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What does a preschool teacher do?

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

A project leader is in charge of managing and leading a team to reach project goals in adherence to schedules and budgets. Their responsibilities revolve around setting objectives and guidelines, assessing workforce performance, assisting staff in difficult areas, answering inquiries, and resolving issues to maintain an efficient workflow. A project leader must also produce progress reports and presentations, updating managers or supervisors as needed. Furthermore, as a project leader, it is essential to lead and encourage the team, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

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Preschool teacher responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real preschool teacher resumes:

  • Implement and manage data for daily in-home ABA program for students with autism.
  • Design and apply activities to help children in achieving their goals and objectives in accordance with IFSP 's
  • Create creative curriculum to keep the kids learning and meet school, state, and federal educational guidelines.
  • Maintain a NAEYC portfolio with supporting documentation to meet standards outline for Pre-Kindergarten.
  • Develop differentiate literacy and math lessons to fulfill a creative curriculum and support kindergarten readiness.
  • Arrange events & bible studies.
  • Provide comfort to distress children with compassion and tact.
  • Instruct and supervise a team of teachers and mentor/train student workers in ECE.
  • Communicate with parents through notebooks, IFSP progress reports, and monthly collaborative meetings.
  • Prepare kids for upcoming school year with challenging classroom worksheets, teach kids dance routines and overlook dance performances
  • Fill in for absent preschool teachers, as well as assisted children in a Montessori classroom with their daily work.
  • Work for a NAEYC accredit company (extra funding by the government to enhance the early childhood education experience).
  • Receive certified CPR training and attend workshops on children's health and safety issues, child welfare, and lesson planning.
  • Introduce mathematics, science, and literature through the use of books, music, artwork, and various learning games.
  • Instruct children in general education areas: science, mathematics, reading, writing, motor skills, and language development.

Preschool teacher skills and personality traits

We calculated that 18% of Preschool Teachers are proficient in Child Care, CPR, and Classroom Management. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Organizational skills, and Physical stamina.

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

  • Child Care, 18%

    Attended a child care education workshop regarding child development and behavior management.

  • CPR, 17%

    Maintained completed yearly certification in CPR and children's medical/first-aid during employment.

  • Classroom Management, 15%

    Attended a variety of professional development workshops centered on learning goals, classroom management, behavior management, and parent involvement.

  • Child Development, 11%

    Maintain consistent communication with parents and conduct parent/teacher conferences based on information and observations from Virginia's Milestones of Child Development.

  • Open Communication, 10%

    Conducted parent/teacher conference on a regular basis to foster open communication with parents regarding their children's progress.

  • Early Development, 3%

    Worked collaboratively with co-teachers on creating individualized portfolios for each child, documenting their yearly development growth.

"child care," "cpr," and "classroom management" are among the most common skills that preschool teachers use at work. You can find even more preschool teacher responsibilities below, including:

Creativity. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a preschool teacher to have is creativity. Their role and responsibilities require that "preschool teachers must plan lessons that engage young children." Preschool teachers often use creativity in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "leverage creativity and organization to maintain a focused yet creative classroom environment. "

Organizational skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling preschool teacher duties is organizational skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "teachers need to be organized to plan lessons and keep records of the children." According to a preschool teacher resume, here's how preschool teachers can utilize organizational skills in their job responsibilities: "displayed organizational skills within the classroom environment to ensure day to day activities go smoothly. "

Physical stamina. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of preschool teachers is physical stamina. This skill is critical to many everyday preschool teacher duties, as "preschool teachers should have a lot of energy, because working with children can be physically demanding." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "designed a pre-k exercise program for the physical development of the children. "

Interpersonal skills. preschool teacher responsibilities often require "interpersonal skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "preschool teachers must understand children’s emotional needs and be able to develop relationships with parents, children, and coworkers." This resume example shows what preschool teachers do with interpersonal skills on a typical day: "created a fun atmosphere of learning.skills usededucating children, designing, reading, writing, mathematics, artistic, interpersonal skills,"

