TURNOVER AMONG CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER DIRECTORS IN MILITARY OVERSEAS SETTINGS: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

Abstract

Turnover among child care staff has reached significant proportions with one third of all child care workers leaving their jobs each year, (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2004). Leadership turnover in child care programs has also surfaced as a problem which affects the quality of child care and has serious implications for children. From a phenomenological approach, this study explored child care director turnover and provides some preliminary data on how center director experience Army child care programs as adult work environments distinct from learning environments for children. Data were gathered, using source triangulation, from current child-development center directors, former child-development center directors, and child-development services coordinators. The study was conducted in American military child care centers in Germany. The first series of interviews included three child-development services coordinators, five current directors, and three former directors. The second round of interviews were conducted 12 years later at the same installations and included two current directors and one Child/Youth Services Coordinator. Study participants were asked background questions about their experience, education and training; their reasons for entering the field; their working conditions and job satisfaction/dissatisfaction; and their intentions to remain in or leave their job. This phenomenological study was exploratory in nature and was meant to generate rather than to test hypotheses. By focusing on the everyday experiences of Army CDC directors and discussing these experiences in the directors’ own words, this study provided new insight into how child care directors experience their work and reflect on the issue of center director turnover.