Career Explorer Management
Changing shape
Education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare
Plan, direct, or coordinate academic or nonacademic activities of preschools or childcare centers and programs, including before- and after-school care.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 22% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by -3.1% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on emotional intelligence and ethical judgement.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $59,300
- Job growth to 2035
- -3.1%
- Openings a year
- 5,200
- People doing it (2025)
- 91,900
- Usual route in
- Bachelor's degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Advise others on educational or vocational matters
- Teach academic or vocational subjects
- Monitor individual behavior or performance
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Develop organizational policies, systems, or processes
- Direct organizational operations, activities, or procedures
- Supervise personnel activities
What the work looks like
- Recruit, hire, train, and evaluate primary and supplemental staff and recommend personnel actions for programs and services.
- Confer with parents and staff to discuss educational activities and policies and students' behavioral or learning problems.
- Teach classes or courses or provide direct care to children.
- Determine allocations of funds for staff, supplies, materials, and equipment and authorize purchases.
- Direct and coordinate activities of teachers or administrators at daycare centers, schools, public agencies, or institutions.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Social and community service managersGrows with AI, Index 63, +7.2%
- General and operations managersGrows with AI, Index 60, +5.0%
- Emergency management directorsGrows with AI, Index 61, +3.9%
- Entertainment and recreation managers, except gamblingGrows with AI, Index 68, +6.0%
Also known as: Child Care Director, Childcare Director, Education Coordinator, Education Director, Child Care Center Director, Day Care Director, Early Childhood Program Supervisor (ECP Supervisor), Early Childhood Services Director.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.