Communication skills. Another common skill required for preschool teacher responsibilities is "communication skills." This skill comes up in the duties of preschool teachers all the time, as "preschool teachers need good writing and speaking skills to talk to parents and colleagues about children’s progress." An excerpt from a real preschool teacher resume shows how this skill is central to what a preschool teacher does: "provided staff support in classroom environment and encourage communication between staff. "

Patience. Another skill commonly found on preschool teacher job descriptions is "patience." It can come up quite often in preschool teacher duties, since "working with children may be stressful." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day preschool teacher responsibilities: "demonstrated patience and understanding in a classroom environment. "

Most common preschool teacher skills

The three companies that hire the most preschool teachers are:

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Compare different preschool teachers

Preschool teacher vs. Teacher internship

Teaching interns are individuals who assist teachers and educators in the classroom. The interns are instructed to fulfill the tasks set out and provided by the supervisors for them. They take part in meetings and jot down their minutes. It is part of their job to conduct research at the request of the supervisor. They make updates to social media platforms and make posts. Also, they create images to be used in posts through different social media platforms.

We looked at the average preschool teacher salary and compared it with the wages of a teacher internship. Generally speaking, teacher interns are paid $14,816 higher than preschool teachers per year.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both preschool teacher and teacher internship positions are skilled in classroom management, mathematics, and parent-teacher conferences.

While similarities exist, there are also some differences between preschool teachers and teacher internship. For instance, preschool teacher responsibilities require skills such as "child care," "cpr," "child development," and "open communication." Whereas a teacher internship is skilled in "classroom management strategies," "language arts," "professional development," and "student learning." This is part of what separates the two careers.

On average, teacher interns reach similar levels of education than preschool teachers. Teacher interns are 4.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Preschool 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.

A career as a teacher associate brings a higher average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a preschool teacher. In fact, teacher associates salary is $425 higher than the salary of preschool teachers per year.Only some things about these jobs are the same. Take their skills, for example. Preschool teachers and teacher associates both require similar skills like "child care," "cpr," and "classroom management" to carry out their responsibilities.

Each career also uses different skills, according to real preschool teacher resumes. While preschool teacher responsibilities can utilize skills like "open communication," "early development," "emotional development," and "parent-teacher conferences," teacher associates use skills like "cleanliness," "math," "language arts," and "behavior management."

In general, teacher associates achieve similar levels of education than preschool teachers. They're 2.0% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for preschool 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.

Preschool 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.

On average scale, teacher aides bring in lower salaries than preschool teachers. In fact, they earn a $4,102 lower salary per year.Using the responsibilities included on preschool teachers and teacher aides resumes, we found that both professions have similar skill requirements, such as "child care," "cpr," and "classroom management.rdquo;

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from preschool teacher resumes include skills like "child development," "open communication," "early development," and "emotional development," whereas a teacher aide is more likely to list skills in "administration policies," "class rooms," "clerical support," and "homework assignments. "

When it comes to education, teacher aides tend to earn similar degree levels compared to preschool teachers. In fact, they're 2.6% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Preschool teacher vs. Head start teacher

A head start teacher is responsible for organizing lectures and monitoring classroom operations for students with financial difficulties. Head start teachers have the same roles as regular teachers, such as preparing lesson plans, conducting assessments to test the students' knowledge, documenting their progress, and planning group activities to observe their personal and social behaviors. They also coordinate with the students' parents to share the child's difficulties and strategize methods to enhance capabilities. A head start teacher must have excellent communication skills, especially in attending to students for their needs and encouraging them to reach their maximum potentials.

Head start teachers average a higher salary than the annual salary of preschool teachers. The difference is about $283 per year.While their salaries may vary, preschool teachers and head start teachers both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "child care," "cpr," and "classroom management. "

Even though a few skill sets overlap between preschool teachers and head start teachers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a preschool teacher might have more use for skills like "open communication," "early development," "mathematics," and "parent-teacher conferences." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of head start teachers require skills like "kids," "help support," "math," and "performance standards. "

Head start teachers reach similar levels of education compared to preschool teachers, in general. The difference is that they're 4.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of preschool 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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