Moving Towards a Thriving Early Childhood Workforce (THRIWE)

Project summary

THRIWE will conduct pioneering transdisciplinary research that strengthens Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) workforce health and well-being and build sustainable systems for ECEC quality and children’s holistic development. The project responds to urgent workforce challenges in the field—poor educator health and wellbeing and high sick leave and turnover rates—compromising quality ECEC. By integrating insights from play research, co-creation methodologies, systemic leadership, complex interventions, and workforce studies, THRIWE will generate knowledge on how educational systems can adapt and thrive under challenging conditions. Workforce health and wellbeing and ECEC quality The early years (0-6 years) play a crucial role in shaping a person's future. ECEC has become a cornerstone of care and learning for children, but quality is often sub-optimal. Holistic early childhood pedagogies supporting children’s movement, play and exploration, may equip children with the competencies they need to thrive and navigate a complex world. However, strengthening ECEC quality is challenging given poor educator health and well-being and high sick leave and turnover rates, which undermine both provision quality and research. In response, THRIWE will use a broader systems and complexity perspective on the ECEC sector, educator health and well-being, leadership, provision quality and children’s development. Aims of the project We will address two main research gaps to advance current understanding and future research on ECEC sustainability: 1) Lack of solid experimental research using an integrated workforce well-being framework and 2) Lack of stakeholder participation in experimental research. ECEC workforce well-being research is dominated by small correlational studies with a fragmented view on well-being. Thus, more large-scale, high-quality experimental research is needed. To succeed with developing and implementing interventions that are relevant, acceptable and scalable, educators and other stakeholders need to engage, articulate their needs and adapt interventions to the local context. In THRIWE, we aim to conduct transdisciplinary research on systemic and complex ECEC interventions that support the holistic development and well-being of children and educators through integration of design-based and experimental approaches to work life research. THRIWE co-creation and feasibility study We will conduct the THRIWE co-creation and feasibility study 2026-2029. The study will extend on established large-scale experimental studies focusing educator professional development and pedagogical practices to support movement, play and exploration (ACTNOW (2019-2022) and MoveEarly (2024-2026)) and design, conduct and evaluate a co-creation and feasibility study underpinning development of a large-scale experimental study. Workshop methodology will be used to develop knowledge about conditions for educator health and wellbeing and design of an intervention together with kindergartens. A 4–5-month feasibility study will be conducted to evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention. If the evaluation is successful, and with additional funding, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention in a large-scale experimental study and potentially implement it at scale.