Challenging Working Conditions Research Articles

“When you are working in this environment, you’re more likely to get sick”: Mapping Care Relationships in LTC

The pandemic has shone a light on problems within the long-term care (LTC) sector. As was true prior to COVID-19, many of the present issues in LTC can be traced to challenging working conditions, such as persistent understaffing of care workers. Working short-staffed means rushing through care, while only satisfying the most basic bodily needs of the resident. This presentation shares early findings from a thematic analysis of interviews conducted with seven care workers as part of the “Mapping Care Relationships” stream of the Seniors –Adding Life to Years (SALTY) project, a pan-Canadian research program that maps how promising approaches to care relationships are organized and experienced in LTC. The purpose of the analysis was to understand how short-staffing is affecting the formation and preservation of meaningful staff-resident relations, and what the impact is on quality of care. Two overarching themes emerged: 1) a relationship between time and work-place illness, injury and violence; 2) a relationship between care worker autonomy and resident quality of care. When working conditions do not support workers in voicing and/or addressing challenges they experience in the workplace, whether this results from understaffing or hierarchical power structures, care workers’ ability to deliver even basic care is jeopardized, and resident and worker health and wellness are placed at risk. Themes are discussed in the context of COVID-19 in light of responses to outbreaks in LTC that have reduced the availability of care workers, family visitors and volunteers, and emphasized top-down and even militarized approaches to care management.

Racial Disparities in Financial Security, Work and Leisure Activities, and Quality of Life Among the Direct Care Workforce.

Personal care, home health, and nursing aides provide the majority of care to chronically ill and disabled older adults. This workforce faces challenging working conditions, resulting in high turnover and workforce instability that affect the quality of care for older adults. We examine financial security, work-life balance, and quality of life of Black, Hispanic, and workers of other race/ethnicity compared to White workers. We hypothesize that Black and Hispanic workers experience greater financial insecurity, spend more time on work-related activities and have less time available for leisure activities, and have a lower quality of life compared to White workers. To test these hypotheses, we analyze the American Time Use Survey using descriptive analyses and multivariable and compositional regression. Black and Hispanic individuals were 2-3 times more likely to live in poverty than White individuals. The time use analysis indicated that Black and Hispanic workers spent more time on work-related activities and less time on nonwork-related activities, including longer work commutes and less time exercising. In analyses of aggregated paid/unpaid work and leisure, Black workers were the only group that spent significantly more time working and less time on leisure activities compared to White workers. This may explain the lower quality of life that we only observed in Black workers. Racial/ethnic disparities in well-being among direct care workers may affect the care older adults receive and contribute to widening inequities in this workforce and society. Policymakers should direct efforts toward securing funding for workers, incentivizing employer provisions, and implementing racial equity approaches.

Emotional Resilience and Bariatric Surgical Teams: a Priority in the Pandemic

The infection control measures implemented as a result of COVID-19 led to a postponement of bariatric surgical procedures across many countries worldwide. Many bariatric surgical teams were in essence left without a profession, with many redeployed to other areas of clinical care and were not able to provide the levels of patient support given before COVID-19. As the pandemic continues, some restrictions have been lifted, with staff adjusting to new ways of working, incorporating challenging working conditions and dealing with continuing levels of stress. This article explores the concept of emotional labour, defined as ‘inducing or suppressing feelings in order to perform one’s work’, and its application to multidisciplinary teams working within bariatric surgery, to offer insight into the mental health issues that may be affecting healthcare professionals working in this discipline.

“Nobody Notices You, So You Are Invisible”: Recognition of Bilingual Teachers in Schools

ABSTRACT Our interest in this study is to investigate how bilingual teachers are recognised in Norwegian schools. The working conditions of bilingual teachers differ between countries, and in the Norwegian context, a bilingual teacher assists minority language-speaking students during lessons, using the students mother tongue and Norwegian. We have observed eight BTs during their regular workdays, and then interviewed them. Although there are some exceptions, we find that most of the informants have few opportunities to collaborate with class teachers, they have challenging working conditions and unpredictable working days. Based on these findings we claim that the informants lack recognition in school. Nevertheless, we find that the bilingual teachers are recognised by their students and their parents. Our assumption is that the strong monolingual discourse in Norwegian educational policy challenges the school when it comes to offering minority language-speaking students an equal and adapted education.

