preschool teacher?

Shaquita Wernicki: If you and your parents are okay with you getting a job while in high school (or perhaps a summer job), try to find one in a childcare setting. Some childcare centers will hire a young person with little or no experience, and some won't. If you're having a hard time doing that, you can still work with young kids by taking a lot of babysitting jobs or maybe volunteering. My first experience with childcare aside from babysitting was volunteering to work in the childcare program at my church when I was around your age, and it was that experience on my resume that landed me a job at a wonderful childcare center later on in college.Working in the field now will be good because it will give you the opportunity to learn more about the field of childcare and early childhood education (ECE), and it will also help you to determine if it is something you would want to make a career out of.Since there are currently no laws regarding the educational requirements ! for preschool teachers, there are several ways to go about getting a career as one. Some childcare centers will hire teachers who merely have enough experience working with kids, but these teachers will only make it so far in terms of promotions and raises--hardly enough to make a living, if at all.You could go to a 2-year college to get your CDA certification--that's Child Development Associate. This is probably the most common level of education among preschool teachers and childcare workers. I would recommend that you do at least this, not only because it will increase your pay and your opportunities as a teacher, but also because it is likely that sometime very soon in the future, preschools will become more regulated and all teachers may soon be required to have at least a CDA.You could also get a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Ed. from a 4-year school. If you do this, you'll have to look very carefully at which schools you apply to, because sadly, a lot of u! niversities do not offer an ECE program. Getting a degree in ! ECE will offer you MANY more opportunities--this is ideal if you'd like to be working outside of the classroom someday, maybe as a program coordinator or a director of a childcare or early learning center.Lots of choices :-)...Show more