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SOC 39-9011
Attend to children at schools, businesses, private households and childcare institutions: maintain line-of-sight supervision and the staff ratio, carry out eating and hygiene and sleep and medication care, use age-appropriate activities to support early development, maintain and write up children's records and communicate with parents, and handle and report anomalies under the institution's procedures.
Model impact index for three equally weighted representative core tasks; not a measured share of working time or a job-loss probability. floor((0+0+75)/3+0.5)=25; fermatmind-ai-impact-v1; 2026-10-18.
In one line: this is a position that turns whether line-of-sight supervision was continuous, whether the staff ratio and the register match, whether the environment and toys and meals were checked under procedure, whether eating and hygiene and rest were cared for as needed, whether anomalies and incidents were reported under procedure, and whether records and parent communication can be reviewed into traceable evidence; the outputs are care and handover records, daily observation and development records, activity and curriculum plans, meal and medication and sleep records, incident and anomaly reporting and handling records, and parent and guardian communication records; it is not the systematic teaching position of a kindergarten teacher, nor the diagnostic and treatment position of medical staff, and it does not replace the institution's head or the competent authorities in determining childcare qualifications and safety responsibility.
Education, qualifications and authorization must be checked separately: O*NET lists this occupation as Job Zone 1-2 (little to some preparation), SVP range below 6.0; the education distribution on this occupation's page is high school or equivalent 39%, associate's or other two-year degree 23% and less than high school 14%. In the United States, entry education and training requirements vary with the state and the setting and the family arrangement, from no formal education to early childhood certification; licensing, background checks and training requirements differ for centre-based care, family care, self-employment and school positions. The O*NET certification directory lists certificates such as the Child Development Associate (awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition) and the Certified Childcare Professional (awarded by the National Early Childhood Program Accreditation). In mainland China, the national occupational skill standard for childcare workers defines skill levels, but the training reference hours are not directly tied to promotion; working in a childcare institution also requires meeting institutional and health and no-abuse and no-criminal-record requirements, which must be confirmed under the applicable regulations and local rules. This page does not push the licensing or registration requirements of one jurisdiction onto another, nor does it write training certificates up as a practice qualification. Education background, professional certification, statutory and practice qualifications, and institutional authorization are four different things.
Career direction comparison
The table below compares positions and occupations adjacent to this occupation: kindergarten teachers, special education teachers, teaching assistants, nannies, preschool and childcare institution managers, and group childcare institution care positions. The four columns each answer the same kind of question: what this direction does, where the key difference from this occupation lies, and what kind of person is better suited to choosing it.
| Career direction | Core work and output | Key differences | Best-fit choice |
|---|---|---|---|
| People who want to do curriculum design and systematic teaching and hold a teaching qualification are suited to being a kindergarten teacher; people who would rather provide care and companionship are suited to this occupation. | This occupation is mainly daily care and safety supervision and play interaction, and does not carry systematic teaching or academic assessment responsibility. | Deliver systematic teaching under a curriculum and assess learning outcomes |
AI impact on this career
The editor may test schedule checking, checklist reminders, organizing approved records and draft notices; no measurement of model accuracy, actual adoption, time saved or job substitution for this occupation has been obtained. On-site care, emergency protection and statutory reporting are still carried out according to the specific duties. The BLS U.S. SOC39-9011 projection is 1,010,300 people in 2025 to 990,400 people in 2035, a net decrease of 19,900 and a fall of 2% (whole number), with 150,300 openings per year on average over 2025—2035, all of them replacement needs from people moving to other occupations or leaving the labour force. A projection is not year-by-year actual performance, the current hiring stock or AI causality. OOH2025 employment includes 24% self-employed and 17% private households, which differs from the OEWS wage sample that excludes both. AI Impact Score 25% is an editorial estimate. Model impact index for three equally weighted representative core tasks; not a measured share of working time or a job-loss probability. floor((0+0+75)/3+0.5)=25; fermatmind-ai-impact-v1; 2026-10-18.The three tasks, ratings and sources are listed in the FermatMind method source record on this page.
FermatMind AI Impact Score estimation method v1
FermatMind / 费马测试 · 2026-10-18
Chinese mainland salary reference
Occupation comparison: the U.S. O*NET-SOC 39-9011.00 (Childcare Workers, SOC 39-9011); this evidence route has not established a one-to-one detailed occupation category for mainland China, and the related duties may be distributed across series such as childcare workers and infant care workers and childcare institution care positions and preschool care, and must be classified by the position's actual duties and the institution and local rules; the page language does not constitute occupational equivalence or a wage mapping.
2025 annual average wage for social production and life service personnel in enterprises above designated size 79,857 yuan (broad position category proxy)
Insufficient evidence: no China-wide occupational monthly wage distribution exactly matching childcare workers has been obtained; this page does not publish a substitute figure, nor extrapolate from quotations for adjacent positions.
Insufficient evidence: no verifiable region-level occupational monthly wage data has been obtained, and this page does not show a regional ranking.
U.S. salary reference
May 2025 OEWS gives this occupation an hourly median of 16.82 and an annual median of 34,980 USD, not a starting salary or take-home pay. The BLS U.S. SOC39-9011 projection is 1,010,300 people in 2025 to 990,400 people in 2035, a net decrease of 19,900 and a fall of 2% (whole number), with 150,300 openings per year on average over 2025—2035, all of them replacement needs from people moving to other occupations or leaving the labour force. A projection is not year-by-year actual performance, the current hiring stock or AI causality. OOH2025 employment includes 24% self-employed and 17% private households, which differs from the OEWS wage sample that excludes both.
| Position in the wage statistics | Annual wage reference | Conversion boundaries | How to understand this position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | 24,260 USD per year (10th percentile) | Official conversion, not personal monthly income | This percentile is used to understand the lower end of the distribution and is not used to judge entry-level pay. |
| 50th percentile |
Occupational fit guide
Direct answer: the official interest codes for this occupation are SA (Social, Artistic); from the task structure, the most relevant abilities are sustained observation and patient care, working to procedure and keeping records, and communication with parents and colleagues; tools such as MBTI and the Enneagram can be used for self-understanding but cannot serve as a basis for judging occupational fit.
You may be better suited to： You may be better suited if you are willing to maintain line-of-sight supervision and patience over the long term, work to procedure and keep records, and stay friendly and steady in frequent communication.
These situations need caution： These situations need caution: people who cannot sustain attention and patience over long periods, who are unwilling to keep written records and hand over, or who lose control easily in conflict and repetitive care.
Do an entry exercise： Do an entry exercise: use the fictional case on this page to complete one loop of handover checking, line-of-sight supervision, daily care, anomaly identification and reporting, and parent communication, and write down the checklists you used and the basis for your judgments.
Work pressure, risk and career boundaries
The editorial focus is continuous supervision, health and hygiene and communication pressure. O*NET40% are exposed to disease every day, 28% to minor injuries every day, 31% encounter conflict every day and 32% deal with discourtesy more than weekly but not daily; the subject of the 42% responsibility item is other workers and does not directly prove the proportion for children's safety responsibility. The above are not incident or burnout rates.
O*NET is a U.S. task and context questionnaire, and the control measures are editorial advice. Lawful reporting in China is checked against Article 11 of the Law on the Protection of Minors and Article 52 of the Preschool Education Law, and the family childcare point rules apply only to the settings they define; specific safety, hygiene, ratios and information processing are checked by jurisdiction.
Typical scenario：Leaving the supervision area while handling several matters at once; or treating the fact that another colleague is present as a reason to relax line-of-sight supervision.
Roles most affected：
Entry, qualifications and career development
Entry can start from a qualifying care position with training according to the position, and it is not claimed that this is what all or most people do or that everyone starts as an assistant. O*NET Job Zone1–2/SVP6 and below, and education 39/23/14, are a U.S. occupational description and respondent answers. U.S. OOH: education, training and licensing vary with the state, the setting and the employer; some states require no education to start and employers often prefer high school. Many states require a licence for centres ( including home-based childcare), and staff often need background checks, immunization records and minimum training, with some states requiring CPR and first aid. The education of nannies in private households is not set uniformly by the state, and Head Start positions have their own specific conditions; all settings cannot be written as one threshold. China: Articles 37/39 of the Preschool Education Law set out the kindergarten teacher qualification and the state-prescribed education and vocational childcare training for childcare workers respectively; Articles 44/45 set out the checks for relevant illegal records in recruitment and the health examination before entry and every year after. Childcare for children under 3 is checked separately against the childcare standards, and kindergarten rules are not transplanted wholesale. Articles 5/9 of the measures on family childcare points set out the filing materials, experience or relevant professional background, childcare and mental health and food safety and first aid and fire safety training, health and the designated offence record conditions; these are not a unified ban on all offences or on all nannies in private households.
Career outlook and moving to related occupations
The BLS U.S. SOC39-9011 projection is 1,010,300 people in 2025 to 990,400 people in 2035, a net decrease of 19,900 and a fall of 2% (whole number), with 150,300 openings per year on average over 2025—2035, all of them replacement needs from people moving to other occupations or leaving the labour force. A projection is not year-by-year actual performance, the current hiring stock or AI causality. OOH2025 employment includes 24% self-employed and 17% private households, which differs from the OEWS wage sample that excludes both. The current O*NET industry split is 33/25/13/29, and the industry structure or policy is not used to infer individual opportunities directly. NBS2025 annual averages of 70,226 yuan for non-private resident services, repair and other services and 79,857 yuan for social production and life service personnel in enterprises above designated size are backgrounds for different statistical populations and cannot be used to infer wages for this occupation. For childcare or education positions the corresponding categories can also be checked: health and social work non-private and private units 146,266/75,631 yuan, and education 133,539/63,908 yuan, both including other positions. Use them according to the actual institution's industry, and do not map China from U.S. industry data; the national and regional wage distribution for this occupation in China remains insufficient evidence.
O*NET 39-9011.00 shows the daily work of this occupation: maintaining a safe play environment (importance 92), observing and monitoring children's play activities (87), communicating with parents or guardians about daily activities and behaviour and related problems (85), supporting children's emotional and social development (84), caring for children in institutional settings (84), sanitizing toys and play equipment (83), dressing children and changing diapers (83), keeping records for each child including daily observations and meals and medication information (82), identifying signs of emotional or developmental problems and bringing them to parents' attention (81), instructing children in health and personal habits such as eating and resting and toilet habits (80), and organizing recreational activities and outings such as games and field trips (70). Care settings include schools, businesses, private households and childcare institutions.
The official scope limits this occupation to attending to children at schools and businesses and private households and childcare institutions and performing tasks such as dressing and feeding and bathing and overseeing play, and O*NET separately lists Nannies (39-9011.01). Kindergarten teachers deliver systematic teaching under curriculum standards and assess learning outcomes; special education teachers provide specialized teaching and support under an individualized education plan; this occupation is mainly care safety and daily care and age-appropriate activities and record keeping and communication, does not carry systematic teaching or academic assessment responsibility and does not diagnose or treat.
Choose a real task from this page for a small practice project or a conversation with someone in the field. Use the planning guides to set a date, an output and feedback questions before deciding whether to continue.
Conditions for pausing before a large investment: you have not yet completed, under supervision, a full loop from handover and authorization confirmation to checking the register and staff ratio, inspecting the environment and toys and equipment, carrying out eating and hygiene and rest care, observing and recording status and anomalies, and reporting and handing over under procedure; or you cannot maintain line-of-sight supervision and patience over the long term; or you are unwilling to report and record anomalies and incidents under the institution's procedures. Do not ignore safety and hygiene and record keeping just because you like children: one of the key tasks of this occupation is maintaining a safe play environment (importance 92) and keeping meal and medication records for each child. If you would rather do curriculum design and systematic teaching, a kindergarten teacher is a similar position with different qualifications and duties; if you want to do diagnosis and treatment, you should take the medical and psychological qualification path.
