Nursery Teachers provide a secure and supportive learning environment for youngsters who are 3-5 years old.
They use a good range of creative teaching resources and deliberate activities (including anything from tales and games to drawing and innovative play) to nurture and aid the development of children’s fundamental abilities – like language, literacy, and numeracy.
Nursery Teachers are additionally accountable for the children’s general wellbeing. This includes offering pastoral care, as well as promoting correct behaviour and cooperation.
1. Being friendly with children
Let us get this clear, there is nothing that makes you more qualified to teach children than your behaviour with them. If children are comfortable with and around you, then that means they trust you. This will be a big plus point when you are looking for a nursery teacher job.
2. Communicate with the parents
One great thing about modern parents is that they are very concerned about their child’s education. So, the best way to know your students is to talk to their parents at the very start of the session. You can individually invite the parents for a meeting and inquire about their children. Consequently, you can also read the best review for teacher to understand the latest teacher trends. In short, getting started with the job can be a little difficult as you have to learn the modern ways of teaching and implement them in your classroom.
3. Getting your EYITT
Working with children requires an extra qualification other than the ones needed to become a teacher in general. Early Years Initial Teacher Training, or in short EYITT, is required to teach children who are under 5 years of age.
EYITT leads to the award of Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS), which is different from Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), that is required to teach in state-maintained primary, secondary or special schools.
4. Creativity and imagination
Unlike what people think that children don’t usually grasp everything that is going on around them, they actually spend a lot of time wondering about them. They may not always show it, but they are constantly thinking about many things. Children like to do experiments about different usage of things. For example, some children may try to make a house using papers and marker pens.
An adult who shares a similar level of imagination & creativity, and is able to support the children’s thoughts would make a great nursery teacher. Because in a nursery or early years classroom, there is as much playing as there are studies. Mostly, teachers play with children using legos to make shapes of multiple things.
There is also the saying, “Children enjoy learning when it is done in playful ways.” So, if you possess good imagination skills and are creative, chances are you may not have to wait much longer to get your job as an early years teacher.
5. Attending job fairs
Education job fairs aren’t simply for undergrads, and they can certainly assist you land a teaching job. Districts and schools wouldn’t waste their time being there unless they had real needs and active openings to fill. Moreover, fairs let you take a look at districts you would possibly not otherwise have considered. Plus, you have a chance to make private connections with the administrators manning the tables, which helps you make a better impression than through an online application.
6. Keeping shyness away
Perhaps you decided to teach children right after you finished your nursery teacher training, then, of course, you will additionally need EYITT status. And then you need to start looking for jobs seriously. You need to let people know that you are available and up for teaching children. Broaden your network and keep your shyness at a minimum when asking people about available nursery teacher positions.
However, if you are still unable to talk with new people, take advantage of the people you already know. Perhaps, your relatives, friends or even teachers know about vacancies. This will be helpful when employers are looking for great references, and if the person who informed you about the vacancy is trusted by the employer, then you are likely more competitive than other candidates who applied for this position.