Movements, Societal Crisis, and Organizational Theory

Abstract Public health crises test the robustness of institutions, and the current COVID-19 pandemic is no exception The spread of the virus and subsequent hospitalizations and deaths have laid bare the fragility of governments? capacities to protect their citizens, and it has strained otherwise normally functioning institutions like higher education The pandemic has exposed dramatic economic and racial inequalities, especially in countries without strong welfare infrastructure Grievances that were once contained by relatively prosperous times are now raging on the surface

Hospital doctors in Ireland and the struggle for work-life balance.

Ireland has a high rate of doctor emigration. Challenging working conditions and poor work–life balance, particularly in the hospital sector, are often cited as a driver. The aim of this study was to obtain insight into hospital doctors’ experiences of work and of work–life balance. In late 2019, a stratified random sample of hospital doctors participated in an anonymous online survey, distributed via the national Medical Register (overall response rate 20%; n = 1070). This article presents a qualitative analysis of free-text questions relating to working conditions (n = 469) and work–life balance (n = 314). Results show that respondent hospital doctors, at all levels of seniority, were struggling to achieve balance between work and life, with work–life imbalance and work overload being the key issues arising. Work–life imbalance has become normalized within Irish hospital medicine. Drawing on insights from respondent hospital doctors, this study reflects on the sustainability of this way of working for the individual doctors, the medical workforce and the Irish health system. If health workforce planning is about getting the right staff with the right skills in the right place at the right time to deliver care, work–life balance is about maintaining doctor wellbeing and encouraging their retention.

The influence of spiritual leadership on the subjective well-being of Chinese registered nurses.

Challenging working conditions and job characteristics can result in nurses experiencing significant workplace stress and adversity. To examine how and why spiritual leadership may have a positive influence on nurses' subjective well-being. A total of 339 registered nurses from five public hospitals in Mainland China participated in this study. Hypotheses were tested using the PROCESS macro. Spiritual leadership influenced the subjective well-being indirectly through workplace spirituality. The interaction between spiritual leadership and power distance orientation on workplace spirituality was significant. Power distance orientation moderates the indirect effect of spiritual leadership on the subjective well-being through workplace spirituality, and this indirect effect is more positive for nurse with lower power distance orientation. Spiritual leadership is a significant contextual factor in the workplace that may influence the nurses' workplace spirituality and subjective well-being. Based on their power distance orientation, nurses may have different responses to spiritual leadership, resulting in differing levels of workplace spirituality. Spirituality can satisfy the internal needs of nurses. Spiritual leadership can facilitate a spiritual working context for sustaining the subjective well-being of nurses. Hospitals should provide training programmes to help existing leaders engage in spiritual leadership.

New Right 2.0: Teacher populism on social media in England

This article is concerned with teacher populism on social media in England. This has grown in the last 10 years, facilitated by Twitter. While it appears to be a response to challenging working conditions and declining pay, it has largely been driven by conservative political strategy, an adaptation of the New Right coalition between social conservatives and economic liberals of the 1970s. New Right 2.0, as I frame it here, is a New Right project for the social media age, but also goes deeper into society to promote civic capitalism—so‐called ‘Big Society’. New Right 2.0, like its predecessor, is an attempt to create an aggregated passive acceptance of free‐market ideology by creating division and indifference, setting one group against another, using the state to reward its proponents and to discipline its objectors. Teacher populism, though modest in numbers and specific to a particular public service, uses the language of populism to promote its cause, wanting to give voice to the ordinary teacher against a liberal educational elite which includes academics, local education authorities and teaching unions. This article contributes to an understanding of the social, cultural and political processes that are at play as part of a populist rupture.

Who cares for carers? How discursive constructions of care work marginalized early childhood educators in Ontario’s 2018 provincial election

