Childcare Workers Speak Out: 70% Love Their Jobs, But 80% Are Drowning in Admin Tasks

Benesse Educational Research and Development Institute, an in-house think tank of Benesse Corporation (Headquarters: Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture; President and CEO: Jin Kobayashi), will conduct a survey of directors and childcare workers of kindergartens, nursery schools, and certified childcare centers across Japan from November to December 2023.“4th Basic Survey on Early Childhood Education and Childcare”was carried out.

Currently, the job availability ratio for childcare workers in Japan is higher than the average for all occupations, and the shortage of childcare workers has become a serious problem. In light of this, due to changes in the social environment and policies, kindergartens are expected to play a more diverse range of roles, and childcare workers are required to have greater specialized knowledge and skills. In order to respond to this situation, it is necessary to create an environment in which childcare workers can be satisfied with their work and provide support to prevent them from leaving the job. In order to consider ways to achieve this, this surveyTo understand the actual state of childcare workers’ job satisfaction and burden, and to analyze the factors that affect themI did.

the result,While 70% of childcare workers are satisfied with their workplace and work, 80% feel burdened by the large amount of administrative work.It was also found that the lower the sense of burden in terms of the amount of administrative work and working hours, the higher the job satisfaction of childcare workers. Furthermore, it was revealed that nurseries where childcare workers with high job satisfaction work tend to have a sense of unity throughout the facility, good cooperation between workers, and a principal who demonstrates management skills. It is believed that a nursery school that approaches childcare with a sense of unity can lead to increased job satisfaction.

Benesse Educational Research and Development Institute plans to further analyze the survey results and make proposals on how to create an environment that is easy for childcare workers to work in and how to improve childcare practices.

The main findings of the survey are as follows:

1. Job satisfaction of childcare workers: 70% are satisfied with their workplace and job

82.1% of childcare workers answered that they had good relationships with their coworkers, 74.8% were satisfied with their work, and 73.6% were satisfied with their workplace. Meanwhile, only 27.4% of respondents agreed that there was a good balance between their salary and the amount of work.

2. Workload of childcare workers: 80% feel burdened by the large amount of administrative work

79.4% answered that “the large amount of administrative work is a burden,” 66.9% answered that “dealing with children who require special care is a burden,” 63.8% answered that “the heavy responsibility of looking after children is a burden,” and 56.4% answered that “it is difficult to find time for training.”

3. The situation of the nursery school as perceived by the nursery teachers: 90% talk to each other about the children’s condition, and 70% develop human resources with career development in mind

94.9% responded that “caregivers often talk to each other about the children’s behavior,” 86.5% responded that “there is a safe atmosphere,” 75.3% responded that “the principal has good management skills,” and 65.7% responded that “the school provides personnel training with the career development of caregivers in mind.”

4. Job satisfaction of childcare workers according to sense of burden: Childcare workers who feel less burdened have higher job satisfaction

Childcare workers who feel less burdened by things like heavy administrative work, long working hours, and the heavy responsibility of looking after children have a higher level of job satisfaction than those who do not.

5. Job satisfaction of childcare workers by nursery school situation: Childcare workers who feel a sense of unity in the nursery school have high job satisfaction

Caregivers who feel that there is a sense of unity throughout the nursery school, that there is good cooperation among the staff, and that the principal demonstrates management skills have a level of job satisfaction that is about 20 to 30 points higher than those who do not.

[Survey and Analysis: What is needed for future childcare and early childhood education?]

Benesse Educational Research and Development Institute Researcher Nozaki Yuka

■ The challenge in childcare is to shift from ensuring “quantity” to improving “quality”

■ There is a relationship between job satisfaction and work strain

In order to respond to changes in the social environment and policies, it is necessary to provide support to create an environment in which childcare workers can be satisfied with their work and prevent them from leaving the job. However, the results of this survey show that while 70% of childcare workers are satisfied with their workplace and work, 80% answered that “the amount of clerical work is too much and it is a burden,” 70% answered that “dealing with children who need special care is a burden,” and 60% answered that “it is difficult to find time for training.” This shows that many childcare workers feel a high sense of burden. Further analysis of the survey results revealed that there is a relationship between job satisfaction and work burden. By taking measures to reduce the burden, it is expected that satisfaction will further increase. Reducing the burden on childcare workers and creating an environment where it is easy to work can be said to be a social issue.

■ Enhancing activities within the nursery contributes to the job satisfaction of childcare workers

We also found that a sense of unity throughout the nursery school is important for increasing satisfaction. Already 90% of respondents said that “caregivers often talk to each other about how the children are doing” and “there is a reassuring atmosphere,” and 80% said that “the principal demonstrates good management skills,” and many nurseries are able to put into practice a sense of unity. Such conditions at nurseries contribute to increasing the job satisfaction of caregivers. On the other hand, caregivers who do not feel a sense of unity at the nursery school are not sufficiently satisfied with their jobs. We believe that in the future, there will be a greater need for support to enhance practices within nurseries, such as cooperation between caregivers and management by the principal.

*1 Refer to Benesse Educational Research and Development Institute’s “4th Basic Survey on Early Childhood Education and Childcare (Digest Version)”

　　　（https://benesse.jp/berd/jisedai/research/pdf/240708-1_all.pdf）

[Survey data]

1. Job satisfaction of childcare workers: 70% are satisfied with their workplace and job

82.1% of childcare workers answered that they had good relationships with their coworkers, 74.8% were satisfied with their work, and 73.6% were satisfied with their workplace. Meanwhile, only 27.4% confirmed that there was a good balance between their salary and the amount of work.

◆Figure 1: Job satisfaction (%)