Development of a work environment rating scale for kindergarten teachers.

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.