NHSA Dialog, 25(1), Copyright © 2022, ISSN: 1930-9325 Strategies Supporting Early Childhood Education Teachers’ Sense of Self-Efficacy Ruth Guirguis BMCC-CUNY Raquel Plotka Pace University Early childhood education programs in the United States shifted to online instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Early childhood educators faced many challenges around instruction, student engagement, and strategies that would support families during this time. As educators grappled with trying to implement practices that would be effective online, they also struggled with lower levels of self-efficacy. The present study explored how student engagement impacted teaching and learning and particularly how administrative and family support impacted teachers’ sense of self-efficacy. Implications for effective early childhood teaching strategies and the structures that need to be in place to support teachers’ self-efficacy will be discussed. Keywords: self-efficacy, challenges, COVID-19, online/virtual, early childhood INTRODUCTION The COVID-19 health crisis forced early childhood education (ECE) programs to move to online instructional platforms. Educators were faced with the challenge of having to teach and engage young children through a screen without any guidelines on how to shift to online teaching. ECE teachers had to implement this change with very limited teaching resources and support systems in place. Additionally, the notion that ECE teachers needed to provide instruction that aligned with traditional theoretical approaches that included exploration through play, music, and the arts (Dodd-Nufrio, 2011) was an insurmountable task that negatively influenced teachers’ sense of self-efficacy. Social-Emotional and Engagement Challenges RESEARCH TO PRACTICE SUMMARY