One-line judgment: childcare workers are not just minding children, but attending to children at schools, businesses, private households and childcare institutions and performing tasks such as dressing, feeding, bathing and overseeing play - the official scope is Attend to children at schools, businesses, private households, and childcare institutions. Perform a variety of tasks, such as dressing, feeding, bathing, and overseeing play., and O*NET separately lists Nannies (39-9011.01). In daily work they maintain a safe play environment (importance 92); observe and monitor children's play activities (87); communicate with parents or guardians about daily activities and behaviour and related problems (85); support children's emotional and social development and encourage understanding of others and a positive self-concept (84); care for children in institutional settings such as group homes, nurseries and private businesses or schools for people with disabilities (84); sanitize toys and play equipment (83); dress children and change diapers (83); keep records for each child including daily observations and activities and meals and medication information (82); identify signs of emotional or developmental problems in children and bring them to parents' or guardians' attention (81); instruct children in health and personal habits such as eating, resting and toilet habits (80); organize and store toys and materials to keep activity areas tidy and orderly (80); perform general administrative tasks such as attendance and internal paperwork and telephone calls (79); develop curriculum plans suited to the developmental stage (77); perform housekeeping duties such as laundry, cleaning, dishwashing and changing linens (77); read to children and teach simple painting, handicrafts and songs (76); help prepare food and serve meals and snacks (76); discipline children and take other behaviour management measures (74); regulate children's rest periods (71); and organize and take part in recreational activities and outings such as games and field trips (70). Additional tasks include sanitizing bottles and preparing formula (80), helping children with homework (79), providing care for children with physical or developmental or mental health conditions (79), performing general personnel functions such as supervision and training and scheduling (71), and accompanying children to and from school and on outings and to medical appointments (61). O*NET lists this occupation as Job Zone 1-2 (little to some preparation), SVP range below 6.0, with interest codes SA (Social, Artistic); the education distribution is high school or equivalent 39%, associate's or other two-year degree 23% and less than high school 14%. The core boundary is that this is a position centred on care safety, daily care, age-appropriate activities and record keeping and communication, and it is not the same as a kindergarten teacher, a special education teacher or medical staff; this page does not write the licensing and background check requirements of U.S. states and institutions up as a universal threshold, nor does it write mainland China's childcare institution standards up as a uniform national standard.
Signals to keep exploring: you can maintain line-of-sight supervision and patience over the long term, are willing to look after several children at the same time and handle sudden emotions and conflict, and are willing to write up each day's observations and anomalies as traceable records; the O*NET work context shows that 83% of respondents in this occupation have ongoing contact with others, 81% have face-to-face discussions every day, 65% consider collaboration with a work team extremely important, 51% work at a very close physical distance, 77% work indoors in a controlled environment every day, 48% stand about half of the work hours and 24% stand continuously, 31% encounter conflict situations every day, 32% have to deal with unpleasant or angry or discourteous people more than weekly, 40% are exposed to disease or infection every day, 28% are exposed to minor burns or cuts or bites or stings every day, 42% have very high responsibility for the health and safety of others and 26% high responsibility, 47% make decisions every day, 54% have some freedom in how they decide, 61% have a typical work week of 40 hours and 32% less than 40 hours, 93% have a regular schedule, and 16% of the work is highly automated while 66% is not automated at all. These figures show that the job spends most of its time on close-range care, communication and safety supervision, that physical, infection and emotional pressure are real, and that it is managed through staff ratios, environment checks and escalation procedures.
Childcare workers attend to children at schools, businesses, private households and childcare institutions and perform tasks such as dressing, feeding, bathing and overseeing play (the official scope of O*NET-SOC 39-9011.00). In daily work they maintain a safe play environment; observe and monitor children's play activities; communicate with parents or guardians about daily activities and behaviour and related problems; support children's emotional and social development and encourage understanding of others and a positive self-concept; care for children in institutional settings such as group homes and nurseries and private businesses or schools for people with disabilities; sanitize toys and play equipment and dress children and change diapers; keep records for each child including daily observations and activities and meals and medication information; identify signs of emotional or developmental problems and bring them to parents' or guardians' attention; instruct children in health and personal habits such as eating and resting and toilet habits; organize and store toys and materials; perform general administrative tasks such as attendance and internal paperwork and telephone calls; develop curriculum plans suited to the developmental stage; perform housekeeping duties such as laundry and cleaning and dishwashing and changing linens; read to children and teach simple painting and handicrafts and songs; help prepare food and serve meals and snacks; discipline children and take behaviour management measures; regulate rest periods; and organize and take part in recreational activities and outings such as games and field trips; additional tasks include sanitizing bottles and preparing formula, helping children with homework, providing care for children with physical or developmental or mental health conditions, performing general personnel functions such as supervision and training and scheduling, and accompanying children to and from school and on outings and to medical appointments. Responsibility boundary: the O*NET core tasks include developing age-appropriate curriculum plans (77), which cannot all be excluded as the teacher's authority; teacher, medical and childcare licensing are checked separately by jurisdiction. Childcare workers bear supervision, truthful recording and protection obligations according to their actual duties. Article 11 of China's Law on the Protection of Minors: units and their staff who have close contact with minors must, on discovering violations of minors' rights, suspected violations of those rights or other danger, report immediately to the public security, civil affairs, education and other relevant departments. Kindergartens additionally follow Article 52 of the Preschool Education Law to protect immediately and report to public security and education and other departments, and in an emergency to rescue and avoid danger immediately and report promptly and notify the parents or guardians; they must not wait for confirmation, internal approval or substitute internal reporting for statutory reporting.
The work of childcare workers can be divided into three connected but distinct work dimensions. The first is care and safety supervision: confirm authorization and the register at handover, check the on-duty staff ratio, inspect the environment and toys and equipment, carry out eating and hygiene and rest care, maintain line-of-sight supervision continuously and observe the children's condition, and handle anomalies immediately under procedure. The second is daily activities and early development support: choose age-appropriate activities, organize games and reading and handicrafts, guide self-care and daily routines, support emotional and social development, and record developmental observations. The third is records and communication and safety escalation: keep records for each child, communicate with parents or guardians about daily activities and behaviour, bring signs of emotional or developmental problems to parents' attention promptly, and complete handover and reporting under the institution's process. The three work dimensions share one bottom line: safety and authorization come first, and no activity may be allowed to sacrifice line-of-sight supervision.
Ensure every child is always under line-of-sight supervision in a safe environment
Use age-appropriate activities to support early development and emotional and social growth
Common adjacent positions include kindergarten teachers, special education teachers, teaching assistants, nannies and preschool and childcare institution managers. The key to judging the boundary is not the title but who is responsible for the curriculum and teaching assessment, who carries out diagnosis and treatment, who is responsible for the institution's qualifications and primary safety responsibility, and who carries out daily care and safety supervision and record keeping. The O*NET/SOC and the O*NET page for this occupation define 39-9011.00 as attending to children at schools and businesses and private households and childcare institutions and performing tasks such as dressing and feeding and bathing and overseeing play, and separately list Nannies (39-9011.01); on that basis this page distinguishes childcare workers from teaching positions that carry systematic teaching, and does not merge teaching or medical duties into this occupation.
| Dimension | Primary track | Comparison track |
|---|---|---|
| Core purpose | Childcare includes life care, play and early development support and may include developing age-appropriate curriculum plans; kindergarten teachers focus on organized care and education, and the tasks of the two overlap. China's Preschool Education Law requires play as the basic activity and prohibits primary-school-style teaching, and does not equate kindergarten teachers with positions that involve academic examinations. |
Maintain a safe play environment (importance 92) and observe and monitor children's play activities (87); keep line-of-sight supervision and the staff ratio within the rules during the shift, check the safety of the activity area and toys and equipment and remove hazards promptly.
Dress children and change diapers (83), sanitize toys and play equipment (83), help prepare food and serve meals and snacks (76), sanitize bottles and prepare formula (80), instruct children in health and personal habits such as eating and resting and toilet habits (80) and regulate rest periods (71).
Support children's emotional and social development and encourage understanding of others and a positive self-concept (84), develop curriculum plans suited to the developmental stage (77), read to children and teach simple painting and handicrafts and songs (76), organize and take part in recreational activities and outings such as games and field trips (70), and help children with homework and schoolwork (79).
Keep records for each child including daily observations and activities and meals and medication information (82), communicate with parents or guardians about daily activities and behaviour and related problems (85), and identify signs of emotional or developmental problems and bring them to parents' or guardians' attention (81).
Provide care for children with physical or developmental or mental health conditions (79), care for children in institutional settings such as group homes and nurseries and private businesses or schools for people with disabilities (84), and cooperate with individual care arrangements within the scope of authorization.
Discipline children and suggest or take other behaviour management measures (74), perform general administrative tasks such as attendance and internal paperwork and telephone calls (79), organize and store toys and materials to keep activity areas tidy and orderly (80), perform housekeeping duties such as laundry and cleaning and dishwashing and changing linens (77), perform general personnel functions such as supervision and training and scheduling (71), and accompany children to and from school and on outings and to medical appointments (61).
Key occupational judgments revolve around six questions: whether safety supervision has ever lapsed, whether care was carried out under procedure, whether developmental observations have a basis, whether records and communication can be reviewed, whether anomalies and incidents were escalated under procedure, and whether authorization and boundaries were exceeded.
The key point of judgment one is whether supervision continuity and the staff ratio meet the requirement
The key point of judgment two is whether care is carried out under procedure
| Kindergarten teachers design and deliver teaching under curriculum standards and syllabuses, with outputs mainly lesson plans, academic assessments and student development portfolios. |
| People who want to do special education teaching and assessment are suited to being a special education teacher; people willing to accommodate individual needs in a care setting are suited to this occupation. | This occupation provides care and daily support for children with disabilities within the scope of authorization, and does not draw up individualized education plans or assess teaching. | Provide specialized education and support for children with special needs | Special education teachers provide specialized teaching and support under an individualized education plan, with outputs mainly the individualized education plan and teaching records. |
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| People who want to enter a school teaching environment and gradually move towards a teacher position can start as a teaching assistant; people focused on care are suited to this occupation. | This occupation's care recipients and settings are broader (including families and institutions and private households), while a teaching assistant's duties centre on classroom assistance. | Assist teachers with classroom teaching and activity organization | Teaching assistants assist with classroom management and activity organization under the teacher's guidance, with outputs mainly classroom assistance and material preparation records. |
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| People who want to work in a one-to-one family setting are suited to being a nanny; people who want to work in an institutional setting with colleagues and procedural support are suited to this occupation. | O*NET lists nannies under see also for this occupation (Nannies, 39-9011.01), with the setting in private households and a smaller scale. | Provide one-to-one or small-scale care in private households | Nannies provide care in private households and take on the daily arrangements within the family, with outputs mainly care records and parent communication records. |
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| People who want to do operations and policy and quality oversight are suited to a management position; people who want to keep caring for children on the front line are suited to this occupation. | This occupation carries on-shift care and record-keeping execution responsibility, while institutional qualification and safety rules and staffing responsibility rest with the manager. | Responsible for the operation and quality and primary safety responsibility of a childcare institution | Preschool and childcare institution managers are responsible for qualifications and staffing and safety rules and quality oversight, with outputs mainly policy documents and inspection and remediation records. |
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| People willing to care for several children in a team and procedural environment are suited to the group childcare setting; the difference in preference for flexibility and one-to-one settings needs to be checked individually. | Compared with private household care, the group setting emphasizes the staff ratio, handover procedures and uniform safety rules more; the task content overlaps heavily with this occupation. | Provide group care for several children and maintain the staff ratio and safety procedures | Care positions in childcare institutions care for several children in a group setting under the staff ratio and safety procedures, with outputs mainly handover, observation and incident records. |
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Conclusion: these directions share with this occupation the underlying requirement of being child-centred and needing patience and a sense of responsibility, but they differ markedly in teaching and assessment responsibility, special education support, classroom assistance, the scale of the service setting, the institution's primary responsibility and collective care procedures.
