Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teacher
What the work is
Designs, plans, teaches and evaluates educational programs and practices for young children, including following and implementing an approved learning framework in an early childhood setting.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Develops and delivers educational programs based on an approved learning framework
- Promotes the safety, health, wellbeing, learning and development of young children
- Provides pedagogical leadership
- Coaches, mentors and supervises staff
- Builds and maintains strong reciprocal relationships with young children and their families
- Complies with service policies and national and/or state-based education legislation
- Works in partnership with families, community members and external agencies to promote the education, care and wellbeing of children
- Maintains records of each child's learning, wellbeing, development, participation and progress, and communicates this with families
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a kindergarten room of four year olds in a suburban preschool. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A child who barely spoke in term one says a full sentence and beams at you
- A game that started as a mess of blocks turns into a plan the whole group worked out together
- A parent says their child comes home talking about a book you shared
Hard days
- Morning drop off with three children crying at the door and parents who are running late
- Paperwork to document each child's learning, written after everyone has gone home
- A parent disagrees with how you handled something, and the conversation is hard
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 251131, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.