Childcare Worker
What does a Childcare Worker do?
Child Care Workers help supervise and provide care and learning experiences for infants and young children who attend private, community, or government programs and schools. They may also care for children before or after school. They work under the supervision of teachers or directors. Workers provide recreation and teach basic concepts such as colors, shapes, numbers, and phonetics. They help children to learn health, eating, and cleanliness habits. They must also maintain discipline and supervise eating and rest periods.
Salary and Employment Outlook:
California Occupational Guides
Typical Employers:
Child care workers are employed by day-care centers, nursery schools, recreation programs, employers that have child care centers for their employees, state or federal child care programs and church-sponsored child care programs.
Preparation:
Training is available at California community colleges, state colleges, and universities. Federal guidelines must be followed if centers are recipients of federal funds. Day care centers that receive federal funds require teachers to be 18 years or older, have a high school diploma and one year of training in a specialty area, such as Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Child Development. Aides and assistants must be 15 years or older and work under the supervision of a teacher. For more advanced positions in this occupation, two to three years of college emphasizing Nursery, Preschool, Child Development, two to three years of experience, or in some cases, a teaching credential are needed. Aides who work with infants (under two years of age) need only high school education.
Educational Program(s):
Related Programs: Early Childhood Education, Home Economics, Psychology, Sociology, Teacher Education - Elementary
DVC Certificate Program in Early Childhood Education:
Web Resources:
California Occupational Guides
National Child Care Association
Career Center Home Page | Career Info Sheets
Diablo Valley College Career/Technical Education Homepage