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Organizational Climate: Collegiality and Supervisor Support in Early Childhood Education Programs

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Abstract

In the current study, collegiality, defined as social interactions and belongingness among teachers, and supervisor support, defined as teachers’ perceptions of leadership and support, are explored. To examine these two dimensions of organizational climate in early care and education work environments, the Teacher Satisfaction Inventory (Cassidy, Teacher Satisfaction Inventory (TSI), 2016) was completed by 48 teachers in child care centers across one southeastern state. Teachers rated 16 items focused on collegiality and 13 items related to supervisor support from 1 to 4 using a Likert-type scale focused on occurrence in their work setting. Results revealed positive aspects of collegiality and supervisor support occur frequently; although teachers reported negative occurrences of these dimensions as well. Findings also indicate that collegiality is related to program quality, but not classroom quality. Findings are discussed in terms of assessing these dimensions in early childhood teacher work settings, the importance of examining and understanding administrative work, and the relevance of the organizational climate to program quality.

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Correspondence to Brittany S. Hewett.

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Hewett, B.S., La Paro, K.M. Organizational Climate: Collegiality and Supervisor Support in Early Childhood Education Programs. Early Childhood Educ J 48, 415–427 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-019-01003-w

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