The commitment of kindergarten teachers to their workplace: Social climate plays a key role

Abstract

In Iceland, kindergarten is the first level of the school system and the beginning of the formal education of each child. Kindergarten teachers are specialized in teaching young children. A new act on the education, competency and recruitment of teachers and administrators of preschools, compulsory schools and upper secondary schools entered into force at the beginning of 2020. The act provides for the issuing of a single type of teaching license. The aim of a single teacher’s license is, among other things, to increase the flexibility and flow of teachers between adjacent school levels so their specialization can be used at more than one school level. In 2018–2019 the transfer of kindergarten teachers from kindergarten to other school levels in seemed irreversible. The shortage of kindergarten teachers in Icelandic kindergartens seems to be persistent and negative for the quality of education. The study aimed to analyze the relationship between hygiene factors and motivational factors among kindergarten teachers, and their commitment to the school. The purpose of the study was to improve the state of knowledge and to find evidence on how the competence and expertise of working kindergarten teachers can be preserved. The research method was quantitative, available data were examined and analyzed with descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analysis. The data consisted of answers from 1250 kindergarten teachers across Iceland. The answers were a part of a bi-annual internal quality evaluation of 91 kindergartens. The kindergartens used an information system for standardized surveys called Skólapúlsinn and gave open permission for anonymous post-analysis of the joint data for academic purposes. The surveys took place in March of 2020 and 2021. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) Kindergarten teachers who experience positive motivational factors (e.g., positive social climate) are likely to show commitment to their workplace; (2) Kindergarten teachers who experience negative hygiene factors (e.g., persistent workload) are unlikely to show commitment to their workplace. The motivation hygiene theory (Herzberg et al., 1959) formed the basis for dividing the questionnaire factors into two models, on the one hand a positive motivational factor model and on the other a negative hygiene factor model. The results of the study indicated that the motivational regression model: social climate, human resource primacy, and positive challenges at work explained a very large part (57%) of the variance of commitment to the workplace. Of the three motivational factors social climate showed the strongest relation to commitment to the workplace (? = .42), followed by human resource primacy (? = .30), and positive challenges at the workplace (? = .20), confirming our first hypothesis. The results also indicated that the hygiene factor regression model explained a large part (20%) of the variance of commitment to the workplace. The only hygiene factor to show a strong and significant relation to commitment to the workplace was the quadratic relation of workload (? = -.47), followed by a linear relation of support to children with special needs (? = .18), and another linear relation with interaction between work and private life (? = -.17), confirming our latter hypothesis. The confirmation of the quadratic relation between workload and commitment to the workplace raises the question if the effect of persistent workload on commitment to the workplace might be underestimated in previous studies that only assume traditional linear relations. Further research is needed on the effect of persistent workload on commitment to the workplace. Overall, the results indicated that motivational factors such social climate are key factors in explaining the premature departure of kindergarten teachers from the first school level. However, the reduction of persistent workload and other negative hygiene factors also seem to play an important role in the development of ways of retaining teachers at the kindergarten level.