Background: Teachers' subjective well-being (SWB) has received much attention, in the light of the major increase in sick leave as well as job quitting among teachers across different cultures and countries. Studies on SWB of kindergarten teachers are still scarce, since most of the academic literature is focused on teachers of primary and secondary schools.Aims: The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare kindergarten teachers' SWB in Hong Kong and Italy.Methods: 367 Hong Kong and 243 Italian kindergarten teachers completed a self-report questionnaire containing: the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and the General Health Questionnaires-12 (GHQ-12). The questionnaire collected also socio-demographics data.Results: Hierarchical regression analysis showed that country belonging plays the strongest predictive role on self-esteem and mental health. Moreover, the independent t-test showed higher levels of job satisfaction among Italian teachers, while Hong Kong teachers were more satisfied in pay and promotion, but less in supervision, operating condition, co-worker relationship, nature of work, and communication.Conclusion: Results are interpreted in the light of the differences between the two contexts considered, in terms of cultural values and educational systems. Copyright © 2018 Benevene, Wong, Fiorilli and De Stasio.

Although a quality preschool supports young children's health and safety, 'quality' has been defined diversely enough that its delivery has been varied among kindergarten teachers. The current study was the first to examine and compare perceptions of school safety between urban and rural kindergarten teachers. Sixty-seven Hong Kong teachers (from an urban region of China) and 111 Yunnan teachers (from a rural region of China) rated their perceived knowledge and attitudes regarding child safety and perceived school safety for young children. The results showed that although Yunnan teachers rated their schools' safety less favourably than did Hong Kong teachers, they rated themselves as having better knowledge and stronger attitudes about child safety. Hong Kong teachers' age and total teaching experience and Yunnan teachers' perceived knowledge significantly predicted their perceived school safety for young children. The implications for 'quality' as a multi-level construct in relation to quality teacher education are discussed.
[Copyright of Early Child Development and Care is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2016.1151418]

The teaching profession has been found as one of the stressful occupations. While numerous research has shown that the school culture contribute to teaching effectiveness and teachers' well-being, it mainly focuses on teachers from the primary or secondary levels of education. Very little attention has been paid to kindergarten teachers despite that preschool education is considered as crucial foundation of young childrenûs learning development. This research examined the relationships between psychosocial work environment of kindergartens and teachersû mental health in Hong Kong. 136 kindergarten teachers were recruited and surveyed on their perceived school culture (School Culture Survey) and general mental health (GHQ-12). Results showed that teachers' perceived school culture correlated negatively with their mental health complaints such as insomnia and tension problems. In other words, teachers who worked in more favourable psychosocial work environment had less mental health complaints than those teachers who worked in less favourable environment. Furthermore, while a significant portion of kindergarten teachers displayed moderate to severe mental health complaints, regression analysis indicated that the school culture domain of collegial support, among other domains such as professional development and learning partnership, contributed significantly and uniquely to teachers' mental health complaints. The implications of developing and sustaining a whole school culture of collegial support in kindergartens are discussed.

While kindergarten teachers have shown resilience under adverse work environment, scarce empirical research has examined these teachers’ resilient protective factors, namely hardiness and optimism. The study had two aims. First, it examined the correlation relationships among variables of hardiness, optimism, self-esteem, and mental health complaints. Second, it testified the mediating effect of hardiness on optimism. Inservice kindergarten teachers were invited to participate in the study as voluntary convenient samplings. They were asked to complete four inventories anonymously to enhance confidentiality and their willingness to participate. Eventually, 64 out of 104 teachers participated and returned the inventories. Results showed that both hardiness and optimism correlated positively with self-esteem but negatively with mental health complaints. While hardiness mediated the effects of optimism, teachers’ commitment (a subscale of hardiness scale) appeared to predict consistently their self-esteem and mental health complaints. Implications of rethinking optimism and promoting teachers’ resilience through hardiness training are discussed.

While studies consistently showed that a person’s subjective well-being (SWB) was related to his/her job performances, health, and adaptation, few research examined Hong Kong kindergarten teachers’ SWB in relation to their demographics. The purpose of study was to address this issue by examining the relationships of teachers’ job satisfaction, self-esteem, and mental health complaints (representing SWB) to their demographic characteristics. 371 in-service teachers participated voluntarily as convenient sample by self-rating on the inventories, including the Job Satisfaction Survey, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory, and the General Health Questionaire-12. Results showed that the SWB variables showed significant correlations with the majority of demographic factors: the factors of age, marital status, years of teaching, and rank in school correlated with all SWB variables. Among all demographics, the “rank in school” factor was the most consistent factor in associating with all SWB variables. In addition, there were group differences in SWB by teachers’ age, working experiences, school ranks, school type, and marital statuses. The age group (46-50) displayed the highest job satisfaction, whereas another age group (26-30) showed the lowest job satisfaction. Teachers with teaching experiences longer than 21 years had significantly higher job satisfactions than those with 6-10 years and 11-15 years of experiences. Of all ranks in kindergartens, the principals displayed the highest job satisfaction. Teachers worked in non-profit-making kindergartens showed consistently more favourable job satisfaction and perceived work environment than teachers in profit-making kindergartens. Furthermore, married teachers indicated significantly higher self-esteem than singled teachers. Implications of findings to teachers’ development were discussed.

WHILE RESEARCH HAS INDICATED that kindergarten teachers across cultures have consistently faced high work stress that may influence their wellbeing, little research has examined the relationships among kindergarten teachers' wellbeing, perceived school culture, and personality types. In the research, 371 in-service kindergarten teachers completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the School Culture Survey, the Job Satisfaction Survey, the General Health Questionnaire-12, and the Rosenberg Self- Esteem Inventory. Results indicated that teachers who perceived their school culture more positively tended to show higher levels of job satisfaction and self-esteem, but less mental health complaints. In addition, teachers of the extraverted, feeling, and judging types tended to perceive their school culture more positively, have higher levels of job satisfaction and self-esteem than those teachers of the introverted, thinking, and perceiving types. Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to senior school managers and policy-makers in their effort to promote school development and teacher professional development.
[Copyright © Early Childhood Australia].

Background: Kindergarten education in Hong Kong serves children aged 32–68 months. However, there is no extant scale that measures kindergarten teachers’ perceived work environment, an important influence on their well-being. Aims: To develop a new instrument, the Teachers’ Perceived Work Environment (TPWE) scale, and to assess whether kindergarten teachers with higher TPWE ratings had higher scores for job satisfaction, self-esteem and mental health. Methods: A 25-item rating scale was developed and used with a sample of in-service kindergarten teachers. Their perceived work environment was represented by five factors (ergonomics, staffing, teaching space, work hours and social space). These teachers also completed three well-being inventories: the Job Satisfaction Survey, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory and the General Health Questionnaire-12. In a second stage, a new sample of in-service kindergarten teachers was used to cross-validate the findings from the earlier assessment. Results: In the first sample of 141 teachers and the second of 125, social space, staffing and work hours were associated with job satisfaction, while ergonomics was a significant negative predictor of mental health complaints. Conclusions: The TPWE exhibited satisfactory reliability and validity. Some factors were differentially associated with specific types of well-being. The results may inform future studies of the working conditions of kindergarten teachers.
[Copyright © 2015 The Author.]