Engaged teachers are satisfied with their profession: evidence from novice teachers in Finnish early childhood education and care and the links with their socio-demographic characteristics

Low retention among newly graduated teachers and high turnover among the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce have become an international concern. Though engaged teachers tend to report more job satisfaction and remain longer in their profession, research on novice ECEC teachers’ job satisfaction and work engagement is scarce. Thus, this study explores novice ECEC teachers’ evaluations of their work engagement and job satisfaction in a universal ECEC system while considering their varying background characteristics. It also investigates the understudied association between novice ECEC teachers’ work engagement and different dimensions of their job satisfaction. Structural equation modelling analyses were conducted on the survey data collected from two cohorts of ECEC teachers (N = 333) starting their teacher education in 2018 or 2019 at seven Finnish universities. The results showed positive relationships between several background characteristics of ECEC teachers, i.e. financial satisfaction, age, work experience, and work engagement; financial satisfaction and all aspects of job satisfaction; and age and professional fulfilment. Moreover, positive associations between novice ECEC teachers’ work engagement and job satisfaction dimensions (i.e. work condition satisfaction and on-going support) were found. Accordingly, implications regarding ECEC teacher education and policies are discussed.