Transition hints: moving from this occupation to a teaching position usually requires a teaching qualification and a higher education level; moving to a management position usually requires accumulating team-leading and procedural execution experience in a care position; moving to private household care mainly depends on one-to-one care and family communication ability.
Editorial ratings use the existing occupational responsibilities and AI task analysis on this page. They are not adoption rates, measured effects, job-disappearance or personal-unemployment probabilities, or official scores from Stanford or another external institution. No measured time weights or future robot deployment are assumed.
The editor may choose to test checklists, reminders, records and draft notices, but no occupation-level reliability comparison has been obtained. The original input, omissions, time and dosage, privacy and the burden of review must be measured in practice, and the system cannot be claimed in advance to be more reliable or automatically correct.
The software categories and 2025 recruiting technology mentions have been obtained; the scope of institutional deployment, penetration or measured AI effects has not. Being listed in the tool list does not prove that training or communications software is widely used.
The BLS U.S. SOC39-9011 projection is 1,010,300 people in 2025 to 990,400 people in 2035, a net decrease of 19,900 and a fall of 2% (whole number), with 150,300 openings per year on average over 2025—2035, all of them replacement needs from people moving to other occupations or leaving the labour force. A projection is not year-by-year actual performance, the current hiring stock or AI causality. OOH2025 employment includes 24% self-employed and 17% private households, which differs from the OEWS wage sample that excludes both.
| Work area | Task | Current change | Human control point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety supervision | Maintain a safe play environment and observe and monitor children's play activities | Schedule and checklist checking can be tested; the configuration and effect must be validated, and on-site supervision is not delegated to the prompts | Check the on-site staff, the age and headcount and the applicable ratio, and protect and report under the law immediately on discovering danger, rather than only looking at what the system shows. |
| Daily care | Carry out dressing and feeding and bathing and toileting and sleep care | Organizing approved records can be tested; check the original subject, time and dosage, and do not claim automatic accuracy in advance | Check allergies and medication and special diets and pickup authorization; carry them out according to the records and explain them item by item at handover. |
| Development support | Use activities suited to the developmental stage to support emotional and social development | Age-appropriate activity materials can be tested; fabricated observations must not be generated, and on-site suitability and safety must be checked | Confirm that the activity suits the age group and the individual child's condition; record only facts and bring developmental concerns to the attention of parents and the institution. |
| Records and parent communication | Keep records for each child and communicate with parents or guardians about daily activities and behaviour | Draft notices and records can be tested; truthfulness, lawful processing and lawful reporting must be checked by the actual position | Confirm that the records are complete and that children's information is protected; check the facts and the scope of authorization before communicating. |
| Hygiene and environment | Sanitize toys and equipment and manage the environment and hygiene | Sanitizing and cleaning schedules and checklists can be digitalized; the actual cleaning quality and hygiene judgments still have to be made by people | Carry out the work under procedure and keep inspection records; stop using any hygiene or equipment problem immediately and report it. |
| Special needs care | Provide care for children with disabilities or special needs and cooperate with individual arrangements | Individual care points and records can be managed in a structured way; the care actions and emotional responses still have to be handled by people | Confirm that the care points and contraindications and medication arrangements have been handed over within the scope of authorization; refer matters beyond that scope to the person in charge and professionals. |
| Behaviour guidance and institutional tasks | Guide behaviour and take on institutional tasks such as attendance and scheduling and training | Attendance, scheduling and training record organization can be tested; behaviour guidance and personnel decisions are checked against the duties | Carry out behaviour guidance under the institution's rules and record it; confirm that scheduling and the staff ratio meet the requirements. |
The five evidence cards each explain the source, the study object, the conclusion and the limits of use. They answer what evidence exists, not whether this occupation will be replaced.
The table below compares three real work directions: what AI mainly changes, and which responsibilities remain on the human side. The three directions come from this occupation's task structure (care and safety supervision, daily activities and early development support, records and communication and safety escalation).
AI primarily changesEditor trial: test scheduling and handover checklists with verified effective group size, age and staffing rules; system reminders must be configured and validated, and on-site ratio compliance is not judged from the output.
Human responsibility remainsWhether line-of-sight supervision has lapsed, whether the environment and toys are safe, whether anomalies are detected in time, and the on-site handling and reporting of injury, choking, ingestion and missing-child situations remain the responsibility of the staff present.
AI primarily changesEditor trial of age-appropriate activity templates and organization of observation records; age appropriateness, safety, individual needs and the underlying facts are checked item by item, and the model is not allowed to generate observations that did not occur.
Human responsibility remainsWhether an activity suits the current age group and an individual child's condition, on-site interaction and emotional response, and recording only facts without diagnostic conclusions, are still judged by the childcare staff.
AI primarily changesEditor trial of organizing approved meal, medication and sleep records and draft notices; keep the original records and check the subject, time and dosage and any omissions in the output, and the effect has not been measured.
Human responsibility remainsThe actual position checks the truthfulness of records, the scope of who may know, parent communication and lawful reporting, and review processes must not delay emergency protection or statutory reporting.
The five steps below are the editorial process given on this page, used to explain who is responsible at which stage; they are not a mandatory process set by the sources, nor do they replace the institution's own care policy and safety and information protection requirements.
Clarify the care recipients (which class, which children, which parent) and the source and timing of the information, and the handover, reporting or parent communication decision this judgment is meant to support.
Test checking, organizing or retrieval within lawful input and a clear purpose, and check the tool, version, source and output; without actual deployment and validation, do not assert that the system can already do it.
Review by the childcare staff present and the class lead or supervisor: whether line-of-sight supervision meets the requirement, whether anomalies have been identified, and whether the response is within the institution's authorization and the position's duties.
Keep the original observations, times, subjects, measures and report records; internal review may supplement them and is not a precondition for emergency rescue or lawful reporting.
The actual position bears care, record-keeping and protection obligations under the law and its duties, and institutional authorization cannot cancel statutory reporting responsibility. Article 11 of China's Law on the Protection of Minors: units and their staff who have close contact with minors must, on discovering abuse, suspected abuse or other danger, report to the public security, civil affairs, education and other relevant departments immediately. Kindergartens additionally follow Article 52 of the Preschool Education Law to protect immediately and report to public security and education and other departments, and in an emergency to rescue and avoid danger immediately and report promptly and notify the parents or guardians; they must not wait for confirmation , internal approval or substitute internal reporting for statutory reporting.
The system may give prompts or conclusions that look reasonable but do not match the on-site situation; adopting them directly without knowing the child's condition that day and the parents' instructions can cause care errors and safety risks.
Control: Protect the child immediately and seek help under first aid training and emergency procedures; report suspected abuse immediately under the law. Keep the facts of observation, handover and handling at the same time, and do not wait to verify all the information before acting.
Article 13 of China's Personal Information Protection Law sets out consent, statutory obligations and emergency protection of life and health separately as bases for processing, and Articles 28 to 31 protect sensitive information and information on children under 14; kindergartens additionally check Article 21 of the Preschool Education Law. Check processing, access, retention and outbound transfer against the purpose, the jurisdiction and the actual lawful basis, and note that institutional permission, de-identification or an internal network does not by itself make processing lawful; statutory reporting and emergency protection must not be delayed by internal review.
Control: Check tools, access, retention and outbound transfer against the lawful basis, purpose, sensitivity and position policy; de-identification or an internal system does not automatically make it lawful, and statutory reporting is checked separately.
Missing version and time records increase the difficulty of review; other original records may still support tracing, so it is not described as completely untraceable.
Control: Record the system name and version, the information source and time range, and the human review and changes made, and include them in the management of the original care records.
Confusing the subject, time, dosage, headcount or authorization can endanger safety; whether the system flags cross-field conflicts depends on configuration and validation.
Control: Check meals and medication and sleep and pickup authorization item by item, and flag matters beyond the position's duties separately and refer them to the person in charge under procedure.
When a process is split so that the system gives prompts and a person simply signs off, a gap easily appears in which no one is responsible for on-site supervision and anomaly handling.
Control: In the process, specify the person carrying out, the class lead and the person in charge at each stage, and make the records able to answer who made this decision and on what basis.
First build solid fundamentals in line-of-sight supervision, daily care, hygiene and safety procedures and parent communication, then use scheduling and record tools to organize handover and observation information; do not skip the staff ratio and safety and hygiene requirements to chase tool popularity.
The editor may test attendance, handover records and draft notices; protection, first aid and lawful reporting are carried out promptly by the actual staff according to their duties and do not wait for internal approval.
Editor trial of scheduling and reminder tools, checking the rule configuration and effectiveness first; on-site ratios, safety and lawful reporting are checked against the actual duties, and protection is not delayed by tools or supervisory review.
Editor trial of summary inspection, training and remediation records; the operator, the institution, the person in charge and the carers each bear responsibility under their actual legal obligations, and a system checklist does not prove compliance.
In this round no occupation-level substitution evidence was obtained. The task descriptions support the importance of continuous supervision, life care and communication; this does not permit a prediction that substitution will never occur or that all digitalization only changes how records are kept. Protection and reporting obligations are carried out by jurisdiction and actual role.
Source: O*NET 39-9011.00 tasks and work activities; BLS employment projectionOriginal source ↗
Editorial learning advice: first master care, records and safety procedures, then check the position's system requirements. An O*NET programming importance of 0 is an occupational skill rating and does not prove that no position requires programming; the U.S. education survey 39/23/14 is not a Chinese entry threshold.
Source: The O*NET details give the education requirement judgment for newly hired staff and the programming skill, and are not a Hot survey.Original source ↗
The editor selects trials for checklists, records and draft notices based on structured input and how reviewable it is. No measurement of when or how much each task is affected, or of the substitution timeline, has been obtained; on-site safety and protection continue to be carried by the actual position.
Source: The O*NET task descriptions and the ILO exposure research support the comparison approach, and the sequence is an editorial choice, not a measured predictionOriginal source ↗
The BLS U.S. SOC39-9011 projection is 1,010,300 people in 2025 to 990,400 people in 2035, a net decrease of 19,900 and a fall of 2% (whole number), with 150,300 openings per year on average over 2025—2035, all of them replacement needs from people moving to other occupations or leaving the labour force. A projection is not year-by-year actual performance, the current hiring stock or AI causality. OOH2025 employment includes 24% self-employed and 17% private households, which differs from the OEWS wage sample that excludes both. OOH explains the expected decline as slower birth rates and rising care costs limiting demand; this is the BLS projection explanation, not evidence that AI reduced the positions.
Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Childcare Workers (employment projection)Original source ↗
Model output does not automatically obtain authority over medication, pickup or incident handling; the actual staff handle care, records and communication according to their duties. Article 11 of China's Law on the Protection of Minors: units and their staff who have close contact with minors must, on discovering abuse, suspected abuse or other danger, report to the public security, civil affairs, education and other relevant departments immediately. Kindergartens additionally follow Article 52 of the Preschool Education Law to protect immediately and report to public security and education and other departments, and in an emergency to rescue and avoid danger immediately and report promptly and notify the parents or guardians; they must not wait for confirmation, internal approval or substitute internal reporting for statutory reporting.
