Why the Early Childhood Field Is Failing Its Leaders

What We’re Asking of Directors—and Why It’s Too Much

Apr 01, 2025

Step into any early childhood center and you’ll find a rhythm that feels both familiar and relentless: staff shortages, toddler meltdowns, curriculum planning, fire drills, licensing visits, and a child who just poured glue on the new carpet. In the eye of the storm stands a director—calm (or appearing to be), composed (at least on the outside), and holding it all together.

But behind that composure? There’s often someone running on empty.

Someone navigating an impossible job where they're expected to be everything for everyone: coach, therapist, administrator, crisis manager, and morale-keeper—often all before 10 a.m.

It’s no wonder that 62% of child care center directors report experiencing high levels of burnout, according to a 2022 survey by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment.

The reality? This role isn’t hard because people aren’t “cut out for it.” It’s hard because what’s being asked is fundamentally unsustainable.

And while burnout is widespread across the field, some leaders—especially those who are neurodivergent—often feel the strain on an even deeper level. Their strengths can make them appear superhuman in the role, but the cost is high when support systems aren’t there to catch them.

The point is this: the way we’ve structured leadership in early childhood education isn’t working—for anyone. And unless we start acknowledging that, and changing the expectations placed on directors, we’re going to keep losing some of the most passionate, qualified people in the field.

Why the Job Breaks People Down

Early childhood leaders step into the role because they care—about children, about families, about creating something better. But what they often find is a job so overflowing with responsibility, yet so stripped of support, that caring becomes a liability.

Why?

1. The Job Description Has No Boundaries

Directors are expected to be instructional coaches, enrollment managers, HR departments, licensing experts, emotional de-escalators, finance officers, and substitute teachers—all in one role. No one person can sustain that scope of responsibility long-term, and yet it’s normalized across the field.

2. The System Prioritizes Compliance Over Capacity

From staff ratios to daily documentation to emergency drills, the relentless pressure to stay compliant often leaves little room for connection, vision, or reflection.

Once, I even received a licensing citation for “unsanitary conditions” because of a colorful, dried handprint a child had left on the lid of a classroom garbage can. Not a broken lid. Not a health or safety hazard. Just… a little paint.

So instead of focusing on big-picture needs, I spent my afternoon at the store trying to find a matching lid to replace one that worked just fine—because paint didn’t meet the standard of cleanliness to that one licensor. This is what leadership in early childhood can look like. Not building something meaningful—just trying to survive the checklists.

3. There’s Little Room for Recovery

Leadership in early childhood education isn’t just cognitively demanding—it’s emotionally and physically exhausting, too. Yet the role is rarely structured with rest, boundaries, or buffer time in mind. Planning time turns into catch-up time. PTO goes unused. Directors often push through illness or stay late into the evening, simply trying to keep their heads above water.

4. Support Comes Too Late (Or Not At All)

While classroom staff are offered hours of professional development or coaching each year, directors are often expected to already have all the answers. Or they are included on training that isn’t relevant to their role.

They’re tasked with managing budgets, enrollment, licensing, staffing, conflict resolution, parent communication, and more—yet many haven’t been formally trained in areas like finance, sales, HR, or conflict management. In most industries, a role this complex would come with a team, or at least targeted support. In early childhood? Directors are expected to figure it out on their own.

In one of my first business roles at a large corporation I received 12 WEEKS of dedicated training on the role. When I became a Director? I received 2 days. There’s very little infrastructure to support Directors’ learning, and even less emotional support or understanding for the weight they carry.

5. Professionalism Means Perfectionism

There’s an unspoken expectation that leaders must always appear composed, upbeat, and “on.” There’s little space for being human. The emotional cost of always holding it together, especially in front of staff and families, is immense—and isolating.

What Can We Do About It?

We don’t need more self-care memes. We need structural change. Here are practical, systemic actions that owners, policymakers, and organizations can take to begin supporting sustainable leadership in early childhood education:

1. Restructure the Role

Break up the director position into multiple roles—and no, that doesn’t just mean hiring an Assistant Director who ends up being a glorified classroom float. If your leadership team isn’t actually leading, it’s not a solution—it’s a workaround.
Yes, margins may be tight. But the cost of losing a good director—and having to recruit, rehire, and rebuild—is far greater than the investment in proper support. Fund and empower true leadership teams that can share the weight, rather than placing it all on one person’s shoulders.

