What does a preschool teacher's assistant do?
Preschool teacher assistants, paid an average of $25K per year, must have skills in childcare and communication. This career requires a minimum of a high school diploma, though in some situations, a bachelor's degree may be needed. Those who choose this career path interact with children, prepare snacks, teach things like color and shapes, help children to get dressed and/or change diapers, and evaluate children's development and physical wellness.
Preschool teacher's assistant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real preschool teacher's assistant resumes:
- Design and apply activities to help children in achieving their goals and objectives in accordance with IFSP 's
- Require to be CPR certify.
- Assist with teaching children pre-k education.
- Translate for parents and teachers when need to such as IEP and parent conferences
- Work with a variety of special needs, including cerebral palsy and autism.
- Serve as lead teacher in 500+ clinically supervise hours in a NAEYC accredit educational facility.
- Attend IEP meetings and communicate with parents and students to build a better relationship with them.
- Work with preschool age children with autism, hyperactivity, physical impairments, language delays and cerebral palsy.
- Follow and maintain DCFS and NAEYC guidelines for childcare to ensure high quality of education and care provide for young children.
- 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.
Preschool teacher's assistant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 21% of Preschool Teacher's Assistants are proficient in Open Communication, Child Development, and Child Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Organizational skills, and Physical stamina.
We break down the percentage of Preschool Teacher's Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Open Communication, 21%
Maintain open communication on a daily/weekly basis with parents.
- Child Development, 17%
Assisted with organization and management of Child Development Center.
- Child Care, 15%
Assure the center is in compliance with all relevant regulations from the DOHMH and maintain professional knowledge of child care regulations.
- Compassion, 15%
Provide comfort to distressed children with compassion and tact.
- CPR, 7%
Have all current trainings in Child Abuse, Communicable Disease, First Aid, and CPR.
- Art Projects, 4%
Plan and carry out art projects and work with the children to help develop their fine and gross motor skills.
"open communication," "child development," and "child care" are among the most common skills that preschool teacher's assistants use at work. You can find even more preschool teacher's assistant responsibilities below, including:
Creativity. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a preschool teacher's assistant to have is creativity. Their role and responsibilities require that "preschool teachers must plan lessons that engage young children." Preschool teacher's assistants often use creativity in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "utilize "creative curriculum" guidelines and demonstrated strong classroom management skills with students. "
Organizational skills. Another essential skill to perform preschool teacher's assistant duties is organizational skills. Preschool teacher's assistants responsibilities require that "teachers need to be organized to plan lessons and keep records of the children." Preschool teacher's assistants also use organizational skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "utilized organizational skills and time management skills to focus on early childhood development. "
Physical stamina. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of preschool teacher's assistants is physical stamina. This skill is critical to many everyday preschool teacher's assistant 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: "perform on-going evaluations that take account of physical, cognitive, social and emotional development. "
Interpersonal skills. For certain preschool teacher's assistant responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "interpersonal skills." The day-to-day duties of a preschool teacher's assistant rely on this skill, as "preschool teachers must understand children’s emotional needs and be able to develop relationships with parents, children, and coworkers." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what preschool teacher's assistants do: "skilled child care worker.excellent child supervision skills.good communication and interpersonal skills. "
Communication skills. A commonly-found skill in preschool teacher's assistant job descriptions, "communication skills" is essential to what preschool teacher's assistants do. Preschool teacher's assistant responsibilities rely on this skill because "preschool teachers need good writing and speaking skills to talk to parents and colleagues about children’s progress." You can also see how preschool teacher's assistant duties rely on communication skills in this resume example: "maintain open communication with parents via parent and teacher conferences, and/or written communication. "
Patience. Another skill commonly found on preschool teacher's assistant job descriptions is "patience." It can come up quite often in preschool teacher's assistant 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's assistant responsibilities: "maintained patience, responsibility, and a positive learning environment. "
The three companies that hire the most preschool teacher's assistants are:
- Cadence Education128 preschool teacher's assistants jobs
- Children's Home Society of Florida6 preschool teacher's assistants jobs
- Little Lukes6 preschool teacher's assistants jobs
