Early childhood educators reflect on preschool teacher pay, recruitment

A child’s first moments are the most important for brain development — with about 90 percent of brain growth happening before a child turns five, Theresa Roedersheimer, executive director of the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation, said. 

In these early years, children are often enrolled in preschool — but, as the early childhood education field faces recruitment and pay issues, it is becoming difficult to become a preschool teacher in North Carolina. 

Pathways to becoming a preschool teacher 

Nita McAdoo, lead technical assistant at Durham PreK, said at some preschools, an individual can become a preschool teacher after graduating high school if they completed — or are in the process of completing — the North Carolina Child Care credential.

To complete the credential, an individual must take either Education 119: Introduction to Early Childhood Education or EDU 3119: Early Childhood Education-Intro at an NC community college. 

“[Potential preschool teachers] would need to be doing training hours annually, of course, and most centers are going to encourage them to go beyond that EDU 119 coursework," McAdoo said.

If someone wants to become a lead preschool teacher specifically through the North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten Program, they myst hold or be eligible to hold a NC Birth through Kindergarten (B-K) Initial or Continuing License or a NC Professional Educator’s Initial or Continuing License, with a  B-K or preschool Add-on license, according to Janessa Nieves, the NC Pre-K program manager for the Division of Child Development and Early Education. 

She added that these requirements apply to all NC Pre-K lead teachers working in public and private schools. 

Preschool teacher pay

North Carolina prekindergarten programs are found in both privately owned child care facilities as well as within elementary schools, Nievessaid. 

“We at least want children to be in healthy and safe places, whether you're a private provider or public provider,” Iheoma Iruka, a professor in the UNC Department of Maternal and Child Health, said.

One of the main pieces keeping people from becoming preschool teachers is pay, Roedersheimer said.

She said people can make more money in other occupations than they can as a preschool teacher, and oftentimes they are easier to get into since they have less requirements. Preschool teachers also have to renew their credentials — including CPR and annual training — which not all preschool directors pay for, she said.

“But we're trying as a field to really preach to centers: pay your staff," McAdoo said. "They deserve it. It's hard work.”

If preschool teachers aren’t paid enough, preschool centers are likely to close, which would result in children not receiving the early childhood education they need for their growth, Iruka said.

“No matter how frustrated [preschool teachers] are, I have not seen the drive, the compassion or the love for children change," Roedersheimer said. "People really love these kids.”

Challenge factors faced by parents, including transportation and employment, intersect with early childhood education and affect the quality of childcare, Iruka said. 

"We have to think not just childcare in isolation, but childcare with other areas of importance that make people's lives better,” she said.

She said she has seen increasing advocacy from teachers for higher compensation, advocating that childcare is a respectable profession, and that children's lives are entrusted in their care every day. 

“If [North Carolina] is a state of trying to make sure that children are in high quality programming, [ensuring] that educators — whether you're teaching a one month old or teaching a 10 year old — that [they're] really being treated as a teacher and valued as such,” Iruka said.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article included quotes and paraphrases that incorrectly stated the necessary requirements to become an NC PreKindergarten teacher and the necessary classes to obtain the North Carolina Child Care credential. Information about pay disparities between public and private preschool centers was also misstated. This information has been corrected and The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for this error. 

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