Source: Article 11 of China's Law on the Protection of Minors and Article 52 of the Preschool Education Law; other jurisdictions are checked separately. NIST is only a voluntary framework, and the corresponding official text is available through this page's risk and entry legal-source buttons; the link for this question is this page's entry point for checking legal sources.Original source ↗
This page does not make such a prediction, nor does it cite any source that fixes a year. What can be checked is only the projection period and projected values under the statistical basis; extrapolating a projection period into a disappearance year is an inference not supported by evidence.
Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Childcare Workers (2025—2035 projection period and notes)Original source ↗
Editorial advice is to first master care, safety, records and communication, then check the institution's systems. Draft notices and checklists that contain no children's personal information can be tested, but the facts, age appropriateness and safety are still checked and the effect recorded.
Source: O*NET Hot Technologies 39-9011.00 (technology keywords); NIST AI RMF 1.0Original source ↗
AI assistance can be tried for checklists, records and notices, but occupation-level measurements of actual adoption, reliability and effect are still lacking; on-site protection, truthful recording and lawful reporting are carried out by jurisdiction and actual duty.
Insufficient evidence: no official or verifiable source supports a monthly salary range for this position in other regions.
NBS2025 annual averages of 70,226 yuan for non-private resident services, repair and other services and 79,857 yuan for social production and life service personnel in enterprises above designated size are backgrounds for different statistical populations and cannot be used to infer wages for this occupation. For childcare or education positions the corresponding categories can also be checked: health and social work non-private and private units 146,266/75,631 yuan, and education 133,539/63,908 yuan, both including other positions. Use them according to the actual institution's industry, and do not map China from U.S. industry data; the national and regional wage distribution for this occupation in China remains insufficient evidence.
| Education background | Position direction | Notes and verification advice |
|---|---|---|
| The education level or related professional background required for the target position in China | Care assistant and family care position direction | Editorial compilation, not wage statistics: education is one recruitment condition, and the position direction is determined by the institution type and duties, so income cannot be inferred from it. |
| A Chinese qualification in preschool education or infant and toddler care | Class-leading care positions and teaching assistant direction | A related qualification can serve as background training for the position, but the recruitment requirements and the different qualifications for childcare workers and teachers must be checked; the U.S. associate degree survey is not used to infer Chinese job grades or wages. |
| Childcare worker vocational skill level and infant care training background | Class-leading and quality and mentoring direction | The 2021 national skill standard for childcare workers, 4-10-01-03: five grade levels from the fifth level to the first level, with an ordinary education level of high school or equivalent; the reference training hours in Section 1.8 are for training reference only and are not tied to the conditions for promotion. Section 1.9.1 lists the application conditions separately, and completing a course does not automatically confer a level, a position or a licence; in this round the reproduced PDF of the MOHRSS original text was read directly, and the specific current assessment and application must be checked with the local assessment body. |
| Teaching qualification or early childhood professional development path | Teaching positions and the institution's curriculum and quality direction | Kindergarten teachers in China obtain a teacher qualification under Article 37 of the Preschool Education Law, while Article 39 sets out the education and vocational training requirements for childcare workers; teaching support, childcare and private household settings cannot all be equated with a teacher qualification. |
When comparing different opportunities, confirm the form of engagement (institutional employment, family care, self-employment), the actual number of children cared for and the safety responsibility, and whether a childcare worker skill level or training certificate is required, and make clear that this page does not provide an occupation-level wage figure for this position in mainland China.
China: Articles 37/39 of the Preschool Education Law set out the kindergarten teacher qualification and the state-prescribed education and vocational childcare training for childcare workers respectively; Articles 44/45 set out the checks for relevant illegal records in recruitment and the health examination before entry and every year after. Childcare for children under 3 is checked separately against the childcare standards, and kindergarten rules are not transplanted wholesale. Articles 5/9 of the measures on family childcare points set out the filing materials, experience or relevant professional background, childcare and mental health and food safety and first aid and fire safety training, health and the designated offence record conditions; these are not a unified ban on all offences or on all nannies in private households.
Hiring in a private household requires checking the actual lawful employment, working hours, pay and emergency contact; running a childcare business from a home is checked separately against family childcare point registration and filing, and a written agreement with the employer does not replace legal obligations.
Editorial note: community support, institutional care and preschool care and education have different duties, and recruitment, affiliation and protections are checked separately; the 2025 quality action is a childcare policy direction, not proof that positions have already been added.
Digital records and notices can be tried, but no measurement of AI effects on this occupation's wages has been obtained; the occupational statistical gap and the effect of forecasting tools are explained separately.
| 34,980 USD per year (median) |
| Not personal monthly income |
| The median is the midpoint of the distribution, which is not the same as the average, and does not represent most people's actual income. |
| 90th percentile | 46,010 USD per year (90th percentile) | Official conversion, not an individual's actual take-home pay | This percentile describes a position at the upper end of the distribution, and class-leading or management position income cannot be inferred from it. |
|---|
Pay · 10th percentile：24,260 USD per year；10th percentile. This percentile means 10% of employed people earn no more than this value, and it is not an entry-level starting salary.；O*NET national wage percentile page (39-9011.00)
Pay · 25th percentile：29,360 USD per year；25th percentile. The percentile describes a position in the distribution, not a seniority level.；O*NET national wage percentile page (39-9011.00)
Pay · median：34,980 USD per year；Median. Half of employed people earn more than this value and half less, which is not the same concept as entry-level pay； the same BLS OOH page also gives an hourly median of 17.76 USD for other personal care and service workers and 24.51 USD for all occupations, and this page uses the sub-item for this occupation.；O*NET national wage percentile page (39-9011.00)
Pay · 75th percentile：38,570 USD per year；75th percentile. High income does not automatically correspond to a class-leading or management position.；O*NET national wage percentile page (39-9011.00)
Pay · 90th percentile：46,010 USD per year；The 90th percentile describes the upper end of the sample covered by OEWS, not a seniority level； normal pre-tax wages are not the same as overtime pay, shift differentials, benefits or take-home income, and exclude the self-employed and private household employees.
The median of the sample covered by OEWS, not all childcare workers or entry-level pay; the 10th percentile is not a starting salary either. Individual contracts, regions and hours are checked separately.
No. The OEWS annual wage is converted under the statistical method and is not each person's actual paid hours; part-time work is common in childcare, and without individual hours and shift and duty arrangements, annual income, monthly income or after-tax income cannot be inferred.
The percentiles and median come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national statistics, shown via the O*NET National Wages page; a percentile is a statistical position, not seniority or job grade.
The setting and region, qualifications and training, the hours structure and whether the person is self-employed, and the size of the group led and the scope of responsibility all affect actual income; this page does not predict individual income.
| Industry | In-industry hourly median for this occupation (USD per hour) | How to interpret this figure |
|---|---|---|
| Elementary and secondary schools (local public) | The industry hourly median given by the BLS OOH for this industry is 18.15 USD (May 2025), which is the basis for practitioners of this occupation in that specific industry, not the median for the occupation as a whole. | An in-industry hourly median for this occupation, not all school positions; check the individual contract, the paid arrangements for the school year and holidays, and the region, and do not infer district budgets or individual establishment from this value. |
| Day care services | OOH May 2025 in-industry hourly median for this occupation in day care 16.43 USD; not the average of all day care positions, and the statistic is not used to infer individual wage differences caused by provider fees or ratios. | The industry value is the hourly median for practitioners in that industry, cannot be converted directly into personal monthly income and does not represent the level in other industries. |
| Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional and similar organizations | OOH May 2025 in-industry hourly median for this occupation in religious, grantmaking, civic, professional and similar organizations 16.23 USD; the category is not used to conclude that all such employers are non-profit, community or fixed-training arrangements. | This value is the hourly median for practitioners in that industry, not the national median for the occupation as a whole. |
| Other industries and sub-item bases: the BLS OOH page lists hourly medians for only three main industries and does not provide income statistics for the self-employed or family care. | The OOH wage table does not cover the self-employed or private household employees; different contracts may use hourly, weekly or other pay arrangements, and in this round no uniform settlement practice was checked, so pay is not extrapolated. | This page does not list wage levels state by state and does not treat the highest state as the general level; when regional data are needed, the BLS state and area data pages should be used. |
OOH notes that centre-based providers cover the whole day with full-time and part-time staggered shifts, that home-based childcare may be irregular, and that some full-time nannies work more than 40 hours. The national annual statistics do not provide individual shift patterns, actual paid hours or overtime arrangements and cannot be used to infer an individual's pay.
The employment setting determines the scope of tasks and responsibility: day care centres and schools and family care and self-employment differ in staff ratio, licensing and background checks, training requirements and income structure, so the setting should be checked first when comparing positions in different institutions.
The workplace is mainly indoor care settings; the O*NET work context shows that 77% work indoors in a controlled environment every day and 19% never; 40% are exposed to disease or infection every day and 28% are exposed to minor burns or cuts or bites or stings every day; the environment and hygiene conditions of the care setting directly affect the work experience.
The 2025 employment level for this occupation published in the current version of the BLS OOH； the projected change over 2025—2035 is −19,900 people.；BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Childcare Workers (sub-item wages and employment projection)
2025—2035 projection period, labelled by BLS as Decline. A projection contains assumptions and error and does not equal the actual value year by year.；BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Childcare Workers (sub-item wages and employment projection)
Annual average openings over 2025—2035, all from replacement needs (leaving and retirement) rather than net growth. Openings are a flow and do not equal the stock of positions being advertised.；BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Childcare Workers (sub-item wages and employment projection)
Which Holland interest type suits childcare workers best?
The official interest codes for this occupation on O*NET are SA (Social, Artistic): Social corresponds to caring for others and collaborative communication, and Artistic corresponds to responding to children in creative ways in activity design and games and handicrafts. On that basis this page gives the interest reference as SA and states that interest codes are not ability test results and do not constitute a hiring or competence judgment. The O*NET occupational interest is SA, with the six types S86/A43/C41/R35/E29/I8 and 41 specific areas in the full table, led by social service 86, teaching 72 and personal service 61; this is a relative interest description of occupational tasks, not the type proportions of practitioners or an individual hiring threshold.
Do not use it this way: Caution signal: if you find it hard to maintain line-of-sight supervision and patience over long periods, or are unwilling to handle crying and conflict and toileting and other daily care, this job will be draining very quickly.
Test my Holland occupational interestsWhich Big Five traits are more relevant to this work?
The Big Five can serve as an editorial self-check framework, but no personality predictive validity, score threshold or recruitment validation for this occupation was obtained in this round; check actual records, communication and stress response, and do not equate trait scores with job performance.
Do not use it this way: Caution signal: if repetitive care and frequent interruptions irritate you, or you find it hard to keep emotionally stable when tired, this needs careful assessment.
View my Big Five personality traitsWhich MBTI type suits childcare workers best?
In this round no predictive validation of MBTI for job performance in this occupation or type threshold was obtained; it can be used for personal exploration, but a type label is not used to judge whether someone can provide care.
Do not use it this way: Caution signal: if you need more autonomy over your schedule and room for creativity, a fixed schedule and repetitive care may feel like a gap.
Understand my MBTI preferencesWhich Enneagram type suits childcare workers better?
In this round no predictive validation of the Enneagram for fit or performance in this occupation was obtained; the editorial self-check is about stress response, and type is not used as a hiring judgment.
Do not use it this way: Caution signal: if you build your self-worth mainly on others' approval, the small chores and lack of thanks in care work can easily bring frustration.
Explore my Enneagram patternCan I be a childcare worker if my IQ or maths is not good?
O*NET monitoring 63, listening and critical thinking and speaking 53, mathematics 28 and science 3; the relative skill importance does not prove that no employer tests mathematics or IQ. Records and quantity and time checking must be practised for the position.
Do not use it this way: Caution signal: if you are not good at or unwilling to keep written records, information gaps will appear frequently in handover and parent communication.
