Early Childhood Assistant Teacher

Title: Early Childhood Assistant Teacher

Department/Location: Early Childhood, St. Louis

Position Type: Full-Time, 39-week

Summary

Principia is looking for an Early Childhood Assistant Teacher who is flexible, nurturing, and collaborative. In this role, you will support and substitute across all early childhood classrooms, contributing to inclusive and engaging learning environments inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach. Your adaptability, warmth, teamwork, and passion for early childhood education will be key to your success. Reporting to the Principal – Early Childhood, you will play a critical role in supporting a variety of teaching teams and age groups, helping children explore, wonder, and grow as active participants in their learning. You’ll collaborate with educators across the Early Childhood program to maintain joyful, responsive classrooms.

Who We Are

At our award-winning Early Childhood through grade 12 Principia School in St. Louis, Missouri, and top-ranked Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, Principia faculty and staff make up a close-knit community of educators, coaches, and professionals taking a distinct approach to education—blending academic excellence with Christian Science-based character education. Principia’s team of over 500 employees supports not only Principia School and Principia College, but also a worldwide network of alumni and friends.

At Principia School, our core value is LOVE. Love and its attributes underpin our foundational beliefs as well as our educational approach. We focus on developing the whole child—intellectually, physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually, preparing students for the next steps in life. We foster a challenging yet supportive environment where character unfolds naturally, and talent is cultivated through boundless opportunities. Character education plays an essential role in every aspect of the student experience, and classroom work is augmented by character trips, leadership development, and real-world, hands-on, project-based learning.

Primary Responsibilities

• Demonstrate a genuine love for and interest in working with preschool-aged children across a variety of classroom settings.
• Provide support to lead teachers in planning and facilitating engaging, hands-on learning experiences that promote collaboration, creativity, problem-solving, and curiosity.
• Interact with children in ways that deepen their thinking and foster a sense of agency and wonder.
• Build positive, supportive relationships with a wide range of students, helping each child feel confident, valued, and capable.
• Support inclusive, respectful learning environments where all children feel seen, heard, and understood.
• Encourage right actions through a caring, consistent, and character-building approach to guidance and discipline.
• Respond to behavior and classroom needs with patience, flexibility, and a growth mindset, supporting children in developing self-regulation and social-emotional skills.
• Observe and support children's learning and development, contributing insights to documentation as appropriate.
• Collaborate with various lead teachers to meet the evolving needs of students and classrooms.
• Support and substitute in all Early Childhood classrooms as needed, maintaining continuity of care, routines, and learning experiences across the program.
• Assist in setting up classroom environments, including invitations, provocations, and materials that spark engagement and inquiry.
• Help prepare and support routines such as snack, lunch, rest time, and transitions, adapting to the procedures of each classroom.
• Maintain a flexible, joyful, and spiritually grounded presence, ready to shift roles and responsibilities as needed throughout the school day.
• Maintain confidentiality regarding students, families, colleagues, and school operations at all times.
• Communicate respectfully and effectively with all members of the school community, demonstrating strong interpersonal skills and professionalism.
• Actively participate in weekly professional development sessions, faculty meetings, and ongoing training opportunities.
• Engage in annual goal setting, regular check-ins with supervisors, and continued reflection and growth.
• Pursue professional growth and apply current best practices in early childhood education; actively engage in the school’s professional learning community.
• Demonstrate professionalism in all aspects of work—showing initiative, dependability, organization, and timely communication.
• Perform other duties as assigned to support the smooth and joyful functioning of the Early Childhood program.

Core Competencies

• Positivity: Optimistic, positive, and focused on elevating and bringing out the very best in themselves and others. Faculty and staff are invited to understand teammates’ strengths and how they can complement each other.
• Team players: Ability to collaborate and partner with peers and senior leaders is critical, with an ability to listen, give and receive feedback, and be comfortable exchanging ideas and speaking candidly in a professional and collegial manner
• Strategic thinkers: Ability to consider complex topics from multiple perspectives and offer innovative solutions.
• Communication: Provides regular, consistent, and meaningful information. Listens carefully to others and ensures message is understood. Ensures important matters are shared with all appropriate parties. Communicates in a clear and concise manner. Tailors communication style to needs of the recipient.
• Innovative: Presents a problem-solving mindset that helps our team come up with creative solutions to challenging issues, with a mentality of self-improvement and organizational excellence; meets challenges with resourcefulness; generates suggestions for improving work; develops innovative approaches and ideas
• Planning and Organizing: Prioritizes and plans work activities; uses time efficiently; manages multiple projects and tasks simultaneously

Minimum Qualifications

• Student of Christian Science preferred
• Supportive of Principia’s guiding statements as articulated here https://www.principia.edu/about/guiding-statements
• Bachelor’s degree in education required; early childhood education degree or certification strongly preferred.
• Relevant teaching experience with young children in a classroom or early learning environment.

The statements above describe the general nature and level of work but are not a complete list of responsibilities and are subject to change at the discretion of Principia.

Compensation and Benefits

We offer a competitive salary range for this position, starting at $45,000 annually for candidates with a Bachelor’s degree and no prior teaching experience. Salary is commensurate with degree and years of teaching experience.

In addition to salary, our comprehensive total rewards package includes:

• Generous Employee Tuition Discount: Enjoy a 90% discount on tuition (pro-rated for part-time staff) for your eligible children enrolled from Pre-K3 through College (infant and acorn programs excluded).
• Relocation: Principia provides a relocation imbursement of up to 12% of your annual salary, when moving from outside a radius of more than 50 miles
• Professional Development: Access to learning opportunities, training programs, and career growth support.
• Comprehensive Benefits: Learn more about all our benefits here, including comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans, paid time off, a 403(b) retirement plan with Principia matching, and more.

Equal Opportunity

Principia, a mission-driven institution, believes every person has the right to an equitable and respectful educational environment and workplace. Principia does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnicity, gender (identity or expression), sexual orientation, family status, disability, age, or military or veteran status.

In hiring, admissions, and related decisions, Principia—as an institution with a religious mission—gives preference, where appropriate, to Christian Scientists.