All in a day’s work: job demands and satisfaction in Australian early childhood education and care settings

Abstract Despite acknowledged demands and stresses associated with early childhood (EC) work, and high levels of attrition in the EC workforce, research often shows high ratings of job satisfaction. This article explores these discordant findings by applying Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Model to explore educator-rated job satisfaction, stress, feeling rushed, and multiple demands using Time Use Diary (TUD) methodology in a sample of well-resourced EC centres. TUD records were completed by 321 educators for 20 randomly selected hours over 10 days of work, generating 3,512 h of data. Overall ratings were high (M = 7.2/10) for satisfaction and low (M = 3.8/10) for job demands, with variations across the day, and by type and number of work activities completed per hour. Demands reduced during ‘staff breaks’ and time spent ‘being with children’, and increased when ‘communicating with families’, providing ‘emotional support’, and other tasks. Although overall satisfaction was negatively correlated with demands ( r = − 0.40), relatively high ratings were maintained during periods of high job demands. Applying TUD methodology to the JD-R model provided more nuanced understandings of work demands than is possible through one-off surveys. Findings have important implications for supporting quality EC practice and reducing educator burnout and attrition.