Meaning & use
preschool teacher
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
a person whose job is to teach and care for children who are too young for regular school, usually ages three to five.
Grammar: Countable: a preschool teacher, two preschool teachers.
Patterns
- work as a preschool teacher
- a preschool teacher at a school
- train to be a preschool teacher
My sister works as a preschool teacher at a small school near the park.
Preschool teachers spend much of the day singing, reading, and playing with the children.
The job ad says they need a preschool teacher with a degree in early childhood education.
Word forms
| plural | preschool teachers |
|---|
Common combinations
- work as a preschool teacher
- He works as a preschool teacher in the mornings.
- a qualified preschool teacher
- The center is looking for a qualified preschool teacher.
- preschool teacher training
- She finished her preschool teacher training last June.
- head preschool teacher
- The head preschool teacher plans all the classroom activities.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nursery teacher
- The usual British term for the same job; use it in the UK.
- early childhood educator
- A more formal, professional title that covers preschool and kindergarten teaching.
- kindergarten teacher
- Similar, but usually refers to teaching slightly older children, around age five or six.
Word family
- preschool noun
- A school or class for young children before regular school.
- preschooler noun
- A child who attends preschool.
Commonly confused: preschool teacher or nursery nurse?
preschool teacher vs nursery nurse
In British English this is a childcare worker who may not have a teaching degree, so it is not exactly the same as a preschool teacher.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
"Has been ... for ten years" shows how long the job has lasted. The other options either use the wrong preposition or drop the article "a."
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “preschool teacher”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.