educator well-being and classroom effectiveness. Findings also demonstrate the value of program policies that ensure dependable workplace supports and policies such as provisions for paid planning and reporting time.

This report is part of our Teachers’ Voices (SEQUAL) series. To facilitate bringing teachers’ voices into quality improvement strategies, the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) developed Supportive Environmental Quality Underlying Adult Learning, or SEQUAL, as a tool to document teaching staff perspectives about workplace conditions that impact their practice and program quality. SEQUAL can be used as a research, educational, or technical assistance tool.

We are pleased to share our most recent SEQUAL study, Teachers’ Voices: Work Environment Conditions That Impact Teacher Practice and Program Quality, completed in partnership with First 5 Alameda County in Alameda, California.

The features of early childhood workplace environments – what teachers need in addition to training and education in order to help children succeed – are routinely overlooked in quality improvement efforts. Educators’ ability to apply their knowledge and skills and to continue to hone their practice requires a work environment that supports their ongoing learning, prioritizes time without child responsibilities for professional activities, and offers dependable benefits that ensure their well-being. To facilitate bringing teachers’ voices into quality improvement strategies, the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) developed Supportive Environmental Quality Underlying Adult Learning, or SEQUAL, as a tool to document teaching staff perspectives about workplace conditions that impact their practice and program quality.

This current report documents findings of teaching staff perceptions of their workplace environments, assesses how responses varied by site characteristics and quality assessments, discusses implications of findings and offers recommendations for action. Several themes emerged from our findings, including a need for greater paid time for professional responsibilities and increased staff stability, more opportunities to engage in professional development, and policies, practices, and relationships supportive of teaching staff economic well-being. Teaching staff who perceived their work environments more positively across multiple dimensions worked in sites with higher CLASS Instructional Support scores.