In the Canadian province of Ontario, the early childhood education and care workforce continues to be undervalued, underpaid and burdened with challenging working conditions. Drawing on Fairclough and Lazar, this study employed a feminist critical discourse analysis to explore the discourses of care work present in the 2018 childcare platforms of three major parties: the Liberal Party, the New Democratic Party and the Progressive Conservative Party. This critical discourse analysis provided an opportunity to consider the absence and presence of early childhood education and care discourses in the election platforms, and the consequences this has for the advancement of the workforce. The findings indicate that the early childhood education and care workforce remained largely invisible in the 2018 childcare platforms. When present, educators were often constructed as components of the early childhood education and care system’s stability. In addition, a discourse of ‘maternal care burden’ emerged in some platforms, which initially suggested progressive recognition of the gendered reality of care and care work for women in Ontario. However, the critical discourse analysis illuminates that the maternal-care-burden discourse, while suggesting that mothers are freed to enter the paid workforce, actually reinforces notions of care as women’s work. As well, this discourse further marginalizes the early childhood education and care workforce by downloading one group’s caring responsibilities to a new group of invisible carers – early childhood educators. In light of these findings, the need to disrupt discourses that continue to devalue the early childhood education and care workforce is considered as researchers and advocates seek to assert care labour as an essential public responsibility and a critical concern in political dialogue.

A Tale of Two Types of Schools: An Exploration of how School Working Conditions Influence Black Male Teacher Turnover

ContextOngoing teacher diversity campaigns will not increase the net number of teachers of color if policymakers fail to address the disproportionate rate at which teachers of color leave the profession when compared to White teachers.PurposeThe purpose of this article is to fill the empirical gap about the mechanisms that influence Black male teacher turnover. Specifically, this study explores the perceived school-based experiences of Black male teachers, with particular attention to comparing the experiences of Black men who are the only Black male teachers in their schools to those of Black men in schools with multiple Black male teachers.Research Questions1. In what ways do the school-based experiences differ for Loners (Black male teachers in schools employing only one Black male teacher) versus Groupers (Black male teachers in schools with larger numbers of Black male teachers)? 2. How does a school's organizational context, such as relationships with colleagues and school administration, affect the decisions of Loners and Groupers to stay in their schools or in the teaching profession?Research DesignThis study employed a qualitative method, phenomenology. Two waves of semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted with Black male teachers (N = 27) across 14 schools. Seven schools had three or more Black male teachers on the faculty (n = 20), and seven schools had one Black male teacher on the faculty (n = 7). Each semistructured interview lasted approximately 60 minutes.Findings/ResultsGroupers cited challenging working conditions (such as weak administrative leadership) as their primary reason for wanting to leave. The following academic year, almost half of these teachers (9 out of 20) did not return to their schools in the positions they had held the previous year. Counterintuitively, Loners, despite sometimes having hostile interactions with their White colleagues, stayed. While Simon and Johnson theorized that the absence of positive collegial relationships increases turnover, this phenomenon proved less true for Loners’ decisions to remain at their schools.RecommendationsGiven that Groupers were more likely to leave when compared to Loners, policymakers who are interested in increasing the number of Black male teachers must also give attention to retention. Future research should compare the school-based experiences and influences of turnover of Black male Loners and Groupers to other ethnoracial minorities, such as Latinx and Asian teachers. Practitioners, or specifically principals, may also want to become more attentive to interpersonal relationships in schools, particularly between Black male teachers and their White colleagues.

Sign language in anesthesiology in times of novel corona virus pandemic.

Anesthesiologists and Intensivists are at the forefront, managing patients afflicted with covid 19 and are facing extremely challenging working conditions. These specialties are expected to take care of patients at different areas of hospital like emergency department, operation theatre, ICU, resuscitation etc., Work in these areas demands accurate and timely intervention and any delay can be disastrous. The nature of closed and often constrained working environment puts them at great risk of contracting infection. Furthermore, aerosol generating procedures like endotracheal intubation and suctioning are regularly performed at these areas. The Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) seems to be the only savior under these circumstances. The PPE entails a full body cover from head to toe, goggles covering eyes, face shield, an N95 mask. Though the PPE protects us from COVID-19, working with a PPE on is a challenging task as one faces heat, dehydration, inability to eat or drink anything etc., All these problems have been very well highlighted in the literature and media. One problem which often escapes attention is that of difficulty in communication while one is wearing a PPE. Anesthesiologists work in an environment where there is lot of interdependence on fellow colleagues, surgical colleagues, junior staff, staff nurses and anesthesia technicians. Directed communication and closed-loop communication is particularly important in these extremely sensitive areas for proper co-ordination and co-operation.[1] Effective communication relies on clarity ('keeping it clear'), brevity ('keeping it brief)', empathy ('how will it feel to receive this?'), with provision for a feedback loop.[2] The verbal communication is often supplemented by communication through body language, body gestures and facial expressions.[3] All these modes of communication become extremely difficult while wearing a PPE. One's voice becomes muffled with an N 95 mask on, face shield acts further as a barrier and even facial and bodily gestures cannot be recognized. This necessitates speaking loudly, repetition of messages and there can be errors in understanding. Any misinterpretation of communication due to PPE may result in hazardous situation and even wrong or delayed administration of treatment. Having an alternative to verbal communication, thus seems to be desirable to reduce chances of error. Socrates, the world renowned Greek philosopher, had said:”If we hadn't a voice or a tongue, and wanted to express things to one another, wouldn't we try to make signs by moving our hands, head, and the rest of our body, just as dumb people do at present” Under the present circumstances, we probably need to take lesson from this teaching and adapt ourselves. Using sign language while wearing a PPE, has the potential to reduce errors related to communication, but it is important to have a uniform sign code for commonly encountered conditions. In this context, we propose following signs, some of which may already be in use at some places [Figures 1-3]. It is equally important to discuss and teach these signs to co-workers and ancillary staff for optimal results.Figure 1: Signs for common clinical situationsFigure 2: Signs for common clinical situationsFigure 3: Signs for common clinical situationsWe seem to be living in a new world order now with a new normal. It is the responsibility of each one of us to adapt to these changes so as to safeguard ourselves and our co-workers without compromising on the patients' safety. This probably is the time to contrive actions with hands to deliver important instructions during these times of covid pandemic. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.

