More than Class Size: Support and Autonomy Predict Pedagogical Commitment in Early Childhood Teachers

High teacher turnover in early childhood education underscores the need to understand what sustains teachers’ commitment to their work. Although policy often centers on structural factors like class size and teacher experience, organizational support and autonomy may matter more. Using survey data collected from 143 early childhood teachers in 2022–2023 for a randomized controlled trial of preschool outcomes, we compared how workplace support, teacher beliefs, and structural factors predicted teachers’ intention to continue teaching their current pedagogical approach. Roughly half of the responding teachers taught in public Montessori schools, and program type (Montessori vs. comparison) was a predictor in all models. Three-level hierarchical mixed-effects models showed that experience and class size had negligible associations with pedagogical commitment, whereas organizational support and pedagogical autonomy each predicted it (βs = 0.21–0.31). Montessori teachers reported higher pedagogical commitment than comparison teachers, a difference not accounted for by perceived support or autonomy. An exploratory analysis of teacher beliefs was limited by sample size and was not conclusive. Findings suggest that strengthening early childhood teachers’ sense of support and autonomy may support pedagogical commitment, with implications for early childhood education leadership and policy.