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Compare different preschool teacher's assistants
Preschool teacher's assistant vs. Assistant language teacher
An assistant language teacher is in charge of performing support tasks for language teachers. Their responsibilities include preparing teaching and coursework materials, assessing student performance, taking attendance records, and holding lectures as a substitute for the teacher. They may also help students who are having trouble following and adjusting to the lessons, assisting them as needed. Above all, an assistant language teacher must monitor the students' progress, all while maintaining a safe and healthy learning environment for everyone.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, preschool teacher's assistant responsibilities require skills like "open communication," "child development," "child care," and "compassion." Meanwhile a typical assistant language teacher has skills in areas such as "english-language," "language curriculum," "elementary schools," and "direct care." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Assistant language teachers really shine in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $31,308. Comparatively, preschool teacher's assistants tend to make the most money in the education industry with an average salary of $31,438.assistant language teachers tend to reach similar levels of education than preschool teacher's assistants. In fact, assistant language teachers are 1.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Preschool teacher's assistant vs. Assistant daycare teacher
An assistant daycare teacher is responsible for performing support tasks in a daycare center. Most of the duties primarily revolve around maintaining a safe and healthy environment for children, preparing meals and learning materials, assisting children during bathroom or hygiene-related activities, and keeping the classroom clean and sanitized. Furthermore, there are instances when an assistant daycare teacher must come up with recreational activities, maintain student records, and help children improve their motor skills and basic knowledge in concepts such as recognizing the alphabet or coloring.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real preschool teacher's assistant resumes. While preschool teacher's assistant responsibilities can utilize skills like "compassion," "classroom management," "creative curriculum," and "preschool program," assistant daycare teachers use skills like "kids," "diaper changes," "abc," and "developmental problems."
Assistant daycare teachers earn similar levels of education than preschool teacher's assistants in general. They're 2.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for preschool teacher's assistants in the next 3-5 years?
Dr. Diana Jones
Chair, Department of Kinesiology, Anderson University
Preschool teacher's assistant vs. Infant teacher
Infant teachers provide care to infants and a safe environment for them to develop. They are teachers that specialize in giving an educational environment to preschool babies and toddlers. These professional teachers guide the child or toddler in their educational development by creating appropriate programs. They lovingly, patiently, and efficiently respond to the child's needs. They should be able to demonstrate good judgment in their care and verbally engage with them throughout the day. Also, they must be caring and enjoy teaching these infants as well as be flexible in their schedule.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, preschool teacher's assistants are more likely to have skills like "child care," "compassion," "classroom management," and "creative curriculum." But a infant teacher is more likely to have skills like "customer service," "infant care," "social growth," and "diaper changes."
Infant teachers earn the best pay in the finance industry, where they command an average salary of $43,375. Preschool teacher's assistants earn the highest pay from the education industry, with an average salary of $31,438.Most infant teachers achieve a similar degree level compared to preschool teacher's assistants. For example, they're 1.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Preschool teacher's assistant vs. Toddler teacher
A toddler teacher is responsible for teaching young learners by administering physical care and monitoring their social and mental development. Toddler teachers prepare fun and engaging activities for the children and evaluate their behaviors and assess how they interact with the environment. They create lesson plans that adhere to the learners' appropriate curriculum, such as teaching them how to speak and count. A toddler teacher must comply with the safety guidelines to keep and promote a safe and healthy environment for everyone.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between preschool teacher's assistants and toddler teachers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a preschool teacher's assistant might have more use for skills like "compassion," "preschool program," "pre-k," and "preschool classroom." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of toddler teachers require skills like "customer service," "toddler room," "diaper changes," and "toilet training. "
The finance industry tends to pay the highest salaries for toddler teachers, with average annual pay of $42,458. Comparatively, the highest preschool teacher's assistant annual salary comes from the education industry.toddler teachers reach similar levels of education compared to preschool teacher's assistants, in general. The difference is that they're 0.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of preschool teacher's assistant
Updated January 8, 2025