2. Protect Planning and Recovery Time

Guarantee at least 3–5 hours per week of uninterrupted planning time for directors. That is still less than what Directors need, but it’s a start.
Encourage PTO—but don’t just “allow” it, back it up with support. Assign a leadership team member or floating admin to absorb short-term responsibilities. Offer flexible task redistribution or calendar clearing before and after time off to avoid “return-to-chaos” syndrome.

3. Provide Help with Callouts

Directors shouldn’t be the default responder for every single staff absence. Assign a point person—whether it’s a lead teacher, morning float, or office admin—to triage callouts and create the coverage plan for the day. This alone can alleviate a massive amount of daily stress—and it’s a task that could easily be handled remotely in under two hours each morning.
Staff a reliable on-call floater or rotate callout coverage among team leads. Alternatively, invest in a substitute service. The hourly rate might seem steep at first glance, but when you factor in the hidden costs of a full-time float—PTO, tuition discounts, health benefits, and more—the cost per hour isn’t much different for short term coverage. And when the alternative is a burnt-out team walking out the door, the investment speaks for itself.
And if you’re in Minnesota, a special shout out to Just in Time Teachers—an early childhood substitute staffing company growing with heart. They’ve built a strong reputation for supporting directors holistically, offering everything from reliable subs to thoughtful leadership training, all grounded in people-first values that prioritize care over profit.

4. Provide Coaching, Not Just Compliance

Offer reflective supervision, leadership coaching, or peer mentorship—not just licensing checklists and policy reminders. Directors need more than a walkthrough form—they need thought partnership, safe feedback loops, and someone to help them process the weight of their role.
Invest in leadership development and training that includes conflict resolution, parent communication, boundary-setting, and how to lead adults—not just children. Emotional intelligence, clarity in expectations, and managing difficult conversations are teachable skills, and they should be part of every director’s ongoing toolkit.

5. Build in Emotional Support Systems

Normalize conversations around burnout, mental health, and neurodivergence in leadership. Directors are often the emotional anchor for their entire program—but rarely get space to be vulnerable themselves.
Go beyond lip service. Offer access to therapy or coaching, include wellness stipends in your benefits package, and create regular check-ins focused on the leader’s well-being—not just metrics and milestones.
And don’t forget: training shouldn’t just focus on compliance or curriculum. Directors also need tools for navigating staff dynamics, setting boundaries with families, and protecting their time and energy. The emotional demands of this job are real—our supports should reflect that.

We Can’t Afford to Keep Losing Good Leaders

ECE leadership is not failing because people aren’t trying hard enough. It’s failing because we’ve built a system that requires superhuman energy just to maintain the status quo.

And the truth is, the people who step into these roles are already bringing superhuman heart. What they need now isn’t more grit—it’s more support.

So let’s stop asking, “Why can’t directors keep up?”
And start asking, “Why are we still expecting them to do it all alone?”

Please feel free to add your voice to the comments and open up the door for further discussion, ideas, and support for your fellow Directos.

💡 Up next: A mini-series digging into a side of leadership that rarely gets talked about—what it’s like to be an Early Childhood Leader with a neurodivergent brain.

Many directors are navigating ADHD, autism, anxiety, or sensory processing differences—some with a diagnosis, and many without. Whether they’ve spent a lifetime masking, assumed the immense level of stress was just part of the job, or never saw themselves reflected in traditional definitions of neurodivergence, their experiences are real.

And in a field that’s over 95% female—where women are historically underdiagnosed and often misread—it’s no wonder so many are quietly struggling without support that truly fits.

In this upcoming series, we’ll explore the strengths neurodivergent leaders bring to early childhood, why the role hits differently for them, and practical steps to make the job more sustainable now—even as we work toward long-term change.

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And don’t forget to Share if you believe directors deserve more than just survival. Thanks for being part of this amazing community. Until next time!