Holistic measurement of early childhood educators' well-being: a protocol

Early childhood educators are key to delivering early childhood education and care (ECEC) for the benefit of children, their families and society alike. For the benefits of ECEC to be realised, however, the educators who deliver these services need to be well. Despite growing attention to attracting and retaining a high-quality early childhood workforce, little is known about the work-related psychological and physiological wellbeing of early childhood educators. This paper contributes an example of a protocol for an holistic study of early childhood educators' wellbeing. It describes the use of multiple, interdisciplinary, innovative methods to measure educators' physiological and psychological wellbeing, within the context of their work environment. Recommendations are provided for future studies of educators' holistic well-being.