The Role of Self-Efficacy for Satisfaction with Career Counselling and Goal Attainment Among Career Counsellors Working at Schools

Career counsellors working at schools are expected to promote students’ social, emotional, academic, and career development (Lindwall & Coleman, 2008). Despite the importance of career counselling at school (Anctil, Smith, Schenck, & Dahir, 2012; Osborn & Baggerly, 2004), school counsellors face barriers to implementing career counselling, including limited time because of competing demands, negative perceptions about career counselling from parents, teachers, and administration, and low school counsellor self-efficacy (Sanders, Welfare, & Culver, 2017). Considering the importance of career counselling and challenging working conditions, studies usually focus on individual antecedents of effective career counselling (Sawyer et al., 2013). Existing research reveals that self-efficacious consultants provide higher-quality career consulting services to various groups of employees (Bodenhorn & Skaggs, 2005; Larson & Daniels, 1998), are more satisfied with their job and experience less stress (Lent & Hackett, 1987). According to Larson and Daniels (1998), self-efficacy is the essential factor of successful career counselling. However, existing studies do not disclose the mechanism of why career consultants with higher self-efficacy perform consulting activities better. Therefore, this study is aimed to analyse the role of self-efficacy in the relationship between job resources (opportunity to develop and feedback), satisfaction with career counselling and goal attainment among career counsellors working at schools. The study was part of the project “Strategies to Utilise and Cultivate Positive Characteristics & Employability Skills in Schools” (SUCCESS, 2017-12-LT01-KA201-035247). In total, 246 school career counsellors from Lithuania, Italy, Ireland, and Greece were surveyed online. Most of the participants (88.6 percent) were female, and their age varied between 25 and 60 years. In all countries, the professional experience of career counselling varied between 1 and more than 10 years.The results of the study revealed the importance of self-efficacy for satisfaction with career counselling and goal attainment. Self-efficacy moderated the relationship between the opportunity for development and feedback and satisfaction with career counselling, i. e. the opportunity for development and feedback and satisfaction predicted satisfaction with career counselling only when self-efficacy was high. Furthermore, the opportunity for development and feedback were indirectly related to goal attainment through satisfaction with career counselling only when self-efficacy was high. In other words, job resources are more important and better used by those career counsellors who rely on their abilities, can remain calm when facing difficulties in their job and find solutions when confronted with a problem. The limitations of the study together with practical implications are discussed.

Circus choreographies of bodies and things

Abstract The text reflects on the 12th Festival of New Circus and Contemporary Clown Klovnbuf through the prism of contemporary circus' character and its slippery position in contemporary performing arts practices. Following a short overview of developments that have helped shape today's context, the performance analysis focuses mainly on tendencies incorporating critical thinking and the exploration of original forms, means (the trained circus body) and conditions, thereby expanding perspectives in this field of art. It also addresses the issue of the position of contemporary circus in this local environment characterised by a small circle of people involved, challenging working conditions, vulnerable production and weak scientific discourse.