Understand my intelligence and reasoning performanceDoes being a childcare worker require high emotional intelligence?
This page turns emotion-related self-checking into staying composed in conflict, asking for help and following the rules; no EQ threshold, trainability effect or evidence of innate determination for this occupation was obtained in this round. O*NET31% encounter conflict every day, 32% deal with discourtesy more than weekly but not daily, and 21% face physical aggression more than weekly but not daily; these are U.S. context answers, not a personal guarantee.
Do not use it this way: Caution signal: if you tend to suppress emotions and handle them alone, long-term high-intensity care work will accumulate strain.
Understand my emotional intelligence abilityFits better when: Editorial self-check: willing to organize age-appropriate care and education and observe development, and check the target position's curriculum and teacher qualification requirements.
Watch for: Transition conditions: care experience does not automatically confer a teacher qualification; kindergartens in China take play as the basic activity and prohibit primary-school-style teaching.
Explore related career: Kindergarten teachersFits better when: Editorial self-check: willing to support activities, materials, observation and student management under a teacher's guidance.
Watch for: Transition conditions: the teacher is primarily responsible for designing and delivering the education plan, so check the target school's position requirements and do not grant independent teaching authority on the basis of interest.
Explore related career: Teaching assistantsFits better when: Editorial self-check: willing to care for children in a private household and check routines, tasks and records with the parents.
Watch for: Transition conditions: check the family agreement, working hours, support and safety contact, and do not use a written agreement to cancel legal obligations.
Explore related career: NanniesFits better when: Editorial self-check: willing to coordinate preschool or care programmes, staff and daily operations.
Watch for: Transition conditions: management experience, childcare operating standards and the specific qualifications are checked separately, and kindergarten principals in China have separate qualification, education and experience requirements; teacher conditions are not applied to all management positions.
Explore related career: Preschool and childcare institution managersFits better when: Fit signal: you want to provide teaching and support for primary school pupils with special educational needs and are willing to take on teaching, assessment and classroom collaboration under an individualized education plan.
Watch for: Caution signal: this direction centres on teaching and support in elementary special education, and its duty boundary differs from general childcare; teacher qualification and licence requirements must be checked by jurisdiction.
Explore related career: Special education teachers (elementary school)Fits better when: Editorial self-check: willing to do family and school needs assessment, social resource coordination and continuous follow-up, with duties different from life care.
Watch for: Transition conditions: check social work methods, position qualifications and the jurisdiction's protection procedures separately, and do not obtain clinical or statutory placement authority automatically from care experience.
Explore related career: Child, family and school social workersDirect answer: the interest codes for childcare workers are SA; the most common question is whether the job can be done without a higher education qualification - this occupation is Job Zone 1-2 with an SVP range below 6.0, and in the education distribution high school or equivalent accounts for 39% and less than high school 14%, but the entry and training requirements vary greatly across institutions and locations.
The relationship between personality and fit: care work depends more on stable emotions and a sense of responsibility than on the label of a personality type; this page does not offer a conclusion about which type is most suitable.
The relationship between interests and fit: a preference for Social and Artistic activities (interacting with people, responding to children creatively) can serve as a directional clue, but interest is not proof of competence.
O*NET81% have face-to-face discussions every day, 20% have telephone conversations every day and 41% have telephone calls more than weekly but not daily; this does not mean all positions involve frequent phone calls or that introverts are necessarily competent. Check the communication tasks you can complete.
MBTI and fit: MBTI is not an occupational fit test, and this page does not use it to judge whether you are suited to care work.
Holland and fit: the SA interest codes describe the nature of the work activities, not an assessment of an individual's ability.
Can someone who is not good at mathematics do it: mathematics scores 28 and science 3 among the basic skills for this occupation, far below monitoring and listening and speaking; but if you are completely unwilling to keep records and statistics, caution is needed.
Listening, steady communication and asking for help can be practised, but in this round there was no measurement of EQ interventions or recruitment thresholds; observe behaviour in specific settings.
Can be used for personal exploration; in this round no predictive validation for fit or performance in this occupation was obtained.
Use handover, observation and communication samples clearly labelled as simulations to check whether you are willing to do these tasks; this is not a validated selection tool and is not claimed to be more reliable than an assessment.
Possible consequence：When line-of-sight supervision lapses or the staff ratio is insufficient, children may suffer falls, ingestion, choking or going missing and other incidents with possibly irreversible consequences, and responsibility is determined by the institution's rules and the local regulations.
How to reduce risk：Keep the qualifying number of adults present and line-of-sight coverage under the rules; check the register and staff ratio at every handover; use checklists to remove hazards in the activity area and toys and equipment and keep a record.
Evidence：O*NET-SOC 39-9011.00 occupation detailed report · O*NET-SOC 39-9011.00 occupation summary
Typical scenario：Carrying out medication or meal arrangements from verbal memory; or letting someone not on the authorized list take a child away.
Roles most affected：Positions responsible for eating and medication and sleep and pickup care
Possible consequence：Errors or omissions in allergies and medication and special diets and pickup authorization can directly endanger children's health and may lead to legal and trust consequences.
How to reduce risk：Medication requires checking the position's qualification, the medical order or lawful instruction, the necessary authorization and the institution's rules, checking the subject, drug, dosage, time and records, with no independent adjustment; pickup requires checking identity and lawful authorization, and emergency protection does not wait for internal approval.
Evidence：O*NET-SOC 39-9011.00 occupation detailed report · O*NET-SOC 39-9011.00 work context fields
Typical scenario：Skipping sanitizing and inspection steps to save time; continuing to use toys already found to be damaged.
Roles most affected：Positions responsible for the environment and toys and hygiene management
Possible consequence：Inadequate sanitizing of toys and equipment or unresolved environmental hazards increase the risk of infection and injury and may be treated as a failure of care management.
How to reduce risk：Carry out cleaning and sanitizing to schedule and keep records; stop using damaged equipment or hygiene problems immediately and report them; write the inspection results into the handover record.
Evidence：O*NET-SOC 39-9011.00 occupation detailed report · O*NET-SOC 39-9011.00 work context fields
Typical scenario：Delaying reporting for fear of awkward relationships or procedures; or judging on impression in the absence of factual records.
Roles most affected：Positions involving suspected abuse and abnormal injuries
Possible consequence：Article 11 of China's Law on the Protection of Minors: units and their staff who have close contact with minors must, on discovering abuse, suspected abuse or other danger, report to the public security, civil affairs, education and other relevant departments immediately. Kindergartens additionally follow Article 52 of the Preschool Education Law to protect immediately and report to public security and education and other departments, and in an emergency to rescue and avoid danger immediately and report promptly and notify the parents or guardians; they must not wait for confirmation, internal approval or substitute internal reporting for statutory reporting.
How to reduce risk：Protect and rescue immediately and report under the law, recording the observed facts, times, people present and measures taken at the same time; notify the statutory recipients or guardians promptly, do not assign responsibility without a basis, and do not use a refusal to explain to block notification. Article 11 of China's Law on the Protection of Minors: units and their staff who have close contact with minors must, on discovering abuse, suspected abuse or other danger, report to the public security, civil affairs, education and other relevant departments immediately. Kindergartens additionally follow Article 52 of the Preschool Education Law to protect immediately and report to public security and education and other departments, and in an emergency to rescue and avoid danger immediately and report promptly and notify the parents or guardians; they must not wait for confirmation, internal approval or substitute internal reporting for statutory reporting.
Evidence：Article 11 of China's Law on the Protection of Minors on immediate reporting · China's Preschool Education Law (kindergarten setting)
Typical scenario：Discussing specific children and families on public or uncontrolled channels; taking care records or photographs out of the institution or uploading them to external services.
Roles most affected：All front-line care positions
Possible consequence：Article 13 of China's Personal Information Protection Law sets out consent, statutory obligations and emergency protection of life and health separately as bases for processing, and Articles 28 to 31 protect sensitive information and information on children under 14; kindergartens additionally check Article 21 of the Preschool Education Law. Check processing, access, retention and outbound transfer against the purpose, the jurisdiction and the actual lawful basis, and note that institutional permission, de-identification or an internal network does not by itself make processing lawful; statutory reporting and emergency protection must not be delayed by internal review.
How to reduce risk：Editorial control advice: limit access and outbound transfer according to the lawful basis, purpose and position policy, and check how the tool actually processes and retains data; institutional consent or de-identification does not automatically make processing lawful, and lawful reporting is carried out separately.
Evidence：China's Personal Information Protection Law on processing bases and sensitive information · China's Preschool Education Law (kindergarten setting)
Typical scenario：Carrying a high care load alone over the long term while refusing to ask for help; treating burnout as a personal ability problem and delaying action.
Roles most affected：Care positions with sustained high emotional load
Possible consequence：Long-term emotional and physical load can bring fatigue and stress; OOH supports the physical requirements and patience of care work, but no measurement of the burnout rate in this occupation or the effect of support measures was obtained. Editorial advice is to recognize overload and seek support.
How to reduce risk：Take part in class discussions and supervision as arranged by the institution; keep a boundary between work and rest and recognize the signs of your own exhaustion; use the support channels the institution provides when necessary.
Evidence：OOH physical, environmental and hours requirements (not a burnout rate) · O*NET-SOC 39-9011.00 work context fields
Education, training, background and health conditions and safety ability are checked separately, and it cannot be said that education is not the key. Entry and authorization differ for teaching, management and life care, and a paper sample does not stand in for a real care qualification.
The CDA is awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition and the CCP by the NECPA Commission, Inc., and the awarding body materials have been checked; check them against the corresponding age group and setting and application conditions, and do not treat the certificates uniformly as a state licence, a teacher qualification or an employer appointment.
| Entry-level positions | What you mainly do in the early period | Editorial possible check items (verify the target position requirements separately) | How to demonstrate ability without experience | Difference from other directions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Care assistant | Carry out approved care, records and communication under guidance and the ratio; urgent protection and lawful reporting do not wait for the class lead's approval. | Whether records are complete, whether the checklist was followed, and whether anomalies were reported under procedure. | Without real experience you may provide clearly labelled simulated task samples and training assessment materials you have obtained; real records and others' evaluations must actually exist and be approved for use, and children's information must not be fabricated or taken out. | The actual duties and authority depend on the institution, and an assistant title does not cancel the legal protection and reporting obligations. |
| Class-leading care worker | Take on in-class care, communication and reporting with the ratio and team support, which does not mean one person caring for a whole class. | Assess the basis, the inspection and handover records, and whether anomalies are reported under procedure. | Without real experience you may provide clearly labelled simulated task samples and training assessment materials you have obtained; real records and others' evaluations must actually exist and be approved for use, and children's information must not be fabricated or taken out. | Compared with an assistant, carries in-class safety and communication responsibility, with a wider scope of responsibility. |
| Family carer (nanny) | Complete care and companionship and records in a private household as agreed. | Whether the written agreement is clear, whether the records are continuous, and whether anomalies are reported as agreed. | Without real experience you may provide clearly labelled simulated task samples and training assessment materials you have obtained; real records and others' evaluations must actually exist and be approved for use, and children's information must not be fabricated or taken out. | Compared with an institutional position, it lacks colleagues and procedural support, and boundaries and working hours must be agreed individually. |
| Teaching assistants | Under the teacher's guidance, assist with classroom and activity organization and material preparation. | Whether the cooperation is adequate, whether the observation records are usable, and whether classroom rules are followed. | Without real experience you may provide clearly labelled simulated task samples and training assessment materials you have obtained; real records and others' evaluations must actually exist and be approved for use, and children's information must not be fabricated or taken out. | Classroom teaching support is the focus, but supervision and activity assistance remain, and the tasks can overlap with childcare. |
| Childcare institution quality or class-leading management position | Responsible for putting the rules into practice and for inspection and remediation and mentoring, without directly carrying all front-line care. | Whether the policy and inspection and training records are complete and whether remediation is closed loop. | Without real experience you may provide clearly labelled simulated task samples and training assessment materials you have obtained; real records and others' evaluations must actually exist and be approved for use, and children's information must not be fabricated or taken out. | Compared with a front-line position, responsibility shifts from doing one care task well to keeping the system running steadily. |
For Chinese kindergarten teachers check Article 37 of the Preschool Education Law separately, and Article 39 sets different education and vocational training for childcare workers; other jurisdictions and support positions are checked separately.
