Education:
29%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)
17%
Bachelor's Degree
Preschool Teacher
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Job Outlook:
As fast as average
Education:
Associate's degree
Salary
High:
$58,580.00
Average:
$38,640.00
Hourly
Average:
$18.58
What they do:
Instruct preschool-aged students, following curricula or lesson plans, in activities designed to promote social, physical, and intellectual growth.
On the job, you would:
- Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, and social skills.
- Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order.
- Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests.
Important Qualities
Communication skills. Preschool teachers need good writing and speaking skills to talk to parents and colleagues about children’s progress. They must also be able to communicate well with small children.
Creativity. Preschool teachers must plan lessons that engage young children. In addition, they need to adapt their lessons to suit different learning styles.
Interpersonal skills. Preschool teachers must understand children’s emotional needs and be able to develop relationships with parents, children, and coworkers.
Organizational skills. Teachers need to be organized to plan lessons and keep records of the children.
Patience. Working with children may be stressful. Preschool teachers should be able to respond calmly to overwhelming and difficult situations.
Physical stamina. Preschool teachers should have a lot of energy, because working with children can be physically demanding.
Personality
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Characteristics of this Career |
|---|---|---|---|
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94% | Integrity - Job requires being honest and ethical. | |
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93% | Self-Control - Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations. | |
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92% | Dependability - Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations. | |
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91% | Concern for Others - Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job. | |
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90% | Adaptability/Flexibility - Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace. | |
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90% | Cooperation - Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude. | |
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88% | Stress Tolerance - Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations. | |
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84% | Independence - Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done. | |
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83% | Initiative - Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges. | |
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82% | Leadership - Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction. | |
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82% | Attention to Detail - Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks. | |
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81% | Social Orientation - Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job. | |
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78% | Innovation - Job requires creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems. | |
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72% | Persistence - Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles. | |
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66% | Achievement/Effort - Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks. | |
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65% | Analytical Thinking - Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Strengths |
|---|---|---|---|
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100% | Social - Work involves helping, teaching, advising, assisting, or providing service to others. Social occupations are often associated with social, health care, personal service, teaching/education, or religious activities. | |
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78% | Artistic - Work involves creating original visual artwork, performances, written works, food, or music for a variety of media, or applying artistic principles to the design of various objects and materials. Artistic occupations are often associated with visual arts, applied arts and design, performing arts, music, creative writing, media, or culinary art. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Values of the Work Environment |
|---|---|---|---|
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89% | Relationships - Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service. | |
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61% | Achievement - Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement. |
Aptitude
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Abilities | Cognitive, Physical, Personality |
|---|---|---|---|
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75% | Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences. | |
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75% | Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand. | |
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75% | Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you. | |
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72% | Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem. | |
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69% | Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem. | |
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66% | Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity). | |
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66% | Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. | |
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66% | Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person. |
Job Details
Responsibilities
Set up classroom materials or equipment.
Provide for basic needs of children.
Teach life skills.
Establish rules or policies governing student behavior.
Read to students.
Plan educational activities.
Monitor student performance.
Monitor student behavior, social development, or health.
Evaluate student work.
Monitor student behavior, social development, or health.
Discuss problems or issues with supervisors.
Discuss student progress with parents or guardians.
Discuss student progress with parents or guardians.
Enforce rules or policies governing student behavior.
Set up classroom materials or equipment.
Teach life skills.
Provide for basic needs of children.
Provide for basic needs of children.
Modify teaching methods or materials to accommodate student needs.
Develop instructional objectives.
Apply multiple teaching methods.
Set up classroom materials or equipment.
Arrange childcare or educational settings to ensure physical safety of children.
Maintain student records.
Prepare reports detailing student activities or performance.
Plan educational activities.
Display student work.
Attend training sessions or professional meetings to develop or maintain professional knowledge.
Collaborate with other teaching professionals to develop educational programs.
Evaluate performance of educational staff.
Supervise student research or internship work.
Collaborate with other teaching professionals to develop educational programs.
Serve on institutional or departmental committees.
Discuss problems or issues with supervisors.
Plan experiential learning activities.
Maintain inventories of materials, equipment, or products.
Distribute instructional or library materials.
Order instructional or library materials or equipment.
Assist students with special educational needs.
Supervise school or student activities.
Administer tests to assess educational needs or progress.
Develop strategies or programs for students with special needs.
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Attributes & Percentage of Time Spent |
|---|---|---|---|
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95% | Contact With Others - How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it? | |
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84% | Work With Work Group or Team - How important is it to work with others in a group or team in this job? | |
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84% | Indoors, Environmentally Controlled - How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions? | |
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82% | Face-to-Face Discussions - How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job? | |
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76% | Physical Proximity - To what extent does this job require the worker to perform job tasks in close physical proximity to other people? | |
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71% | Coordinate or Lead Others - How important is it to coordinate or lead others in accomplishing work activities in this job? | |
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66% | Spend Time Standing - How much does this job require standing? | |
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66% | Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results - What results do your decisions usually have on other people or the image or reputation or financial resources of your employer? | |
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65% | Structured versus Unstructured Work - To what extent is this job structured for the worker, rather than allowing the worker to determine tasks, priorities, and goals? |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Tasks & Values |
|---|---|---|---|
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81% | Assisting and Caring for Others - Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients. | |
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75% | Getting Information - Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources. | |
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75% | Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships - Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time. | |
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69% | Training and Teaching Others - Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others. | |
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67% | Thinking Creatively - Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions. | |
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65% | Developing and Building Teams - Encouraging and building mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members. |
What Preschool Teachers Do
Preschool teachers use play to teach children about the world.
