Illinois

Hot job prospect: preschool teacher

By Robin J. Youngblood, ryoungblood@qconline.com.

More photos from this shoot

Photo: John Greenwood Preschool teachers Lynette Roberts, left, and Meghan Bristol work with 3-year-old students Dallas Erickson, left, Rylie Schnack, center, and Donavin Kave in the Scooby Doo room of Skip-A- Long Day Care Center in Moline Friday morning. Preschool is becoming necessary for children to be ready for kindergarten, but it is a highly specialized field that doesn't pay all that great. .

In the near future, finding a good preschool may be tough, but finding qualified preschool teachers may be even tougher.

Time Magazine has predicted the need for preschool teachers will see a dramatic increase over the next seven years.

Filling those spots, however, may be a challenge because it's a highly specialized field that doesn't earn top pay. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has "put more dollars percentage-wise over the past three years than in any other part of the budget," when it comes to preschool teaching and programs, said Joe Vermeire, Rock Island County regional superintendent.

In its October issue "America by the Numbers" story, Time Magazine reported 143,000 preschool teachers will be needed by 2014. Preschool teachers are in fifth place behind postsecondary teachers, home health aides, computer software engineers and medical assistants.

Preschool is the foundation for learning habits, and kids between the ages of 3 to 4 years old — the age span for which many preschools will accept children -- can soak up information like a sponge.

"It's important that we understand early childhood teachers are not babysitting," he said. "They are creating academic vessels of the future. They are creating the ability for that child to learn effectively for the rest of their lives."

In this area, there is a definite need for more preschool teachers because every year more "at-risk" children are identified as needing preschool, said Rock Island County Regional Office of Education early childhood coalition coordinator Tammy Muerhoff.

"We have noticed within our program that establishing certified teachers for those programs can be difficult," she said.

In Illinois' new "Preschool For All" program, the state requires certified teachers to have a Type 04 early childhood certificate. Classes for that are beyond what's required for a bachelor's degree, said Moline's Skip-A-Long director, Julie Allen. Satisfying those requirements around here, however, is difficult and expensive.

"There is a shortage of those teachers having that bachelor's plus an 04 certification in early childhood," Ms. Allen said. "In our area, Western (Illinois University) doesn't offer that program unless you want to go to Macomb. St. Ambrose is the only one that offers that certification."

"The majority of Kindergarten classes are all day now so the expectations are higher than they use to be for children," Ms. Allen said. "That's when preschool becomes important, so they master skills before they come in to kindergarten."

Illinois is leading the charge by offering preschool to families who meet certain income requirements, and they don't have to be living at poverty level. With more preschool programs becoming more affordable, more kids will attend and more teachers will be needed. Filling the 143,000 preschool teachers needed by 2014 may be tricky.

"We're finding in Illinois and the Quad-Cities there is a shortage," Ms. Allen said. "It's probably going to be that way across the country."