Education, safety training, qualifications and experience are checked separately; in this round there was no survey ranking employer preferences.
The specific requirements change with the jurisdiction and the institution, and the recruitment notice and the competent authorities' rules prevail.
This page does not write the entry requirements of one jurisdiction up as a universal threshold.
Fictional materials: a handover sheet containing the parent's instructions, the colleague's handover and that day's record in three places (with discrepancies concerning two items: the nap situation and whether medication was taken), and a fictional allergy and medication and special diet register.
Fictional events: during the morning outdoor activity one child falls and grazes a knee, and another child has a low fever before the nap; a fictional anomaly and incident handling and reporting process and contact list are given.
Fictional conditions: fictional parent communication and information protection requirements (which information may be given by telephone, which must be recorded in writing, and which must not be discussed in the group chat).
Step two: for the graze and the low fever, write out the handling points for each (including the basis and time limit for deciding whether to report and contact the parents), and explain the order of checking when information about the two items on the handover sheet is inconsistent.
Step three: design a daily observation and handover record sheet for the class (including time, subject, facts, handling, next step), and write out the points for communicating with parents and the content that should not be discussed in the group chat.
Mark the source of each requirement (recruitment notice or institutional policy) and write to be checked for anything uncertain; do not guess.
List the requirements directly related to care safety (line-of-sight supervision, staff ratio, sanitizing and hygiene) as a separate line.
Write out the points you disagree with or that need supplementing, and explain the basis.
Write the review result up as three improvement suggestions, explaining the procedural clause or factual gap each one corresponds to.
At the end of the summary list the matters still to be verified or confirmed with a superior, and note the responsible person and time limit.
For each tool write what it may be used for and what it must not be used for, and explain why.
| Stage | What may be assessed | Observed evidence | Limits of use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interview | Will they ask how you actually handle safety and hygiene and anomalies? | Whether the candidate answers under procedure and explains the basis, rather than giving a slogan-style answer. | Answering only that you like children without explaining how you supervise and record calls for caution. |
| Pre-service training | Is safety and hygiene and information protection and first aid training arranged and the assessment passed? | Whether the training records and assessment results are retained, and whether it is clear which tasks may not be performed independently before assessment. | Institutions that substitute learning on the job for pre-service training carry higher risk. |
| Supervised trial on the job |
List the key clauses on line-of-sight supervision and staff ratio and handover for this class, and mark the points that are uncertain.
Do one run-through with the fictional register and pickup authorization form, find the inconsistencies and write the order of checking.
Using the fictional register, write the eating and sleep and medication records and mark the situations that need reporting or parent contact.
Write out the activity objectives, materials, duration and safety notes, and explain how participation will be observed.
For the fictional graze and low fever, write out the handling and reporting and parent communication points.
Consolidate the materials from the first five days into one handover record and check that it contains the time and facts and handling and next step.
| Qualification／status | Who it mainly suits | Realistic role in job seeking | Whether it is a universal entry threshold | Application／registration conditions | Level of investment | Important limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High school or equivalent | Some U.S. care positions | The education level can meet the education condition for some positions | Not a uniform threshold in all states or settings | U.S. OOH: education, training and licensing vary with the state, the setting and the employer; some states require no education to start and employers often prefer high school. Many states require a licence for centres (including home-based childcare), and staff often need background checks, immunization records and minimum training, with some states requiring CPR and first aid. The education of nannies in private households is not set uniformly by the state, and Head Start positions have their own specific conditions; all settings cannot be written as one threshold. |
Typical scope：Under the guidance of a class-leading worker, complete handover checking, line-of-sight supervision, daily care and records; take on only authorized care tasks and report anomalies under procedure.
Readiness evidence：Able to show complete handover and observation records and explain how you maintained line-of-sight supervision and followed the checklist.
Credential boundary：Complete safety and hygiene and information protection training as the institution requires and pass the class-leading assessment; check the local background check and health requirements for childcare positions.
Next moves：Once the position conditions are met, take on approved tasks with the staffing ratio and team support; a colleague's leave is not a reason to reduce staff or exceed the ratio.
Typical scope：Carry out in-class life care, communication and observation according to duty, maintaining the ratio and team support; emergency protection and lawful reporting must not wait for the person in charge's approval.
Readiness evidence：Able to show care and observation records for one complete cycle, incident and anomaly reporting records and parent communication records.
Credential boundary：Check the institution's job grade and training requirements for the class-leading position; obtain infant care or early childhood training certification where necessary.
Next moves：Mentor new staff, or take part in class safety and hygiene inspections.
Typical scope：Be responsible for the safety and hygiene and record quality of the class, mentor new staff and organize handover and review, and take part in institutional inspections and remediation.
Readiness evidence：Able to show inspection and remediation records, mentoring records and the handover policy text, and explain how the institution's rules are put into daily care.
Credential boundary：Check the institution's qualification requirements for a class-leading or quality position; take additional management or quality related training.
Next moves：Take part in making and improving institutional rules and processes.
Typical scope：Take part in making and improving safety and hygiene and information protection rules and liaise with the competent authorities and families and relevant bodies on care and safety standards.
Readiness evidence：Able to show policy documents, inspection and remediation and training records, and cross-institution liaison and referral records.
Credential boundary：Take additional management training as the institution and competent authorities require; check the position's requirements for qualifications and management experience.
Next moves：Bear safety and quality responsibility within the scope of authority granted by the person in charge of the institution.
Typical scope：Complete daily care and companionship and records as agreed with the employer, setting out working hours, boundaries and emergency contact arrangements.
Readiness evidence：Able to show a written care agreement and daily records and parent communication records.
Credential boundary：For private household nannies, check lawful employment, health and background and the contract; running a family childcare point from a home in China additionally requires lawful registration and filing, and business filing is not applied to all nannies.
Next moves：Review the care arrangements and boundaries with the employer regularly.
Typical scope：Independently design routines and activity arrangements and communicate with parents, handle daily anomalies within the scope of authorization and report as agreed.
Readiness evidence：Able to show routines and activity arrangements, observation records and anomaly handling and parent communication records.
Credential boundary：Take additional child nutrition and safety and first aid training as needed; check the local requirements for family care.
Next moves：Take on more care duties within the same family or a long-term engagement.
Typical scope：Under the teacher's guidance, assist with classroom management, material preparation and activity organization, and record children's participation.
Readiness evidence：Able to show assistance records and observation records and explain how you cooperated with the teaching arrangements.
Credential boundary：Check the education and training requirements for the teaching assistant position; take additional early childhood training as needed.
Next moves：Apply for teaching assistant positions or seek opportunities to assist with teaching within the institution.
Typical scope：Independently take charge of the care steps and feed observation results back to teachers and parents, and take part in activity design and delivery.
Readiness evidence：Able to show care and observation records, activity implementation records and parent feedback.
Credential boundary：Check the education and internship requirements for a teacher qualification or early childhood certification; take relevant courses as needed.
Next moves：Decide whether to take the teacher qualification path or continue to go deep into the care profession.
Able, under the guidance of a class-leading care worker, to complete handover checking, line-of-sight supervision and daily care, and to leave observation and handover records as required.
Independently handle the corresponding daily tasks within the approved duties and complete class care together with the team; an independent task does not mean one person caring for a whole class, and the ratio of numbers and ages and continuous supervision must still meet the requirement.
Able to take on class-leading and new-staff mentoring and quality inspection duties and to put the institution's safety and hygiene and information protection rules into daily practice.
Able to take part in making and improving institutional rules and processes and to liaise with the competent authorities and families and relevant bodies on safety and care standards.
United States national · U.S. O*NET-SOC 39-9011.00 Childcare Workers
1,010,300 people (2025); decline of 2%; about 150,300 openings per year on average
Employment level and change and annual average openings
Employment is projected to decline, but the annual average number of openings is still large and all of them come from replacement needs; opportunities to enter this occupation come more from replacing people who leave than from industry expansion.
Does not establish：The U.S. employment projection includes the self-employed and private household employment, while OEWS wages exclude these groups; a national projection does not stand for an individual's probability of being hired or for city-level positions.
Global · Global basis classified by occupation
The study provides an exposure ranking and a measurement method, and does not give a position change projection for this occupation
Occupation-level task exposure index (measure)
The task exposure measure describes the degree of overlap between tasks and generative AI capability, for comparing the relative exposure of different occupations, and is not used to predict the number of positions.
Does not establish：The cross-economy basis cannot be converted directly into national position changes, nor interpreted as an individual's probability of job loss or a substitution timetable.
Mainland China · The mainland China urban non-private units and enterprises above designated size bases
2025 resident services non-private 70,226 yuan and above-designated-size service personnel 79,857 yuan; health and social work 146,266/75,631 and education 133,539/63,908 yuan (non-private and private annual averages), all background only
Annual average wage (broad industry and broad position category proxy)
NBS2025 annual averages of 70,226 yuan for non-private resident services, repair and other services and 79,857 yuan for social production and life service personnel in enterprises above designated size are backgrounds for different statistical populations and cannot be used to infer wages for this occupation. For childcare or education positions the corresponding categories can also be checked: health and social work non-private and private units 146,266/75,631 yuan, and education 133,539/63,908 yuan, both including other positions. Use them according to the actual institution's industry, and do not map China from U.S. industry data; the national and regional wage distribution for this occupation in China remains insufficient evidence. The 2025—2027 national quality action requires registration and filing, staffing and safety standards and workforce training to be implemented, and is a policy direction rather than a measured increase in employment or pay.
Does not establish：The background statistics do not stand in for childcare occupational wages, and the urban legal-person and above-designated-size bases are checked separately; the U.S. employment structure cannot be used to convert Chinese coverage.
These are capability relationships, not automatic promotions or credential waivers.
Transfers：Shared capabilities: being with and communicating with children, daily observation, activity organization, records and handover.
Build next：Editorial transition self-check: check age-appropriate care and education, curriculum and development observation and the target qualification; kindergartens in China are play-based and prohibit primary-school-style teaching, and this is not uniformly called academic assessment.
View career profileTransfers：Shared capabilities: care and observation, interacting with children, activity organization and records.
Build next：Assistance with teaching must follow the curriculum standards and support class management, with authority and responsibility as arranged by the teacher.
View career profileTransfers：Shared capabilities: one-to-one care, family communication, daily routine arrangements and records.
Build next：The target nanny role is in a private household setting, so adapting to negotiation with parents, working hours and safety contact is required, and it is not described as returning to an institution.
View career profileTransfers：Shared capabilities: understanding of children's developmental stages, hands-on care experience and parent communication.
Build next：Coordination of a preschool or childcare programme, staffing, budget and childcare operating standards; the qualification depends on the target jurisdiction, and kindergarten principals in China are checked separately against Article 38, so it is not claimed that all management positions require a teacher qualification.
View career profileTransfers：Shared capabilities: understanding of education services, experience communicating with teachers and parents.
Build next：Requires an education administration or management background, and responsibility for institutional operations and budget and compliance.
View career profileTransfers：Shared capabilities: service site experience, awareness of staffing ratios, experience communicating with parents.
Build next：Requires a medical or health services management background, and responsibility for institutional operations and compliance and staffing.
