A person-centred approach to early childhood educators’ job demands and resources: association with turnover intentions

The retention of early childhood educators is a critical challenge globally, including in Finland, where turnover intentions in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce have prompted public concern. In this study, we aim to describe educator job demands and resources in the Finnish ECEC context and examine the associations between educators’ job demand and resource latent profiles and their turnover intentions. Based on survey data obtained from 428 educators, we identified three profiles regarding educators’ job demands and resources: a higher demands / lower resources profile, an average profile, and a lower demands / higher resources profile. Educators in the higher demands / lower resources profile had greater turnover intentions. In contrast, educators in the lower demands / higher resources profile had lower turnover intentions. Attention should be paid to fostering organisational structures that support retention by providing job resources, including instrumental resources and supportive working conditions.