Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education
Education and TrainingO*NET 25-2011.00United States
Instruct preschool-aged students, following curricula or lesson plans, in activities designed to promote social, physical, and intellectual growth.
- Median annual earnings
- $37,741
- Projected change
- +7.4%
- Typical education
- High school diploma or less
- Employment
- 572.36K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
28.8% of the workforce
Growing to 614.56K by 2035
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The work
What preschool teachers, except special education do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, and social skills.
- Provide a variety of materials and resources for children to explore, manipulate, and use, both in learning activities and in imaginative play.
- Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order.
- Serve meals and snacks in accordance with nutritional guidelines.
- Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests.
- Attend to children's basic needs by feeding them, dressing them, and changing their diapers.
- Meet with parents and guardians to discuss their children's progress and needs, determine their priorities for their children, and suggest ways that they can promote learning and development.
- Organize and lead activities designed to promote physical, mental, and social development, such as games, arts and crafts, music, storytelling, and field trips.
- Observe and evaluate children's performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
- Identify children showing signs of emotional, developmental, or health-related problems and discuss them with supervisors, parents or guardians, and child development specialists.
- Assimilate arriving children to the school environment by greeting them, helping them remove outerwear, and selecting activities of interest to them.
- Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
- Read books to entire classes or to small groups.
- Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
- Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects and communicate those objectives to children.
- Teach proper eating habits and personal hygiene.
- Demonstrate activities to children.
- Arrange indoor and outdoor space to facilitate creative play, motor-skill activities, and safety.
- Enforce all administration policies and rules governing students.
- Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
- Prepare and implement remedial programs for students requiring extra help.
- Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, and teacher training workshops to maintain and improve professional competence.
- Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula.
- Prepare reports on students and activities as required by administration.
- Organize and label materials and display students' work in a manner appropriate for their ages and perceptual skills.
- Collaborate with other teachers and administrators in the development, evaluation, and revision of preschool programs.
- Plan and supervise class projects, field trips, visits by guests, or other experiential activities and guide students in learning from those activities.
- Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress.
- Supervise, evaluate, and plan assignments for teacher assistants and volunteers.
- Select, store, order, issue, and inventory classroom equipment, materials, and supplies.
- Administer tests to help determine children's developmental levels, needs, and potential.
- Attend staff meetings and serve on committees as required.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $28,222
- 25th percentile
- $33,860
- 50th percentile
- $37,741
- 75th percentile
- $47,427
- 90th percentile
- $61,920
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $37,741 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+7.4%faster than average
2025572,356 jobs
2035 projected614,556 jobs
42,200 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- High school diploma or less
- 28.8%
- Bachelor's degree
- 25.1%
- Some college
- 12.2%
- Master's or Professional degree
- 12%
- Associate degree
- 11.6%
- Certificate
- 10.3%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Preschool Teachers11,841 postings
- 02Child Care Teachers7,544 postings
- 03Teachers7,025 postings
- 04Early Childhood Teachers5,435 postings
- 05Toddler Teachers3,950 postings
- 06Daycare Teachers3,671 postings
- 07Preschool Lead Teachers3,647 postings
- 08Infant Teachers3,365 postings
- 09Lead Teachers3,247 postings
- 10Infant/Toddler Teachers2,994 postings
- 11Lead Toddler Teachers2,432 postings
- 12Pre-K Teachers2,044 postings
- 13Child Care Assistant Teachers1,843 postings
- 14Child Care Professionals1,747 postings
- 15Head Start Teachers1,605 postings
- 16Lead Infant Teachers1,521 postings
- 17Early Childhood Educators1,402 postings
- 18Substitute Preschool Teachers1,162 postings
- 19Day Care Assistants1,005 postings
- 20Directors of Early Childhood Education834 postings
Top employers
- 01KinderCare Education7,749 postings
- 02Bright Horizons3,180 postings
- 03Learning Care Group2,219 postings
- 04Childtime Learning Centers1,404 postings
- 05YMCA1,129 postings
- 06Cadence Academy Preschool1,094 postings
- 07La Petite Academy899 postings
- 08Healthy Kids Programs740 postings
- 09Cadence Education507 postings
- 10New Horizon Academy448 postings
- 11Nobel Learning Communities391 postings
- 12The Goddard School386 postings
- 13Zen Educate384 postings
- 14Brightpath Kids381 postings
- 15Edjoin.Org363 postings
- 16Guidepost Montessori342 postings
- 17Basis Independent Schools340 postings
- 18Learning Experience337 postings
- 19Childcare Network323 postings
- 20Hire Up Recruiting321 postings
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