View career profileTransfers：Shared capabilities: front-line service experience, communicating with families, records and handover ability.
Build next：Usually requires many years of site experience and team management experience, and responsibility for service programmes and budget and performance.
View career profileTransfers：Shared capabilities: being with children and families, observation and records, awareness of resource coordination.
Build next：The target child, family and school social worker focuses on social needs assessment, resource coordination and follow-up; check the social work training and the target position qualification, and clinical or statutory placement authority cannot be obtained from care experience.
View career profileThat cannot be inferred. The core tasks of this occupation are line-of-sight supervision, daily care, safety and hygiene and interpersonal interaction, and require people who are present to take responsibility. AI and digitalization change the way scheduling and records and notices are handled, and will not replace on-site supervision and safety judgments and parent communication. This page does not give a substitution rate or a disappearance year.
The earlier affected parts are those that can be structured as inputs: schedule and attendance and staff ratio checking, generating and reminding on handover and inspection checklists, organizing observation and meal and medication and sleep records, and retrieving and summarizing parent notices and policy texts. The later affected parts are those that must be done by people present: line-of-sight supervision, on-site safety judgments, emotional soothing and emergency handling, and parent communication.
The top five O*NET work styles are optimism, sincerity, empathy, self-control and social orientation; basic skills are led by monitoring (63), active listening (53), critical thinking (53) and speaking (53). The work context shows that 83% have ongoing contact with others, 42% have very high responsibility for the health and safety of others and 31% encounter conflict situations every day, which shows that this work depends on sustained attention and emotional stability.
BLS OEWS May 2025 national statistics (shown via O*NET) give this occupation an hourly median of 16.82 USD and an annual median of 34,980 USD; the 10th, 25th, median, 75th and 90th hourly percentiles are 11.66, 14.12, 16.82, 18.55 and 22.12 USD, and the 10th, 25th, median, 75th and 90th annual percentiles are 24,260, 29,360, 34,980, 38,570 and 46,010 USD. These are statistical positions, not an individual's starting salary or take-home pay; part-time work and self-employment are relatively common in this occupation, and the public statistics mainly cover employed positions.
O*NET lists this occupation as Job Zone 1-2 (little to some preparation), SVP range below 6.0; the education distribution is high school or equivalent 39%, associate's or other two-year degree 23% and less than high school 14%. In the United States the entry requirements vary with the state and the setting and the family arrangement, from no formal education to early childhood certification, and usually include a background check. In mainland China the vocational skill standard for childcare workers defines skill levels, and childcare institutions have separate requirements on health and no abuse and no criminal record, with the specific requirements following the recruitment notice and the competent authorities' rules.
Certification and licensing are two different things. The O*NET certification directory lists certificates such as the Child Development Associate (awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition) and the Certified Childcare Professional (awarded by the National Early Childhood Program Accreditation); certification does not equal a licence, an employer appointment, signing authority or local authorization. In the United States, whether a licence is needed depends on the state and the institution type; teaching positions additionally require a teacher qualification, which is a different system from care positions.
Changing jobs is usually not hard, because the education and experience thresholds for this occupation are relatively low; but three things have to be adapted to: a fixed schedule and high-intensity daily care, keeping records and handing over under institutional procedures, and handling conflict and anomalies under procedure. People with parenting, nursing, education or service industry experience usually pick it up more easily, but still need to complete the institution's safety and hygiene and information protection training.
It depends on your goal: if your goal is stable employment and continued accumulation in the care direction, this occupation has continuing demand for openings (BLS shows about 150,300 openings per year on average, all from replacement needs) and a clear path to class-leading and quality and management roles; but the income level of this occupation is relatively low among all occupations (hourly median 16.82 USD), and the physical and emotional load is real. Higher income usually requires moving towards a teacher qualification or institutional management.
This evidence route registers the precise occupational wage as verified unavailable (to be used only within a narrowed scope), and the handling note is to show broad industry and broad position category proxies. This page therefore publishes only two labelled broad basis proxy values: the 2025 annual average wage for the resident services, repair and other services sector in urban non-private units is 70,226 yuan, and the 2025 annual average wage for social production and service personnel in enterprises above designated size is 79,857 yuan, and makes clear that they are not an occupation-level median for this occupation. Not having obtained data does not mean the official body never published it, nor that the position does not exist in mainland China.
Wages come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national statistics, shown via the O*NET National Wages page, on the sub-item basis for this occupation; employment and outlook come from the current version of the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (2025—2035); the industry medians are the hourly medians for the three industries listed on that BLS OOH page. All values are on the U.S. national basis, for employed wage and salary positions, exclude self-employed income and do not constitute an inference about mainland China.
No. The cases and materials on the page are all fictional and are used only to practise checking and recording and judgment methods; real care arrangements and incident handling and reporting must be carried out by people with the corresponding qualifications and institutional authorization under the applicable regulations and institutional rules. The register and pickup authorization and medication information in the fictional materials are example values and must not be used for actual care.
This page was written by the FermatMind editorial team; the nine modules keep occupational facts, regulations and statistics and editorial advice separate, and are not an official qualification determination or an individual hiring conclusion.
Nine-module search and revision in this round: 2026-10-09. The 2025 wage data, the 2026 occupational materials and the regulation and policy versions are listed separately; existing out-of-scope content is not claimed to have been synchronized on that basis.
The nine modules are based on O*NET39-9011.00 tasks and work context and software, OEWS May 2025 wages and the OOH2025—2035 projection, and for China the NBS2025 industry and position background; kindergarten and family childcare point regulations are set out by setting; the childcare worker standard notes the reproduced original text and the limits of the assessment version.
Limitations：Supports the exact occupational identity, the 24 tasks, work activities, basic skills and work context; excludes Chinese entry qualifications or institutional rules.
Limitations：Supports occupational characteristics, knowledge, abilities, work styles and interest codes SA; the labels are not a hiring threshold or a personality diagnosis.
Limitations：Supports the U.S. employment industry structure (health care and social assistance 35%, other services 26%, educational services 12%); it is not a guarantee of personal income.
Limitations：This occupation has only 2 hot technologies, and both appear in less than 1% of postings; recruiting keywords are a market signal and do not equal proficiency or adoption.
Limitations：Supports the preparation level (Job Zone 1-2, SVP below 6.0) and the education distribution; does not replace the position requirements in mainland China.
Limitations：Supports the note that entry education and training requirements change with the setting; does not constitute the entry requirements of other jurisdictions.
Limitations：Supports the hourly median of 16.82 USD for this occupation and the hourly medians for three industries; the industry values are on an industry basis, labelled in each place on this page.
Limitations：Supports the employment projection (1,010,300 people in 2025, a decline of 2%, a change of −19,900 people and about 150,300 openings per year on average); a projection contains assumptions and error.
Limitations：Industry category and broad position category bases, not the precise basis for this occupation; on that basis this page publishes two labelled broad basis proxy values and registers the occupation-level gap.
Limitations：Supports the note on position mapping boundaries; this page does not establish a one-to-one correspondence with O*NET-SOC 39-9011.00 on that basis.
Limitations：Supports the statement that the childcare worker vocational skill standard defines skill levels, that the reference training hours are not directly tied to promotion, and that childcare institutions have separate requirements on health and no abuse and no criminal record; this page does not replace the competent authorities' requirements.
Limitations：An exposure measure, not an adoption rate, automation rate or projection of position losses; the cross-economy basis cannot be converted directly into national position changes.
Limitations：Editorial summary and fictional materials, not research findings or industry facts; must not be used for real care arrangements, incident handling or reporting.
Limitations：Supports the percentage distributions of the work context (contact, conflict, exposure, responsibility, hours); these are respondent distributions, not a guarantee for an individual position.
Limitations：Supports the 10th, 25th, median, 75th and 90th annual and hourly percentiles; they cannot be used to infer an individual's annual or take-home income.
Limitations：Supports the notes on adjacent occupations (kindergarten teachers, teaching assistants, Nannies 39-9011.01 and others); the comparison is an editorial compilation.
Limitations：Supports the coverage and the inclusions and exclusions of the wage statistics and the standard work-year conversion basis; not used to infer personal income.
Limitations：24 tasks with 19 Core and 5 Supplemental, 8 software categories, 33 knowledge areas, 52 abilities and 21 work styles, and the education questionnaire 39/23/14 is not a Chinese threshold; the subject of the context items must be checked
Limitations：Annual P10/P25, the median and P75/P90 are 24260/29360/34980/38570/46010; hourly 11.66/14.12/16.82/18.55/22.12; excludes the self-employed, private households and agriculture and is not a starting salary
Limitations：1010300 to 990400, a net decrease of 19900, a whole-number fall of 2%, and 150300 replacements per year on average; the employment figures of self-employed 24 and private households 17 differ from the wage exclusions; the hourly wages for the 3 industries are 18.15/16.43/16.23; teaching and curriculum are also care tasks
Limitations：Health and social assistance 33, other services 25, education 13 and other 29; the old 35/26/12/27 cannot be retained; this is not the share of OOH settings
Limitations：Office2% and Word below 1%; the denominator is deduplicated postings for this occupation and this is not actual adoption or proficiency, programming or an AI threshold
Limitations：Resident services non-private 70226 and above-designated-size service positions 79857; health and social work non-private and private 146266/75631 and education 133539/63908; used as background according to the actual institution's industry, not the national or regional wage for this occupation
Limitations：Article 2 applies from the age of three to before primary school, Articles 37 to 45 cover teacher, principal and childcare worker qualifications, checks and health examinations, Articles 51 to 59 cover safety reporting and play-based care and education, and Article 82 covers liability; kindergarten toddler classes additionally follow the relevant childcare rules
Limitations：Home-based childcare for children under three, no more than 5 children in total and no more than 3 per carer; registration and filing, designated person conditions, 90-day recording, illness notification and a written agreement, and not the rules for all private household nannies
Limitations：Policy tasks such as standardizing registration and filing, staffing, care safety and workforce training; this is not new employment, higher pay or a direct reading of the full 2019 standard
Limitations：The occupational profile and sections 1.8/1.9 were read directly; five levels down to level one, high school equivalent, and reference training hours are not tied to promotion conditions. The original MOHRSS PDF entry point did not provide the body text, and the reproduced PDF states the formulating body and document number; the current local assessment conditions are checked separately
Limitations：The same version's original text has been checked; Article 11 requires units in close contact and their staff to report suspected abuse or danger immediately to public security, civil affairs, education and other departments without waiting for confirmation; Article 62 covers the check of designated illegal records at appointment and annually
Limitations：The same version was read for Article 13 on lawful bases and Articles 28 to 31 on sensitive information and the protection of children under 14; institutional licensing, de-identification or an internal network does not automatically make it lawful, and lawful reporting does not wait for internal approval
Limitations：High school or a qualifying vocational high school student, 120 training hours, 480 experience hours within the 3 years before applying, and a portfolio within 6 months, with examination by setting and the applicable observation assessment; ordinary casual babysitting does not automatically count as experience; this is not a uniform state licence
Limitations：Usually 18 or older, high school or equivalent and English ability, a Field Counselor, documentation examination and performance observation, and certification after review with 2-year validity and maintenance; the official site retains exemptions for special cases and this is not a universal statutory threshold
Limitations：The same version was checked for the voluntary risk framework; it supports editorial advice on use, limits and monitoring, and does not confer care or medication authority or prove model effects
Limitations：The same version of the exposure research, not actual adoption or substitution rates, a projection of childcare position changes or an individual's probability of job loss
Limitations：The original definition is used for an editorial duty and gap self-check; it does not guarantee a transfer, a fixed difficulty or a Chinese qualification. The elementary special education details are 25-2056, not the merged 25-2052 band.
