Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education
Teach academic and social skills to kindergarten students.
Most important skills
- Social Perceptiveness
- Instructing
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Learning Strategies
- Monitoring
- Reading Comprehension
- Coordination
Key knowledge
- Education and Training
- English Language
- Psychology
- Mathematics
- Customer and Personal Service
- Sociology and Anthropology
- Public Safety and Security
- Administrative
What the work involves
- Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, and social skills.
- Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
- Observe and evaluate children's performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
- Instruct students individually and in groups, adapting teaching methods to meet students' varying needs and interests.
- Read books to entire classes or to small groups.
- Demonstrate activities to children.
- Provide a variety of materials and resources for children to explore, manipulate, and use, both in learning activities and in imaginative play.
- Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Artistic, Conventional.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (75.7% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (32.5%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (33.6%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 72% of occupations compared | 83% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 85% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 77% of occupations compared | 76% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 50% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 60% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 78% of occupations compared | 25% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 55% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 87% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 8.32%
- Contact with others about half the time: 1.53%
- Contact with others most of the time: 7.52%
- Constant contact with others: 82.64%
n = 39, Incumbent 08/2018
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 20.61%
- Very important: 24.78%
- Extremely important: 54.61%
n = 37, Incumbent 08/2018
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 3.41%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 8.58%
- Very important: 12.14%
- Extremely important: 75.86%
n = 39, Incumbent 08/2018
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 23.23%
- Some freedom: 39.05%
- A lot of freedom: 37.71%
n = 40, Incumbent 08/2018
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 6.92%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 33.22%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 38.37%
- Every day: 21.49%
n = 40, Incumbent 08/2018
Conflict situations
- Never: 6%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 25.17%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 23.88%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 22.86%
- Every day: 22.09%
n = 39, Incumbent 08/2018
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 1.38%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 41.01%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 35.41%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 13.46%
- Every day: 8.74%
n = 38, Incumbent 08/2018
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 44.76%
- Fairly serious: 23.29%
- Serious: 14.4%
- Very serious: 7.05%
- Extremely serious: 10.5%
n = 38, Incumbent 08/2018
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O*NET-SOC 25-2012.00 · SOC 25-2012 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8