Professional Development Associate Jobs in Nebraska

Assistant Educator

Pay: $17.00 / Hour

Location: Spellman Child Development Center - College of St Mary Campus

Job Purpose:  
To foster healthy development of children, by coordinating daily classroom activities, and providing a safe and nurturing environment for young children to learn and grow.  Plan and coordinate daily activities and hands-on learning environment.
Essential Job Duties:  
•    Supervision of children: Provide direct supervision, ensuring safety and engagement during activities and outings.
•    Education: Facilitate learning through planned activities and observation of developmental progress.
•    Parent Interaction: Communicate effectively with parents, sharing information, discussing concerns, and facilitating conferences.
•    Professionalism: Adhere to policies, attend trainings, maintain confidentiality, and report any issues according to procedures.
•    Environment/Structure: Maintain a safe and organized environment through structured activities and housekeeping.
•    Community Awareness & Personnel Capabilities: Foster respectful partnerships, collaborate with colleagues, and demonstrate cultural competency and empathy.

Early Head Start Requirements:
•    Must maintain First Aid, CPR certification.
•    Must complete Bloodborne Pathogens training, TB test and physical.

Other Duties:
•    Fulfill additional tasks as directed by supervisor.
•    Engage in necessary training for professional development.
•    Foster teamwork by collaborating with colleagues and fostering a positive work environment.
•    Represent the agency positively to clients, community organizations, and the public.

Center Job Requirements:
•    A Child Development Associate (CDA) credential OR equivalent (12 higher education credits in early childhood education, early childhood special education, elementary education, and/or child development), preferred
OR  
•    High school diploma or GED, with a plan to complete a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential OR equivalent (12 higher education credits in early childhood education, early childhood special education, elementary education, and/or child development)
•    Must be at least 19 years of age.
•    A minimum of 6 months relevant experience
•    Ability to interact with clients and staff with sensitivity and responsiveness to cultural and socioeconomic characteristics in the service population.
•    Knowledge of or ability to learn the following:
o    Developmental stages;
o    Effective childcare discipline management;
o    Appropriate parent and child communication;
o    Effective classroom environments specific to ages/stages;
o    Standards for high quality care, and licensing and accreditation requirements; and,
o    Basic first aid and CPR or ability to attain certificates in those areas.
•    Personal characteristics
o    Patience;
o    Nurturing;
o    Flexibility;
o    Multi-task/strong organizational skills;
o    Ability to interact with clients with sensitivity and responsiveness to cultural and socioeconomic characteristics in the service population; 
o    Commitment to empowering others to solve their own problems;
o    Valuing a nurturing family as the ideal environment for a person;
o    A conviction about the capacity of people to grow and change;
o    The ability to establish a respectful relationship with persons served to help them gain skills and confidence;
o    The ability to work collaboratively with other personnel and/or service providers or professionals; and,
o    The capacity to maintain a helping role and to intervene appropriately to meet service goals; and set appropriate limits.
•    Position Characteristics
o    Analytical complexity – requires minimal analytical skills.  Need to be able to analyze individual children and make recommendations about care.
o    Autonomy/Accountability – is accountable for own work and for making educated decisions reflecting the children.  Works as a team with lead teacher in classroom.
o    Impact of position – understanding of significant impact on children and parents served within the childcare classroom.  Also has impact on the level of service and quality the classroom offers.
•    Communication/Language
o    Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules and operation, safety and program manuals.  Ability to write daily reports and lesson plans.  Ability to speak effectively with parents and other employees of the agency.  Ability to establish effective relationships with children, parents and co-workers.
•    Mathematical skills
o    Ability to add, subtracts, multiply and divides in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.
•    Reasoning ability
o    Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists.  Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral and schedule form.

Environment:
While performing the duties of this job, the employee frequently works in outside weather conditions.  The noise level in the center is usually noisy due to the number of children.  Employee may be required to change diapers, etc. and may encounter body fluids and must practice Universal Precautions.

Physical Requirements:  
•    Ability to:  sit, stand and walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls; and hear and see within normal limits and close vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
•    Ability to run after children, reach with hands and arms, bend, stoop, kneel crouch or crawl.
•    Ability to occasionally lift and/or move up to 40 pounds.
•    Ability to work extensively with children.

Child Saving Institute (CSI) is committed to the full inclusion of all individuals and takes steps to ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations.