A Labour of Love: Reflecting on the Realities of the Early Years Sector

What is it that truly describes the role of the early years educator? Is it a job, governed by hours and tasks, or something closer to a vocation—a labour of love? It’s a question many of us in the sector reflect on. Tapestry sought to understand how early years educators feel about their role in our recent survey. Their responses painted a picture of passion, dedication, and the daily pressures they face.

A Story of Opposites

When we asked educators to describe their role, their answers painted a picture of familiar contrasts. The role, they told us, is overwhelmingly rewarding (77%) but almost equally challenging (75%). It is fun (55%) yet incredibly tiring (60%). It is deeply fulfilling (50%) whilst also profoundly stressful (53%).

Does this story of opposites sound familiar? It’s the reality of a profession where the joy of a child’s breakthrough moment can exist in the same hour as the exhaustion from managing a room full of competing needs. As one respondent so perfectly articulated, “I feel it can be stressful and tiring, but this isn’t all the time and as a whole it is rewarding and challenging”. It is this capacity to hold both the light and the shade of the role that defines the resilience of so many practitioners. But what happens when that balance begins to tip?

When the Scales Tip

The survey found something more worrying. People working in early years often said they felt “undervalued,” “unappreciated,” and “unsupported” in their jobs. These point to a tension between the personal, intrinsic rewards of the role and the external, professional recognition that so often feels lacking. As one person shared, “I love the kids and engaging with them all, management is another issue at times!”.

This narrative of feeling undervalued is one we hear often. Speaking to Tapestry’s Director Steve Edwards, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, confirmed that this feeling is a key reason that dedicated people consider leaving the profession. Indeed, in their own research carried out this year, the EYA found that a third (35%) of early years practitioners are considering leaving the sector due to stress and mental health difficulties. When the immense personal and emotional investment required for the role isn’t met with the support and respect it deserves, the stress can become overwhelming.

The Enduring ‘Why’

In the face of these challenges, what is the enduring ‘why’? Why do so many dedicated professionals stay? The answer, it seems, lies within the positive side of those initial contrasts. The work remains, for so many, fundamentally rewarding and fulfilling. This sense of purpose transforms the role from a job into something more.

One of our survey respondents captured this perfectly: “It’s a vocation, not a job. It requires huge sacrifice from us, and our families, for so little reward or recognition”. To see your role as a vocation is to recognise it as a deep-seated commitment that demands a huge range of high-level skills—pedagogical knowledge, emotional intelligence, creativity, and resilience. It is the complex and skillful nature of the work, and the visible impact it has on a child’s life, that provides the profound sense of fulfilment that a simple pay cheque cannot.

Nurturing the Nurturers

This reliance on vocational sacrifice, however, is not a sustainable model for a healthy profession. The term ‘undervalued’ isn’t just about a lack of praise; it has tangible, real-world consequences. There is an unspoken expectation in many caring professions that the intrinsic rewards of the job should compensate for low pay and poor conditions—a kind of ‘passion tax’. This pressure to accept less because you love what you do adds another layer of stress onto an already challenging role, contributing to the burnout that many fear.

True support, therefore, must be about more than just acknowledging the passion of practitioners. It must involve creating a culture of genuine professional respect, both within our settings and from the wider system. It means building environments where staff feel secure, trusted, and cared for—where their wellbeing is seen as a prerequisite for the wellbeing of the children. It prompts a vital question for all of us, especially those in leadership roles: how are we actively nurturing the nurturers?

Our findings, then, are not just data points; they are a reflection of the people who make up our sector. They affirm that the early years profession is a true labour of love, but they also serve as a poignant reminder that we cannot take that love for granted. We must continue to ask ourselves how we, as a wider community, can better support and champion the dedicated individuals at the heart of it all, ensuring their passion is sustained, not sacrificed.

Read a comprehensive summary of the Tapestry 2025 survey results.

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