Preschool teachers educate and care for children younger than age 5 who have not yet entered kindergarten. They teach language, motor, and social skills to young children.
Duties
Preschool teachers typically do the following:
- Teach children basic skills such as identifying colors, shapes, numbers, and letters
- Work with children in groups or one on one, depending on the needs of children and on the subject matter
- Plan and carry out a curriculum that focuses on different areas of child development
- Organize activities so children can learn about the world, explore interests, and develop skills
- Develop schedules and routines to ensure children have enough physical activity and rest
- Watch for signs of emotional or developmental problems in each child and bring them to the attention of the child’s parents
- Keep records of the children’s progress, routines, and interests, and inform parents about their child’s development
Young children learn from playing, problem solving, and experimenting. Preschool teachers use play and other instructional techniques to teach children. For example, they use storytelling and rhyming games to teach language and vocabulary. They may help improve children’s social skills by having them work together to build a neighborhood in a sandbox or teach math by having children count when building with blocks.
Preschool teachers work with children from different ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds. Teachers include topics in their lessons that teach children how to respect people of different backgrounds and cultures.
Work Environment
Preschool teachers held about 512,300 jobs in 2022. The largest employers of preschool teachers were as follows:
| Child day care services | 62% |
| Elementary and secondary schools; state, local, and private | 16 |
| Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional, and similar organizations | 14 |
| Individual and family services | 2 |
It may be rewarding to see children develop new skills and gain an appreciation of knowledge and learning. However, it can also be tiring to work with young, active children all day.
Work Schedules
Preschool teachers in public schools generally work during school hours. Many work the traditional 10-month school year and have a 2-month break during the summer. Some preschool teachers may teach in summer programs.
Teachers in districts with a year-round schedule typically work 9 weeks in a row and then have a break for 3 weeks before starting a new school session.
Those working in daycare settings may work year-round with longer hours.
Getting Started
How to Become a Preschool Teacher
Preschool teachers must plan lessons that engage young students and must also adapt their lessons to suit different learning styles.
Education and training requirements vary based on settings and state regulations. Preschool teachers typically need at least an associate’s degree.
Education
Preschool teachers typically need at least an associate’s degree.
Preschool teachers in center-based Head Start programs are required to have at least an associate’s degree. However, at least 50 percent of all preschool teachers in Head Start programs nationwide must have a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education or a related field. Those with a degree in a related field, such as psychology, must have experience teaching preschool-age children.
In public schools, preschool teachers are generally required to have at least a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education or a related field. Bachelor’s degree programs include instruction on children’s development, teaching young children, and observing and documenting children’s progress.
Licenses, Certifications, and Registrations
Some states require preschool teachers to obtain the Child Development Associate (CDA) credential offered by the Council for Professional Recognition. Obtaining the CDA credential requires coursework, experience in the field, a written exam, and observation of the candidate working with children. The CDA credential must be renewed every 3 years.
In public schools, preschool teachers must be licensed to teach early childhood education, which covers preschool through third grade. Requirements vary by state, but they generally require a bachelor’s degree and passing an exam to demonstrate competency. Most states require teachers to complete continuing education credits in order to maintain their license.
Other Experience
A few states require preschool teachers to have some work experience in a childcare setting. In these states, preschool teachers often start out as childcare workers or teacher assistants. The amount of experience needed varies by state.
Advancement
Experienced preschool teachers may advance to become the director of a preschool or childcare center or a lead teacher. Those with a bachelor's degree in early childhood education frequently are qualified to teach kindergarten through grade 3, in addition to preschool. Teaching positions at these higher grades typically pay more. For more information, see the profiles on preschool and childcare center directors and kindergarten and elementary school teachers.
Job Outlook
Employment of preschool teachers is projected to grow 3 percent from 2022 to 2032, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
About 56,300 openings for preschool teachers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
Employment
Early childhood education is important for a child’s intellectual and social development. More preschool teachers should be needed to meet the demand for early childhood education.
Contacts for More Information
For more information about early childhood education, visit
National Association for the Education of Young Children
For more information about professional credentials, visit
Similar Occupations
This table shows a list of occupations with job duties that are similar to those of preschool teachers.
| Occupation | Job Duties | Entry-Level Education | Median Annual Pay, May 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Childcare Workers |
Childcare workers attend to children's needs while helping to foster early development. |
High school diploma or equivalent | $28,520 |
|
High School Teachers |
High school teachers teach academic lessons and various skills that students will need to attend college and to enter the job market. |
Bachelor's degree | $62,360 |
|
Kindergarten and Elementary School Teachers |
Kindergarten and elementary school teachers instruct young students in basic subjects in order to prepare them for future schooling. |
Bachelor's degree | $61,620 |
|
Middle School Teachers |
Middle school teachers educate students, typically in sixth through eighth grades. |
Bachelor's degree | $61,810 |
|
Preschool and Childcare Center Directors |
Preschool and childcare center directors supervise and lead their staffs, design program plans, oversee daily activities, and prepare budgets. |
Bachelor's degree | $49,690 |
|
Special Education Teachers |
Special education teachers work with students who have a wide range of learning, mental, emotional, and physical disabilities. |
Bachelor's degree | $62,950 |
|
Teacher Assistants |
Teacher assistants work with a licensed teacher to give students additional attention and instruction. |
Some college, no degree | $30,920 |