What is an ECE Teacher?

For those who love working with children, obtaining an Early Childhood Education degree and becoming an ECE teacher, or one who educates children in the pre-school age range, sounds like the obvious career path to take.

What else can you do with an ECE degree?

While there are numerous and plentiful career possibilities, here are five popular career choices one may consider after obtaining an ECE degree:

Preschool Teacher

Becoming a preschool or ECE teacher is a popular choice for many people possessing an ECE degree. Preschool teachers are important because they are usually the first educator to make an impact in a child’s life.

Preschool teachers work in both public and private schools, and teach a variety of subjects and skills, including math, science, art, writing, and more.

Another possibility for ECE teachers is to join government run programs like Head Start, to educate economically disadvantaged children, and help them prepare for success in life.

Teacher’s Assistant

Teacher’s Assistants, also referred to as paraeducators or paraprofessionals, work in public and private schools at all grade levels, under the supervision and direction of a lead teacher.

Some of the duties required may include working with individual students or small groups, enforcing the rules and keeping behaviors on track, taking attendance, preparing materials for lessons, and supervising students.

Daycare Center Director

Becoming a daycare center director is a big job with a lot of responsibilities, but it can also be a very rewarding career choice. A child care or daycare director is responsible for the day to day operations, including training and educating staff, setting objectives and standards for their facility, and working to maintain strong, positive relationships with their enrolled families, just to name a few.

For those not wanting to take on all of the responsibilities involved in managing or running a childcare facility may find other positions in the childcare center more appealing, or perhaps they may even want to start their own in-home daycare.

Family Support Specialist

There are some situations in which families may require a little extra help, such as with paying for childcare, or finding resources. A family support specialist provides these families with information by referring them to eligible community services. This also means that a family support specialist is responsible for assessing a family’s eligibility in order to help match them to the appropriate and necessary resources, whether that’s housing, transportation or other government programs that will help them to better support their children.

A successful family support specialist should have an in depth understanding of child development, childcare regulations, and a vast knowledge of programs and resources available to help parents and guardians.

Nanny

While a nanny is very similar to a daycare worker, the main difference is a nanny will usually work with an individual family in their own private home, or the home of the nanny. While an ECE degree may not be necessary to obtain employment as a nanny, those candidates with an ECE degree will likely seem much more desirable amongst the competition.

The job duties of a nanny typically consist of caring for children while their parents are at work, including transporting children to and from school and sporting activities, preparing meals, planning educational and entertaining activities, and more.

Classes are forming now, contact Athena Career Academy to start a rewarding teaching career today!