Skills and challenges in child care: perceptions of flow among teachers

Abstract

Perceptions of the experience of flow, a concept introduced by Csikszentmihalyi (1975), was examined among child care employees. Teachers (N=192) of 4-year-old children ranked their perceived skills, perceived challenges, happiness, and relaxation on ten activities that typically occur during a day at a child care center. Discrepancy scores were computed by subtracting the challenge rating from the skill rating for each activity, while flow scores were computed as the absolute value of the discrepancy scores. Happiness and relaxation scores were summed to compute a sense of well-being score for each activity. Paired t-tests indicated that respondents, as a group, perceived their skills as exceeding the challenges on all ten of the activities (p<.0001). A series of 2-way ANOVAS with four levels of child development education and three levels of experience revealed that education was significantly related to an increase in (a) perceived skills and perceived challenges with teaching activities F(3,185)=3.38, p<.05 and F(3,185)=3.09, p<.05, (b) perceived challenges in relationship activities F(3,188)=2.80, p<.05, and (c) perceived skills on routine activities F(3,187)=3. 11, p<.05. Years of work experience with children was significantly related to a positive sense of well-being during teaching activities F(2,185)=6.52, p<.05. Paired t-tests indicated that (a) perceived challenges in teaching activities were significantly greater than for relationship activities (p<.05) and routine activities (p<.001); (b) challenges in relationship activities were significantly higher than for routine activities (p<.0001); (c) perceived skills in relationship activities were significantly greater than for routine activities (p<.001); and (d). discrepancy scores between skills and challenges in the relationship and teaching activities were significantly less (higher flow) than for routine activities. Kendall's Tau coefficients showed that perceived skills and sense of well-being for each activity correlated with job satisfaction (p<.01). Kendall's Tau coefficients between perceived skills and sense of well-being were moderate to moderately low (p<.001). One-way ANOVAS found subjects who rated their challenges higher than skills on relationships had a lower sense of well-being than subjects who rated their skills and challenges as equal or their skills greater than the challenges (p<.05). Multiple regression showed sense of well-being as the best predictor of job satisfaction (r²=.25). The best predictor of well-being was skills in relationships (r²=. 13).