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Lisa Nichols Professor Nordquist ENGL 1113 11 February 2013 The Difference among a Teacher and Child Care Worker Many people believe that being a child care worker is identical to being a teacher. Which there are some ways they are very similar, but in others they are completely different. With that being said, child care workers play more of a parental type role where a teacher plays the role of an educator, and each come with their own pros and cons. The main pros and cons that will be discussed among both of the careers are the educational requirements, there responsibilities, and as well as their benefits. The educational requirements between a teacher and a child care worker differ because of their different roles. For a child care worker all that is a required to start in some child development programs is a high school diploma, but with the more education one receives the more doors that will be opened. A person could further their education in this field by going to a vocational school, a junior college to pursue an associates in this field, and or a four year university to gain a bachelors as I wish to do. If you work full time you could get your CDA (Child Development Associate) which is just a step below an associate degree but still works as one and is designed to let those working still further their education in early childhood development. As far as teaching goes, you at least need a high school diploma or a GED to get started as a teachers assistant. With becoming a teacher, unlike a child care worker, you would need to have a Bachelors degree to publicly start teaching.

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A teacher and child care worker are very similar in the fact that they are both working with children, but the minimum requirements are stricter for teachers. On the other hand the two careers differ in their roles a considerable amount. A child care worker is generally more of a parent figurer then what a teacher would be. The responsibilities of a child care worker are to watch and care for the children as well as help build the childrens social, citizenship, and other skills. As a child care worker you would have children from infancy to school age. Teachers are required to teach and prepare children to become successful students throughout their schooling career. Each role comes with its own struggles. For instance child care workers more than likely wont be graded by how the children they watch perform on a standardized test and a teacher will not have to change any diapers. Among the benefits of being a teacher and a child care worker they are not the best in the world but at least with these two careers you dont have to move like you would have to with some other careers. With a child care worker you get the benefits to be someone in young childrens life and possibly make a difference for some children. As well as being a child care worker you would not have to work as much as a teacher would. A child care worker generally works about eight to maybe nine in half hours a day. Normally to start off with their salary they will be paid minimum wage, which is about $7.25 an hour. Which that can vary on the skills and experiences you hold. With the down die of a child care worker they still work on some holidays and most of their work are during the summer. On the contrary a teacher has the benefit just like a child care worker to make a differences with some children but just in a different way. Yet they do put in more hours and they even work outside of their job because of grading papers and getting assignments put together for class. Although on the bright side they get holidays off as

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well as summer time. With teachers pay really depends on how much education you hold and your location. Realizing the slight differences between a teacher and a child care worker makes much of a difference. Now being able to distinguish, that to be a teacher you have to clearly have more education then to be a child care worker, that their responsibilities both involve children even though a child care worker is more parental type than a teacher would be, and furthermore their benefits among each other do lack very close, but a being a teacher more of a hassle. Even though they do have many similarities that seem to almost alike, but a teacher and child care do differ in their own ways.

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