Challenges and practices in promoting (ageing) employees working career in the health care sector \u2013 case studies from Germany, Finland and the UK

BackgroundThe health and social care sector (HCS) is currently facing multiple challenges across Europe: against the background of ageing societies, more people are in need of care. Simultaneously, several countries report a lack of skilled personnel. Due to its structural characteristics, including a high share of part-time workers, an ageing workforce, and challenging working conditions, the HCS requires measures and strategies to deal with these challenges.MethodsThis qualitative study analyses if and how organisations in three countries (Germany, Finland, and the UK) report similar challenges and how they support longer working careers in the HCS. Therefore, we conducted multiple case studies in care organisations. Altogether 54 semi-structured interviews with employees and representatives of management were carried out and analysed thematically.ResultsAnalysis of the interviews revealed that there are similar challenges reported across the countries. Multiple organisational measures and strategies to improve the work ability and working life participation of (ageing) workers were identified. We identified similar challenges across our cases but different strategies in responding to them. With respect to the organisational measures, our results showed that the studied organisations did not implement any age-specific management strategies but realised different reactive and proactive human relation measures aiming at maintaining and improving employees’ work ability (i.e., health, competence and motivation) and longer working careers.ConclusionsOrganisations within the HCS tend to focus on the recruitment of younger workers and/or migrant workers to address the current lack of skilled personnel. The idea of explicitly focusing on ageing workers and the concept of age management as a possible solution seems to lack awareness and/or popularity among organisations in the sector. The concept of age management offers a broad range of measures, which could be beneficial for both, employees and employers/organisations. Employees could benefit from a better occupational well-being and more meaningful careers, while employers could benefit from more committed employees with enhanced productivity, work ability and possibly a longer career.

“Knowledge migrants” or “economic migrants”? Patterns of academic mobility and migration from Southern Europe to Mexico

AbstractBecause mobility has been described as a key element of the academic habitus and a well‐established norm in scientific life, people moving within academia have been generally considered to be “knowledge migrants” and “talent migrants.” Indeed, the literature rarely takes a labour market perspective when analysing academic mobility. However, Southern European academia is largely characterised by challenging working conditions, low wages, and a lack of fair competition for positons, all of which negatively affecting job prospects. Based on 25 in‐depth interviews, this paper explores the reasons behind the migration of a group of Spanish and Italian academics in Mexico with a view to bringing into focus the role of economic/labour and career‐related reasons in migration decisions. We find that their experiences fall along three main academic trajectories, which are distinguished by the stage in the participants' careers at which they decided to migrate and the channels by which they entered Mexican academia. Common to all three groups is the identification of the economic crisis and a lack of institutional support as strong motivating factors in their decision. Underlying this is the question of whether the studied group is best viewed as “knowledge”/“talent” migrants who have followed certain institutional channels or “economic migrants” who are somehow pushed to work abroad by the lack of good employment in their countries of origin. The paper also challenges mainstream ideas about academic mobility, in the sense that the literature has not considered the attractive power of universities/research centres located in the Global South.

Nye læreres erfaringer med skolen som organisasjon

Mens forskning på nye lærere ofte retter oppmerksomheten mot det performative aspektet ved lærerarbeid, undersøker denne artikkelen nyutdannedes møte med skolen som organisasjon. Fem nye lærere ble intervjuet i det siste semesteret i lærerutdanningen og etter de tre første månedene i arbeid. Gjennom utdanningen har de dannet seg et visst kjennskap til skolen og dens kultur, og de både gleder og gruer seg til lærerjobben. Likevel, som arbeidssøkere stiller de få krav til sin fremtidige arbeidsplass. Resultatene i studien viser at de nye lærerne får svært utfordrende arbeidsbetingelser og mangelfull mentorstøtte eller veiledning. Artikkelen konkluderer med en bekymring over at det er de erfarne lærernes behov som blir prioritert framfor behovene til de nyutdannede. Avslutningsvis diskuterer vi studiens resultater og kommer med forslag til implikasjoner både for forskning og oppfølging av nyutdannede. English abstract While research on newly qualified teachers often focuses on the performative aspect of teaching, this article investigates novice teachers’ encounter with the school as an organization. Five new teachers were interviewed during the last semester of teacher education and after working for three first months. Through teacher education they have a certain knowledge of the school and its culture, and they both look forward to and dread to start working as teachers. Nevertheless, as job seekers they make few demands of their future workplace. The results of the study indicate that new teachers meet very challenging working conditions and inadequate mentor support. The conclusion gives rise to concern that it is the experienced teachers’ needs that are prioritized rather than those of new teachers. Finally, we discuss the results and suggest implications for research as well as support for newly qualified teachers.

