Career profile for Childcare Provider

What does a Childcare Provider do?

Childcare Providers attend to children at schools, businesses, private households, and childcare institutions.

In addition, Childcare Providers perform a variety of tasks, such as dressing, feeding, bathing, and overseeing play.

What kind of tasks does a Childcare Provider perform regularly?

Childcare Providers are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:

Maintain a safe play environment.
Observe and monitor children's play activities.
Communicate with children's parents or guardians about daily activities, behaviors, and related issues.
Support children's emotional and social development, encouraging understanding of others and positive self-concepts.
Care for children in institutional setting, such as group homes, nursery schools, private businesses, or schools for the handicapped.
Sanitize toys and play equipment.
Dress children and change diapers.
Keep records on individual children, including daily observations and information about activities, meals served, and medications administered.
Identify signs of emotional or developmental problems in children and bring them to parents' or guardians' attention.
Instruct children in health and personal habits, such as eating, resting, and toilet habits.
Organize and store toys and materials to ensure order in activity areas.
Perform general administrative tasks, such as taking attendance, editing internal paperwork, and making phone calls.
Create developmentally appropriate lesson plans.
Perform housekeeping duties, such as laundry, cleaning, dish washing, and changing of linens.
Assist in preparing food and serving meals and refreshments to children.
Read to children and teach them simple painting, drawing, handicrafts, and songs.
Discipline children and recommend or initiate other measures to control behavior, such as caring for own clothing and picking up toys and books.
Regulate children's rest periods.
Organize and participate in recreational activities and outings, such as games and field trips.

The above responsibilities are specific to Childcare Providers. More generally, Childcare Providers are involved in several broader types of activities:

Activities	Importance	Details
Assisting and Caring for Others		Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.
Making Decisions and Solving Problems		Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
Thinking Creatively		Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates		Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
Getting Information		Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.

Assisting and Caring for Others

Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.

Making Decisions and Solving Problems

Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.

Thinking Creatively

Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.

Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.

Getting Information

Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.

What is a Childcare Provider salary?

The median salary for a Childcare Provider is $25,460, and the average salary is $26,790. Both the median and average roughly describe the middle of the Childcare Provider salary range, but the average is more easily affected by extremely high or low salaries.

Many Childcare Providers earn significantly more or less than the average, due to several factors. About 10% of Childcare Providers earn less than $18,380 per year, 25% earn less than $20,900, 75% earn less than $30,750, and 90% earn less than $37,720.

Between the years of 2020 and 2030, the number of Childcare Providers is expected to change by 8.5%, and there should be roughly 150,300 open positions for Childcare Providers every year.

Median annual salary: $25,460
Typical salary range: $18,380 - $37,720
Projected growth (2020 - 2030): 8.5%

What personality traits are common among Childcare Providers?

Interests

Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.

Compared to most occupations, those who work as a Childcare Provider are usually higher in their Social and Artistic interests.

Childcare Providers typically have very strong Social interests. Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Also, Childcare Providers typically have strong Artistic interests. Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Values

People differ in their values, or what is most important to them for building job satisfaction and fulfillment.

Compared to most people, those working as a Childcare Provider tend to value Relationships, Support, and Independence.

Most importantly, Childcare Providers very strongly value Relationships. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Second, Childcare Providers moderately value Support. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees.

Lastly, Childcare Providers moderately value Independence. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions.

Psychological Demands

Each occupation brings its own set of psychological demands, which describe the characteristics necessary to perform the job well.

In order to perform their job successfully, people who work as Childcare Providers must consistently demonstrate qualities such as self-control, concern for others, and stress tolerance.

Below, you'll find a list of qualities typically required of Childcare Providers, ranked by importance:

Demands	Importance	Details
Self-Control		Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Concern for Others		Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
Stress Tolerance		Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations.
Integrity		Job requires being honest and ethical.
Cooperation		Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.

Self-Control

Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.

Concern for Others

Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.

Stress Tolerance

Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations.

Integrity

Job requires being honest and ethical.

Cooperation

Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.

What education and training do Childcare Providers need?

Working as a Childcare Provider usually requires a high school diploma.

Childcare Providers need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with this occupation.

Educational degrees among Childcare Providers

11.7% did not complete high school or secondary school
32.0% completed high school or secondary school
25.4% completed some college coursework
11.3% earned a Associate's degree
15.9% earned a Bachelor's degree
3.1% earned a Master's degree
0.6% earned a doctorate or professional degree

Knowledge and expertise required by Childcare Providers

Childcare Providers may benefit from understanding of specialized subject areas, such as customer and personal service, education and training, or public safety and security knowledge.

The list below shows several areas in which most Childcare Providers might want to build proficiency, ranked by importance.

Knowledge areas	Importance	Details
Customer and Personal Service		Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Education and Training		Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Public Safety and Security		Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Psychology		Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Administration and Management		Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Customer and Personal Service

Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Education and Training

Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

Public Safety and Security

Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

Psychology

Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

Administration and Management

Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Important Abilities needed by Childcare Providers

Childcare Providers must develop a particular set of abilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.

For example, Childcare Providers need abilities such as oral comprehension, oral expression, and problem sensitivity in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Childcare Providers, ranked by their relative importance.

Abilities	Importance	Details
Oral Comprehension		The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression		The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Problem Sensitivity		The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Written Comprehension		The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Deductive Reasoning		The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

Oral Comprehension

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Oral Expression

The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

Problem Sensitivity

The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.

Written Comprehension

The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

Deductive Reasoning

The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

Critical Skills needed by Childcare Providers

Skills are developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.

Childcare Providers frequently use skills like monitoring, service orientation, and social perceptiveness to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Childcare Providers, ranked by their relative importance.

Skills	Importance	Details
Monitoring		Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Service Orientation		Actively looking for ways to help people.
Social Perceptiveness		Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Active Listening		Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Speaking		Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Monitoring

Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Service Orientation

Actively looking for ways to help people.

Social Perceptiveness

Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Active Listening

Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Speaking

Talking to others to convey information effectively.

What is the source of this information?

The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

If you have any questions or suggestions about this information, please send a message.

Career profile Childcare Provider

Childcare Provider

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