Limitations：The original definition is used for an editorial duty and gap self-check; it does not guarantee a transfer, a fixed difficulty or a Chinese qualification. The elementary special education details are 25-2056, not the merged 25-2052 band.
Limitations：The original definition is used for an editorial duty and gap self-check; it does not guarantee a transfer, a fixed difficulty or a Chinese qualification. The elementary special education details are 25-2056, not the merged 25-2052 band.
Limitations：The original definition is used for an editorial duty and gap self-check; it does not guarantee a transfer, a fixed difficulty or a Chinese qualification. The elementary special education details are 25-2056, not the merged 25-2052 band.
Limitations：The original definition is used for an editorial duty and gap self-check; it does not guarantee a transfer, a fixed difficulty or a Chinese qualification. The elementary special education details are 25-2056, not the merged 25-2052 band.
Limitations：The original definition is used for an editorial duty and gap self-check; it does not guarantee a transfer, a fixed difficulty or a Chinese qualification. The elementary special education details are 25-2056, not the merged 25-2052 band.
Limitations：The original definition is used for an editorial duty and gap self-check; it does not guarantee a transfer, a fixed difficulty or a Chinese qualification. The elementary special education details are 25-2056, not the merged 25-2052 band.
Limitations：The original definition is used for an editorial duty and gap self-check; it does not guarantee a transfer, a fixed difficulty or a Chinese qualification. The elementary special education details are 25-2056, not the merged 25-2052 band.
Limitations：The original definition is used for an editorial duty and gap self-check; it does not guarantee a transfer, a fixed difficulty or a Chinese qualification. The elementary special education details are 25-2056, not the merged 25-2052 band.
Editorial boundary: this page labels source facts, editorial summaries and fictional exercise materials separately; the AI-related part provides only task-level evidence and boundary notes and does not provide adoption rates or position reduction projections.
MBTI (English) · Big Five (English) · MBTI (Chinese) · Big Five (Chinese)
| The core purpose of the occupation differs |
| Main object and basis | The basis for the position includes the children's condition, knowledge of age-appropriate development, applicable regulations, institutional procedures and the guardian's lawful instructions; parental consent does not replace statutory obligations, staffing requirements or professional qualifications. Teachers and childcare workers may both work from age-appropriate activity plans; medical diagnosis and treatment is checked separately against the scope of practice. | The main work object and basis differ |
|---|
| Core process | Care positions emphasize handover, continuous supervision, life care, age-appropriate activities and records; teachers also observe and care, and it is not only about teaching and academic assessment. Kindergarten care and education centre on play and physical and mental development, and duties are allocated according to the actual position. | The core process differs |
|---|
| Main outputs | Common care records include observations, meals, sleep, approved medication, handover and anomaly reports, and may also include age-appropriate activity or curriculum plans; teachers also have lesson plans, observations and development portfolios, so no absolute boundary is drawn by the name of the material. | The main outputs differ |
|---|
| Responsible subject | On-duty staff carry the actual care, supervision and record-keeping obligations; the operator, the institution, the person in charge and other staff each bear responsibility under the law and their duties, and the responsibility of the person in charge cannot be used to exempt individual obligations. Family childcare providers may also provide care themselves; medical diagnosis and treatment requires the corresponding qualification, and a teaching qualification does not replace care staffing. | The division of responsibility differs |
|---|
| Entry and licensing | U.S. OOH: education, training and licensing vary with the state, the setting and the employer; some states require no education to start and employers often prefer high school. Many states require a licence for centres (including home-based childcare), and staff often need background checks, immunization records and minimum training, with some states requiring CPR and first aid. The education of nannies in private households is not set uniformly by the state, and Head Start positions have their own specific conditions; all settings cannot be written as one threshold. China: Articles 37/39 of the Preschool Education Law set out the kindergarten teacher qualification and the state-prescribed education and vocational childcare training for childcare workers respectively; Articles 44/45 set out the checks for relevant illegal records in recruitment and the health examination before entry and every year after. Childcare for children under 3 is checked separately against the childcare standards, and kindergarten rules are not transplanted wholesale. Articles 5/9 of the measures on family childcare points set out the filing materials, experience or relevant professional background, childcare and mental health and food safety and first aid and fire safety training, health and the designated offence record conditions; these are not a unified ban on all offences or on all nannies in private households. | Entry and licensing requirements differ |
|---|
| Boundaries of the conclusion | This page only compares the division of work between this occupation and its adjacent positions, and does not use it to judge whether an individual is suited to teaching or medical work, nor does it write the entry requirements of one jurisdiction up as a universal threshold in another; the specific position requirements must follow the latest rules of the recruiting institution and the local competent authorities. | Boundaries of the conclusion |
|---|
The key point of judgment three is whether observations and judgments have a basis
The key point of judgment four is whether records can be reviewed
The key point of judgment five is the escalation path for anomalies and incidents
The key point of judgment six is authorization and boundaries
The interest codes are SA (Social, Artistic), corresponding to caring for others and creative activities.
These labels are not hiring thresholds or a personality diagnosis.
In 2025 U.S. deduplicated postings Office is mentioned in 2% and Word in below 1%; this is not used to infer a software threshold or actual usage rate.
Before starting, check the essential system ability for the position and learn with the tools the institution approves; it is not guaranteed that everything can be learned after starting.
Review basis: whether the check items correspond to the institution's procedures, whether what can be handled independently and what must be reported or communicated to parents are distinguished, and whether the records contain traceable information such as time, subject, facts, handling and next step.
Several reasonable approaches are allowed; if you consider some information insufficient to judge, you should clearly write out the parts that cannot be judged and the additional information needed.
The register and pickup authorization and medication information given in the question are fictional values, used only to practise checking and recording methods.
| Is the scope of care gradually expanded under the supervision of a class-leading worker? |
| The results of class rounds and record checks during probation, and whether procedural deviations recur. |
| Arrangements that put new staff on shift alone carry higher safety and record risk. |
| Confirmation and authorization | After confirmation, are the tasks that may be performed independently and the escalation route set out in writing? | Whether the authorization list and escalation route are written into the job description and the rules. | Positions without clear authorization and escalation routes easily create a responsibility vacuum. |
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Answer the seven judgment questions and write down the abilities or information you still need to fill in.
| Does not confer a teacher qualification, a childcare licence or medical authority |
| Associate's or other two-year degree (early childhood or a related major) | Related U.S. positions and individual study paths | OOH supports the preference for continuing education in some higher-level positions | Not a uniform national requirement | Check the state, institution, major and position conditions; the education questionnaire is not the share of early childhood majors | Course duration and fees are checked separately | A degree does not automatically imply a wage band, a teacher qualification or authorization |
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| Infant care or early childhood related training certificate | Corresponding positions such as kindergarten childcare or care for children under 3 in China | Record the training content actually completed | Each position follows the actual regulatory requirements, and this is not called universally optional | The 2021 national skill standard for childcare workers 4-10-01-03: five grade levels from the fifth level to the first level, with an ordinary education level of high school or equivalent; the reference training hours in Section 1.8 are for training reference only and are not tied to the conditions for promotion. Section 1.9.1 lists the application conditions separately, and completing a course does not automatically confer a level, a position or a licence; in this round the reproduced PDF of the MOHRSS original text was read directly, and the specific current assessment and application must be checked with the local assessment body. China: Articles 37/39 of the Preschool Education Law set out the kindergarten teacher qualification and the state-prescribed education and vocational childcare training for childcare workers respectively; Articles 44/45 set out the checks for relevant illegal records in recruitment and the health examination before entry and every year after. Childcare for children under 3 is checked separately against the childcare standards, and kindergarten rules are not transplanted wholesale. Articles 5/9 of the measures on family childcare points set out the filing materials, experience or relevant professional background, childcare and mental health and food safety and first aid and fire safety training, health and the designated offence record conditions; these are not a unified ban on all offences or on all nannies in private households. | The specific course fees are checked separately; the reference hours do not equal the assessment cost | Does not automatically confer a skill level, a teacher qualification, medical authority or a childcare licence |
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| Child Development Associate | Applicants in the United States matching the CDA age and setting | An industry certificate of the Council for Professional Recognition | Required by some states or employers, not necessary for all care positions nationally | Official FAQ: high school or a qualifying high school vocational programme student; 120 education hours, 480 experience hours within the 3 years before applying, and a portfolio within 6 months; check the examination and applicable observation assessment by setting | The actual investment in education, experience, assessment and renewal; fees are checked separately and not estimated | Does not equal a state childcare licence, a teacher licence or an employer appointment; ordinary casual babysitting does not automatically count as experience |
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| Certified Childcare Professional | U.S. early childhood and care practitioners | The CCP certification of the NECPA Commission, Inc. | Not required uniformly for all positions | NECPA: usually 18 or older, high school or equivalent and English sufficient to perform the role; choose a Field Counselor, documentation, examination and performance observation, and review by the professional standards committee; the official site retains exemptions for special cases | Valid for 2 years on the official site and requires maintenance or renewal, and the training time and fees are checked separately | Certification does not equal a state licence, a teacher licence or signing authority |
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| Teacher qualification (if applying for a teaching position) | An actual teacher position | Prove the teacher qualification of the corresponding jurisdiction | Kindergarten teachers in China follow Article 37 of the Preschool Education Law | A kindergarten teacher qualification, or another teacher qualification plus a preschool professional training pass from the education department at or above the county level; other jurisdictions are checked separately | The specific application, examination, internship and fees are checked separately by jurisdiction | The education and vocational training system for childcare workers under Article 39 is different, and a CDA or CCP does not automatically replace a teacher qualification |
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The Chinese kindergarten teacher qualification and childcare worker education and vocational training follow Articles 37/39 respectively; other jurisdictions and support positions that are not teacher roles are checked separately, and not all teaching support is written as a teacher-licensed position.
Typical scope：Private household service and home-based childcare operation are listed separately: the latter is defined by the measures on family childcare points as taking no more than 5 children with at most 3 per carer, and requires registration and filing and meeting the staffing and premises conditions; signing contracts with several families alone does not allow a care point to open.
Readiness evidence：Able to show the agreements and record system for several families, and explain how information crossing and boundary confusion are avoided.
Credential boundary：Take additional training on contracts and information protection; check the tax and employment registration requirements.
Next moves：Move towards a small home-based care point or cooperation with other carers.
Typical scope：Take part in community parenting support and care networks, and liaise with the competent authorities and community organizations on care and safety standards.
Readiness evidence：Able to show community cooperation and referral records and proof of taking part in standards training.
Credential boundary：Take additional qualifications and training as the institution and competent authorities require.
Next moves：Expand the service scope on a compliant basis.
Typical scope：Take on teaching or care tasks once the actual position qualification, engagement and scope of duties are met; professional training does not automatically confer authority to diagnose and treat, to teach independently or to operate a childcare business.
Readiness evidence：Able to show qualification certificates, teaching or specialist care records and evaluation materials.
Credential boundary：Kindergarten teachers in China follow Article 37 of the Preschool Education Law; the conditions for the United States and other teaching positions are checked separately, and education or internship or a CDA is not uniformly equated with a teacher qualification.
Next moves：Take on a responsible role for the curriculum or a specialist direction within the institution.
Typical scope：Take part in building the institution's curriculum and care standards and quality management rules, and take part in the professional work of industry associations or competent authorities.
Readiness evidence：Able to show the texts from taking part in policy development and training and review records.
Credential boundary：Take additional management or professional qualifications as the institution and the industry require.
Next moves：Bear professional and quality responsibility at the institutional or industry level.
Limitations：Editorial ratings use the existing occupational responsibilities and AI task analysis on this page. They are not adoption rates, measured effects, job-disappearance or personal-unemployment probabilities, or official scores from Stanford or another external institution. No measured time weights or future robot deployment are assumed.