“Misafir İşçiden” “Yaşlı Göçmene” Avrupa’da Yaşlanan Göçmenlerin Sorunları: Fransa Örneği

<div><!--block-->European countries started accepting mass numbers of migrant workers in the 1950s and 1960s with bilateral agreements to address labor shortages in Europe. Initially, migrant “guest workers” were perceived favorably for their contribution to the workforce. However, once migrants ceased working and grew older and more settled in their host countries, they were seen as “problems” due to the cost of social and health care services. In this study, we aim to examine the problems of elderly immigrants in France. The elderly immigrant population of 21.8% in France is above the European average of 14.8%. Older migrants face many problems stemming from structural and individual factors. These problems are examined in terms of belonging, socioeconomic status, health, access to care services and inequalities in health outcomes. These problems result in the economic and social isolation of immigrants from society. Exposure of migrant workers to challenging work conditions throughout their working lives contributes to deterioration of their health at an early age and poor health outcomes. Yet they are disadvantaged in accessing health care and social services. The highlight of the study is that these problems should be dealt with using a holistic perspective. In conclusion, we call for their full integration in the French social contract through policy changes. In this context, the necessary regulations for the elderly migrants to live in harmony with the society are mentioned.&nbsp;</div>

Narrowing the discourse? Growing precarity in freelance journalism and its effect on the construction of news discourse

ABSTRACTAs the number of freelance journalists increases, the changing nature of work in journalism has effects and possible implications for the kinds of news discourses that are circulated. This paper explores the experiences of freelance journalists in the Republic of Ireland in the context of increasing casualised work. We consider whether challenging working conditions impacts the type of journalism work carried out by freelancers and by extension influences the construction of news and wider discourse. Following the constructionist school, this paper explores the journalistic routines and practices employed by freelancers who are often constrained by resources and time. We do so to consider the impact of these influences on discourse before the text. The study was conducted by interviewing freelance journalists about their lived experiences. This paper contributes to debates around journalism’s so called ‘fourth estate’ function. In particular we question if this role is undermined by changes in the working environment of freelance journalists and posit that growing precarity in the news industry may act to constrain journalism that challenges power.

Opening the “Black Box”. Factors Affecting Women’s Journey to Top Management Positions: A Framework Applied to Chile

The issue of women’s participation in top management and boardroom positions has received increasing attention in the academic literature and the press. However, the pace of advancement for women managers and directors continues to be slow and uneven. The novel framework of this study organizes the factors at the individual, organizational and public policy level that affect both career persistence and the advancement of women in top management positions; namely, factors affecting (1) career persistence (staying at the organization) and (2) career advancement or mobility (getting promoted within the organization). In the study location, Chile, only 32 percent of women “persist”, or have a career without interruptions, mainly due to issues with work–family integration and organizational environments with opaque and challenging working conditions. Women who “advanced” in their professional careers represent 30 percent of high management positions in the public sector and 18 percent in the private sector. Only 3 percent of general managers in Chile are women. Women in Chile have limited access and are still not integrated into business power networks. Our findings will enlighten business leaders and public policy-makers interested in designing organizations that retain and promote talented women in top positions.

Low pay but still we stay: Retention in early childhood education and care

A professional, skilled and engaged early childhood workforce is critical to economic and social productivity and positive life trajectories for children. Yet high staff turnover, skill loss and unmet standards of staff qualification pervade the sector, limiting optimal outcomes. For many early childhood educators, alternatives of better paid and less challenging sources of employment are available in other employment sectors, a fact that explains turnover rates as high as 30%. However, this study reverses the emphasis on why early childhood educators leave the sector and asks instead ‘Why do so many stay?'. This question is a significant one when it is considered that the remuneration of educators in early childhood barely meets minimum wage thresholds, and that they face challenging working conditions and few opportunities for career progression. The findings of the study contribute to an understanding of retention in early childhood education and care occupations specifically, and in feminised, low-paid occupational groups more broadly. The study also informs policy and strategy responses to low retention in the early childhood sector in Australia and internationally.