Why is wellness and wellbeing important in childcare

A strong sense of wellbeing provides children with confidence and optimism which maximise their learning potential. Wellbeing is correlated with resilience, providing children with the capacity to cope with day-to day stress and challenges. The readiness to persevere when faced with unfamiliar and challenging learning situations creates the opportunity for success and achievement.

She said that it was common practice for staff to buy lunch from this shop and bring it back to eat in the staff room. While we could say that it is entirely up to an individual to decide what to eat for lunch at work, few other professions have embedded in professional practice frameworks a requirement to model and reinforce health and nutrition practices in their workplace?

Early childhood educators need to have a strong commitment to being positive role models and demonstrate sound eating habits and food choices to the children in their care. We know that children learn by imitating, watching and following the modeling of others. Our pedagogical practices are underpinned by this theoretical knowledge. It does matter what we eat and how we look.

That we care about our own wellbeing and we attend to this through the food we eat, the way we eat it and the exercise we do to keep our bodies and brains strong sets the example.

When considering some subtle but powerful everyday changes we can make, I have looked to Little Golden Books, which although published in , provides sound advice. When thinking back to the young citizens and their educators in that village, I cannot help but wonder whether we should be focusing less on the provision of staff polo shirts with service logos and fancy program planning software that does our thinking for us, and place more attention to a bowl of apples in the staffroom and a strong commitment to the physical and mental wellbeing of early childhood educators to ensure that Australian children are presented with role models that will set the foundation for a healthy life.

The thirteenth biennial health report of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Muldrow, Everything I need to know I learned from a little Golden Book. Random House, New York. Rosenow, N.

The impact is both physical and emotional, from lowering cortisol stress hormone levels to increasing mobility and so much more. These figures from beyondblue indicate why wellbeing matters for all of us, young and old:. If we are not feeling good within ourselves in an emotional, physical or social sense, then we need to be supported by our team to improve our wellbeing. Given the turbulent climate created by coronavirus and the impact this has had on early learning services throughout the country, it's now more important than ever to create and maintain positive working environments for early childhood educators.

We know a strong and stable workforce is pivotal in providing children and families with high-quality early education, which is why it is crucial that educators feel supported during these uncertain times.

Honing in on and understanding educators' workplace wellbeing allows us to determine which factors are positively influencing wellbeing, and to think carefully about how leaders and managers can support and enhance the wellbeing of employees. Until quite recently, research into early childhood educators' workplace wellbeing has been fragmented, with studies focusing on a particular aspect of wellbeing, such as stress or burnout.

Based on the World Health Organisation WHO 's definition of health as a 'state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity', it is important to develop a more holistic conceptualisation of workplace wellbeing - one specific to the early childhood context. Further, workplace wellbeing is not just about feeling happy at work - it is about having a sense of purpose, feeling competent, having the ability to accomplish tasks, having choice and decision-making power within the workplace, and being in a strong and supportive team.

The high degree of emotional work that educators engage in also needs to be taken into consideration. Findings from my research illustrate that organisational factors impacting educator workplace wellbeing include clear and equitable job roles and responsibilities; careful thougt given to staffing arrangements; and understanding of the emotional work of educators and the toll this can take on individuals.

So, how can leaders and managers enhance and support the wellbeing of their educators?