OVERVIEW:
The Assistant Teacher – Junior Preschool is a core educator at Fueling Brains, supporting a consistent, high-quality learning environment for children aged 19 months to 3 years. Rooted in the Fueling Brains philosophy, Assistant Teachers support the development of executive functions while fostering children’s independence, communication, social-emotional development, curiosity, and confidence through responsive, play-based learning experiences.
Working closely with Lead Teachers, the Assistant Teacher provides continuity of care and relationships throughout the child’s day and supports the cohort as they transition between Left Brain, Right Brain, and Movement learning environments. They develop a strong understanding of each child’s routines, interests, developmental needs, and family context, helping create a safe, nurturing, and engaging experience across all environments.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
Child Development & Continuity
- Build secure, trusting relationships with children in the assigned Junior Preschool cohort.
- Provide consistency and continuity of care as children transition between learning environments and daily routines.
- Develop an understanding of each child’s individual needs, including comfort routines, communication cues, interests, developmental milestones, and emerging independence.
- Support children in developing self-help skills, communication, positive peer interactions, emotional regulation, and confidence within daily routines.
- Adapt guidance, expectations, and interactions to meet the developmental needs of children aged 19 months to 3 years.
Learning Support & Engagement
- Partner with Lead Teachers to support daily routines, circle times, structured learning blocks, and play-based learning experiences.
- Support the implementation of programming aligned with Fueling Brains’ term structure and executive function goals.
- Encourage curiosity, exploration, independence, communication, and problem-solving through meaningful daily interactions.
- Support developmentally appropriate learning experiences across Left Brain, Right Brain, and Movement environments.
- Model and reinforce early executive function-building behaviours, including attention, persistence, flexibility, emotional regulation, and independence.
- Support children’s holistic development across cognitive, language, social-emotional, and physical domains.
Observation & Documentation
- Observe children’s development, behaviours, interests, and emerging skills throughout the day.
- Contribute observations and daily notes to support developmental documentation and ongoing assessment.
- Share relevant observations with Lead Teachers to support individualized programming and curriculum planning.
- Identify changes or patterns in children’s social, emotional, cognitive, language, or physical development and communicate these appropriately with the Lead Teacher.
- Assist with maintaining accurate developmental and classroom records as required.
Family Engagement & Communication
- Build positive, trusting relationships with families through warm and professional daily interactions.
- Communicate appropriate daily highlights, routines, milestones, and relevant updates during drop-off and pick-up.
- Collaborate with the Lead Teacher regarding developmental or program-related communication with families.
- Participate in parent-teacher interviews, orientation sessions, and family engagement activities alongside Lead Teachers as required.
- Support consistent communication between home and the classroom while respecting professional boundaries and confidentiality.
Team Collaboration
- Work collaboratively with Lead Teachers and other educators to provide a seamless and consistent experience for children throughout the day.
- Support smooth transitions between Left Brain, Right Brain, Movement, outdoor, meal, rest, and other daily environments.
- Follow Lead Teacher guidance while contributing observations and ideas that support classroom planning and individual child needs.
- Communicate effectively with team members regarding routines, developmental needs, health considerations, and classroom priorities.
- Contribute to a positive, respectful, and collaborative workplace culture.
- Support newer educators, substitutes, or support staff in understanding classroom routines and expectations when appropriate.
Health, Safety & Licensing
- Maintain active supervision of children at all times and follow Fueling Brains and provincial licensing requirements.
- Support accurate attendance, daily health monitoring, hygiene practices, and classroom documentation.
- Assist children with developmentally appropriate personal-care and self-help routines, including toileting or diapering, handwashing, dressing, meals, rest periods, and transitions as required.
- Maintain awareness of allergies, dietary requirements, sanitation procedures, and emergency protocols.
- Help maintain a safe, nurturing, clean, inclusive, and developmentally appropriate classroom environment.
Professional Development & Organizational Contribution
- Stay current with research and best practices in early learning, child development, and executive function.
- Participate in training and professional development as part of Fueling Brains’ continuous improvement culture.
- Engage in Fueling Brains training related to brain development, executive function, inquiry-based learning, and program philosophy.
- Support school initiatives, events, professional learning activities, and community engagement as required.
REQUIRED SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS:
Education
- Early Childhood Educator Level 2 or Level 3 Certification required.
- Valid provincial Early Childhood Educator certification, as required by the province of employment.
- Diploma or Degree in Early Childhood Education or a related child development field is preferred.
- Ongoing commitment to professional learning in early childhood development, executive function, and play-based learning.
Experience
- Minimum 1 year of Canadian experience working with children aged 19 months to 3 years in a licensed childcare, preschool, or early learning environment is required.
- Demonstrated understanding of toddler and Junior Preschool developmental milestones, routines, communication, and social-emotional needs.
- Experience supporting developmentally appropriate, play-based learning experiences.
- Experience working collaboratively with Lead Teachers and multi-educator classroom teams.
- Demonstrated ability to adapt interactions and learning support for diverse developmental and learning needs.
- Experience supporting transitions, routines, toileting or diapering, meals, rest periods, and self-help skill development for children in this age group.
- Exposure to Reggio-inspired, Montessori-inspired, FLIGHT, or inquiry-based early learning environments is an asset; Fueling Brains training will be provided.
Key Skills
- Strong understanding of child development for children aged 19 months to 3 years.
- Ability to build secure, responsive, and nurturing relationships with young children.
- Ability to support the development of independence, communication, social-emotional skills, curiosity, and emerging executive function.
- Skilled in observing children and communicating relevant developmental information to Lead Teachers and families.
- Patient, responsive, and able to recognize and respond appropriately to individual children’s needs and cues.
- Effective communicator with children, families, and colleagues.
- Strong collaboration skills and ability to work fluidly with Lead Teachers and other educators across multiple learning environments.
- Dependable, organized, proactive, and able to maintain a calm and supportive presence in a dynamic classroom environment.
- Creative, flexible, inclusive, and responsive in supporting learning and problem-solving.
Work Environment Requirements
- Flexibility to work across all scheduled shifts, including early mornings and/or late afternoons, depending on the facility’s operational requirements.
- Flexibility to move between classrooms and learning environments and support transitions throughout the day.
- Ability to engage in active play with children, including sitting on the floor, bending, lifting, and participating in indoor and outdoor activities.
- Comfort working in a dynamic, multi-age early learning setting.
- Flexibility to support schedules across homerooms and classroom environments as operationally required.
Additional Requirements
- Criminal Record Check: Successful completion of a criminal record check, including a vulnerable sector search.
- First Aid Certification: Valid Emergency Child Care First Aid and CPR or willingness to obtain within the first three months of employment.
- Physical Requirements: Ability to engage in active play and lift up to 40 lbs.
We thank all applicants for their interest. Please note that only those applicants selected for further consideration will be contacted.
Fueling Brains Academy is an equal opportunity workplace, and we are committed to building and fostering an environment where our employees feel included, valued, and heard. We believe that a strong focus and commitment to diversity and inclusion enables us to truly make early childhood education an enabler for wide-reaching change. We strongly encourage applications from Indigenous peoples, racialized people, people with disabilities, people from gender and sexually diverse communities, and/or people with intersectional identities.
