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What does a day care teacher do?

Updated January 8, 2025
7 min read
Quoted expert
Dr. Diana Jones
What does a day care teacher do

A Daycare Teacher is an individual who educates young children and toddlers with lessons and daily activities. Daycare Teachers perform various tasks that include grading student assignments and worksheets, encouraging good manners and positive behavior, and stimulating students intellectually using different learning methods such as games and stories. They will communicate with parents and provide them updates on their children's progress. They will also identify behavioral issues and create strategies to resolve them.

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Day care teacher responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real day care teacher resumes:

  • Participate in safety, first aid and CPR classes.
  • Offer detailed daily reports that outline each child's activities.Upheld all CPR and Florida regulate certifications.
  • Operate van safely when driving residents, adhering to reasonable cleanliness standards and notifying appropriate personnel of maintenance concerns.
  • Prepare, plan, organize, and instruct interactive classes to engage children in bible and life lessons.

Day care teacher skills and personality traits

We calculated that 20% of Day Care Teachers are proficient in Kids, Child Care, and CPR. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Communication skills, and Patience.

We break down the percentage of Day Care Teachers that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Kids, 20%

    Watched the after school ages kids, helped with homework, played games, planned different activities, interacted with the kids

  • Child Care, 17%

    Planned, scheduled and adapted age appropriate curriculum while providing continuous supervision to children enrolled in the Child Care Development Center.

  • CPR, 11%

    Qualified CPR and First aid for infants, children and adults.

  • Learning Environment, 11%

    Assisted with creating a child-centered after school learning environment by implementing fun innovative projects and assignments.

  • Mathematics, 8%

    Plan and implement lesson tailored to early childhood education including reading, mathematics, and sensory/motor development.

  • Child Development, 8%

    Incorporated developmentally appropriate curriculum to enhance child development through exploration.

Common skills that a day care teacher uses to do their job include "kids," "child care," and "cpr." You can find details on the most important day care teacher responsibilities below.

Interpersonal skills. One of the key soft skills for a day care teacher to have is interpersonal skills. You can see how this relates to what day care teachers do because "teacher assistants must be able to develop relationships with a variety of people, including teachers, students, parents, and administrators." Additionally, a day care teacher resume shows how day care teachers use interpersonal skills: "provided outstanding customer service, and used positive interpersonal communicational skills. "

Communication skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling day care teacher duties is communication skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "teacher assistants need to be clear and concise in discussing student progress with teachers and parents." According to a day care teacher resume, here's how day care teachers can utilize communication skills in their job responsibilities: "prepared the kids for lunch.accomplishmentsi communicate better.skills usedcleaning skills.communication skills. "

Patience. This is an important skill for day care teachers to perform their duties. For an example of how day care teacher responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "working with students of different abilities and backgrounds may be difficult." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a day care teacher: "demonstrated patience and understanding while managing difficult behaviors to maintain conducive learning environment in the classroom. ".

All day care teacher skills

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Compare different day care teachers

Day care teacher vs. Teacher associate

A teacher associate is responsible for assisting the teacher in classroom operations and providing teaching support for the students. Teacher associates develop learning materials according to the instructions of the headteachers, helping them to track students' progress and observing class behaviors. They also take class responsibility if the teacher is away, ensuring to keep activity records and attendance for reference. A teacher associate must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in handling students' difficulties and working with the teacher to develop techniques to address those challenges.

The annual salary of teacher associates is $2,776 higher than the average salary of day care teachers.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between day care teachers and teacher associates are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like child care, cpr, and learning environment.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, day care teacher responsibilities require skills like "kids," "parent-teacher conferences," "social growth," and "developmental problems." Meanwhile a typical teacher associate has skills in areas such as "cleanliness," "iep," "math," and "language arts." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

The education levels that teacher associates earn slightly differ from day care teachers. In particular, teacher associates are 4.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a day care teacher. Additionally, they're 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Day care teacher vs. Teacher aide

Teacher aides help lead teachers in managing the classroom. They assist teachers in conducting classroom sessions by setting up the classroom in advance, sourcing materials needed for class activities, helping in presentations, and guiding students during class activities. Teacher aides are also responsible for maintaining classroom cleanliness and helping clean up after the children. They also help manage the students during breaks and during classes. They help the lead teacher keep the students'students' attention. They also assist the students in any other tasks that they may need.

A career as a teacher aide brings a lower average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a day care teacher. In fact, teacher aides salary is $1,751 lower than the salary of day care teachers per year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both day care teachers and teacher aides have skills such as "child care," "cpr," and "learning environment. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real day care teacher resumes. While day care teacher responsibilities can utilize skills like "kids," "child development," "parent-teacher conferences," and "preschool children," teacher aides use skills like "iep," "administration policies," "class rooms," and "instructional materials."

In general, teacher aides achieve similar levels of education than day care teachers. They're 0.6% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for day care teachers in the next 3-5 years?

Dr. Diana JonesDr. Diana Jones LinkedIn profile

Chair, Department of Kinesiology, Anderson University

Technology in the next 3-5 years -- That is a tough question because technology is continually changing. However, I would say whatever learning system their school provides (e.g., Canvas, Blackboard, etc.), they should get to know. Also, the technology that involves making/editing videos of teaching would be necessary. The technique that includes exercise, fitness, sports such as heart rate monitors, Fitbits, etc. Finally, a technology that allows interactions between teachers and students and students and students.

Day care teacher vs. Infant and toddler teacher

An infant and toddler teacher is an individual who aids in the cognitive and social development of preschool children by teaching them the most basic skills that focus on play-centered learning and creativity. Infant and toddler teachers must help children develop positive self-images and encourage them to explore their interests and develop social skills. They must plan and carry out a curriculum that teaches children basic skills such as color, shape, and letter recognition. Infant and toddler teachers must also meet the children's parents to discuss concerns.

On average, infant and toddler teachers earn lower salaries than day care teachers, with a $1,625 difference per year.Using the responsibilities included on day care teachers and infant and toddler teachers resumes, we found that both professions have similar skill requirements, such as "child care," "cpr," and "learning environment.rdquo;

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a day care teacher is likely to be skilled in "kids," "mathematics," "pre-k," and "parent-teacher conferences," while a typical infant and toddler teacher is skilled in "professional development," "emotional development," "physical development," and "naeyc."

When it comes to education, infant and toddler teachers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to day care teachers. In fact, they're 0.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Day care teacher vs. Preschool lead teacher

A preschool lead teacher is responsible for managing the overall learning progress of preschool students. Preschool lead teachers to develop engaging and fun activities for the young learners to monitor their personal and social development. They also utilize learning techniques suitable for young learners' minds to improve their competencies and build self-confidence. They create progress reports and communicate the children's development to their parents. A preschool lead teacher should always adhere to the school regulations to ensure a safe and secure environment for the children.

Preschool lead teachers average a higher salary than the annual salary of day care teachers. The difference is about $1,945 per year.While their salaries may vary, day care teachers and preschool lead teachers both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "child care," "cpr," and "learning environment. "While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "kids," "parent-teacher conferences," "preschool children," and "social growth" are skills that commonly show up on day care teacher resumes. On the other hand, preschool lead teachers use skills like professional development, worksheets, early development, and emotional development on their resumes.preschool lead teachers reach similar levels of education compared to day care teachers, in general. The difference is that they're 2.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of day care teacher

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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