Examining the relationships among child care providers’ knowledge of child development, burnout, organizational climate, and expulsion risk: A brief report

Expulsion poses a significant barrier to high-quality and inclusive early care and education (ECE), leading to both immediate and long-term negative consequences for children and their families. This descriptive, exploratory study examined whether ECE providers' knowledge of child development, burnout, and organizational climate was associated with their attitudes and perceptions related to expulsion risk. A total of 309 ECE providers in one state in the Southeastern region of the United States taking part in a program evaluation completed an online survey prior to program implementation. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to assess associations among providers' knowledge of child development, burnout, organizational climate, and attitudes related to expulsion risk. Provider burnout was found to be significantly associated with providers' attitudes related to expulsion risk (β = .36, p < .001) despite relatively modest levels of burnout reported by this sample. Organizational climate was significantly associated only with the hopelessness subscale of the expulsion risk measure used (β = -.21, p = .034). Findings are somewhat consistent with prior research and have implications for the field regarding methods to address ECE provider burnout and organizational climate to mitigate expulsion risk and promote more inclusive ECE environments.