Day In The Life Of A Early Years Teacher
Do you have a passion to help early years children through their key developmental stages? Would you like to work in an educational environment? Find out what a typical day in the life of an early years teacher involves…
As an early years teacher (EYT), your aim is to motivate children and use resources imaginatively to help them learn up to the age of 5 years. You’ll provide a safe and secure environment for them to develop their social and communication skills while recording observations and summarising their achievements.
Job Duties
In a typical day in the life of an early years teacher, you’ll need to motivate and stimulate a child’s learning abilities, often encouraging learning through experience. During the day, you’ll also be expected to provide pastoral care and support to children within a secure learning environment, as well as, assist with the development of a child’s personal, social, language and physical coordination abilities.
You will be required to help children develop curiosity and work with others including teaching assistants and nursery nurses as well as volunteer helpers, to plan and coordinate work both indoors and outdoors. Other duties include sharing knowledge gained with other practitioners and building and maintaining relationships with parents whilst observing, assessing and recording each child’s progress.
Skills
You’ll need to have:
- excellent communication and listening skills
- good organisational skills to plan the day and respond to the different needs of the children you teach
- the ability to inspire and enthuse young children
- an understanding of the needs and feelings of children
- ability to work independently with children, as well as being able to work in the wider nursery/school team
Career Development
It’s generally up to you to take responsibility for your own professional development, although this is normally discussed with your immediate line manager at annual performance appraisals. You’ll need to make sure that your knowledge and skills relating to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) remain up to date throughout your career.
Additional activities the CPD recommends include:
- attending training courses and webinars
- attending events and conferences on early years themes
- researching early years resources to help develop your work.
Once you’ve gained experience in the life of an early years teacher, there may be opportunities to move into a management role. This could be a staff supervisory role or managing a nursery or group of nurseries. Some early years teachers choose to go on to open their own nurseries. With additional qualifications and experience, it’s possible to specialise in certain areas, such as special educational needs (SEN).
