Childcare Chaos and Teacher Wellbeing: The Presence of Children with Disabilities

Introduction: Research indicates that teachers of children with special needs/disabilities experience higher levels of stress and burnout and that stress is often associated with children’s challenging behaviors and teachers’ difficulties with classroom organization and management (Biglan et al., 2013; Kokkinos & Davazoglou, 2009). The unique characteristics of the classroom environment in the presence of children with special needs/disabilities can be captured by classroom chaos (environmental confusion, crowding, noise, and degree of control and organization of space and time). In this study, we examined how the number of children with special needs/disabilities is associated with teachers’ psychological wellbeing, measured by personal stress, emotional exhaustion, and depression. We tested teachers’ own reports of their classroom environment (childcare chaos), as a mediator of those associations.

Methods: This study includes a sample of 1,129 teachers from preschool classrooms. We conducted stratified random sampling of teachers from childcare programs in the US. Teachers reported on the number of children who have or could qualify for an Individualized Education Program (IEP), the level of childcare chaos, and their psychological wellbeing. A path analysis was conducted to examine the direct and indirect associations between the number of children with special needs/disabilities and teachers’ psychological wellbeing via childcare chaos. We controlled for a set of teachers’ demographics, professional background, disciplinary efficacy, and program characteristics.

Results: The model fit was excellent, χ²(27) = 25.84, p = .53, RMSEA = .00, CFI = 1.00. Although the number of children with special needs/disabilities was only directly associated with teachers’ emotional exhaustion from their job (β = .08, p < .01), it was indirectly associated with all three psychological wellbeing variables through childcare chaos (indirect β = .04, p < .001 on depression; β = .07, p < .001 on stress; and β = .03, p < .001 on emotional exhaustion). This indicates that when there were more children with special needs/disabilities in a classroom teachers reported a higher degree of chaos, which in turn, was related to teachers’ greater psychological difficulties. The model explained 18.6% to 24.8% of the variances in psychological wellbeing outcomes.

Conclusions: We identify childcare chaos as a mediator of associations between teachers’ psychological wellbeing and numbers of children with special needs/disabilities, which suggests  the need to provide appropriate pre-service and in-service training and supports for teachers serving these children. We also stress the need for strategies to prevent teacher stress and burnout and to promote psychological wellbeing.