Competence requirements for early childhood education and care (ECEC) teachers have increased worldwide, while at the same time, there is a shortage of qualified teachers (Department of Human Services [DHS], 2020; Lillvist et al., 2014; Nguyen & Nguyen, 2021). Studies have shown that highly educated ECEC teachers often experience conflicts between their working conditions and professional goals. This can lead to intentions to leave the profession, as teachers feel unable to meet job demands or fully use their competences with the available resources (Grant et al., 2019; Heilala et al., 2023; Schaak et al., 2020; Thorpe et al., 2020). The Nordic countries are facing a shortage of ECEC teachers, which statistics indicate will continue to grow in the coming years (Nordic Council of Ministers, 2024). In Finland, the Ministry of Education and Culture has taken various measures to address the ECEC teacher shortage, including increasing the number of educational placements for ECEC teachers (Karila et al., 2021). In this article, we approach this challenge of ECEC teacher retention by examining the occupational competence and occupational commitment of ECEC teachers who are in the induction phase of their careers. This study aims to answer the following research question: How do ECEC teachers in the induction phase of work associate occupational competence and occupational commitment?

In this article, occupational competence is approached from both the perspective of the individual and the requirements of the work and community. Within the field of ECEC, teachers’ competence includes both the theoretical knowledge and practical skills essential for the work (see Nasiopoulou, 2020). Occupational competence requirements for ECEC teachers are shaped by societal factors, such as legislation and curricula. In this context, officially demanded competence refers to the formal expectations placed on ECEC teachers’ work (Ellström, 1997).

In this article, the term occupational commitment is used and examined at the individual level to refer to ECEC teachers’ commitment to their profession and their intentions to continue in the profession. Occupational commitment independently influences professional activity and work behavior (Meyer et al., 1993).

Findings from research in other academic disciplines suggest that competence can be meaningful to organizational commitment in various ways (Anwar & Aima, 2020; Riyanto et al., 2023). Organizational studies suggest that competence and commitment are closely intertwined throughout a career. Support for competence and opportunities for professional development have been found to be associated with commitment (Anwar & Aima, 2020; Riyanto et al., 2023). Studies have also shown that teachers see professional development and support at early career stages as promising tools for retaining teachers in the profession (See et al., 2020). In a study by Siri et al. (2020), higher competency ratings of professional teachers were reflected in higher levels of commitment.

However, higher competence does not appear to be unambiguously a factor that strengthens commitment. Studies of ECEC teachers also show that highly educated ECEC teachers recognize a conflict between working conditions and personal work goals. This, in turn, has increased the intention to change jobs or progress within the sector, as teachers feel unable to do the job according to their standards (Grant et al., 2019; Thorpe et al., 2020). It appears that the induction phase, or the beginning of a teacher’s career, is a particularly sensitive period for developing occupational competence, and decisions to leave the profession often occur during this early stage. For this study, the induction phase is defined as beginning with internships during ECEC teacher studies and lasting for about 3–5 years after transitioning into the work (Langdon et al., 2016; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2019; Schaack et al., 2020).

This study is based on a survey conducted in spring 2024. The survey was sent to all students admitted and accepted into an ECEC teacher education program at any Finnish university in 2018 or 2019 (N=1628). 36% of the whole sample, i.e., 595 participants, responded to the survey. This study focused on one open-ended question: What factors have weakened or strengthened your commitment to working as an ECEC teacher after entering the workforce? The answers varied in length, ranging from one word to nearly a full page. Only answers that included perspectives related to occupational competence were included. The criteria for exclusion were discussed and decided upon together by the authors. In the final stage, 222 responses. Reflective thematic analysis To answer research: How do ECEC teachers in the induction phase of work associate occupational competence and occupational commitment, the open-ended survey responses were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) reflective thematic analysis. Its five phases recognize the researcher’s active role in understanding the data and generating knowledge (Braun & Clarke, 2022). First, the data was familiarized, and it were approached inductively, without applying any theoretical framework. After familiarising with the data, the data related to occupational competence was coded using an inductive approach. Preliminary defining occupational competence helped the researchers grasp its holistic nature, which, in turn, enabled a broad identification of relevant responses. Drawing on a constructionist epistemology, in which the meaningfulness of the data guided coding decisions (Byrne, 2022; Schwandt, 1998), responses were selectively interpreted as reflecting occupational competence based on the researchers’ judgment. After coding the data multiple times, the first author developed themes through codes. First, individual codes were grouped into datasets, which were then combined and interpreted to form the candidate themes. This phase was conducted iteratively, resulting in the development of several different versions of the candidate themes. This phase required careful interpretation, as many thematic elements overlapped across different clusters. Defining clear boundaries between themes and recognizing their interconnections was essential for ensuring analytical rigor. The overlapping nature of the themes is discussed further in the results and conclusions. The final candidate themes were reviewed against the codes and the entire dataset multiple times. After that the themes were named, this involved revisiting the data repeatedly to ensure that the names accurately reflected the content. After several rounds of refinement, four final themes were identified.

In the analysis, four themes were identified: appreciation, resources and conditions, position in the work community, and competence at the induction phase. These themes provide insight into how ECEC teachers articulated the connection between occupational competence and occupational commitment in their open-ended responses. These themes can also be considered at the societal, community, and individual levels, which demonstrates their multidimensional nature. Appreciation. ECEC teachers linked societal, community, and their own appreciation of their competence and work to their occupational commitment. The appreciation shown by society and the community increased occupational commitment, while a perceived lack of appreciation was mentioned as weakening occupational commitment. Also participants own appreciation strengthened their occupational commitment. Resources and demands. Participants combined the requirements for occupational competence and resources with commitment to the occupation in ways that were both weakening and strengthening. Resources were important in meeting work demands, so adequate resources strengthened commitment, while inadequate resources weakened it. The position in the work community. Commitment was strengthened or weakened by the requirements set by the work community, shared values and practices, and the possibility for individual autonomy. Competence in the induction phase. Formal competence gained through education, support and orientation provided by the work community, and the individual’s confidence in their own occupational competence either strengthened or weakened occupational commitment. The study’s results present practical implications that could be used to strengthen the competence and commitment of ECEC teachers in the induction phase. This study found that the mismatch between job requirements, resources, and competences from education and actual competences was significant in terms of occupational commitment. Our results suggest that support and job requirements should be tailored to the individual at the induction phase to support one’s own experience of their actual competence, thus strengthening occupational commitment.

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