Nursery education
teaching professionals
Nursery education teaching professionals care for and teach children up to the age of entry into primary school.
- Employees (UK)
- 10k
- Median annual pay
- £31,425
- Exposure score ?
- 0.6/10 Minimal 3.9/10 Low strict reading, with tools is 3.9/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.6/10
- Wage exposure
- £19m £123m
Higher exposure than 29% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
A few tasks in this role are within reach of AI, mostly paperwork, scheduling and routine writing. The shape of the role stays the same, and some parts get faster.
If you are in this role
Pick the two or three most repetitive things in your week and try a model on them. Most people underestimate what Claude or ChatGPT already does with admin-shaped work. The time you get back is the gain.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
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Prepare children for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
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Instruct students individually and in groups, adapting teaching methods to meet students' varying needs and interests.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Prepare and implement remedial programs for students requiring extra help.
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Identify children showing signs of emotional, developmental, or health-related problems and discuss them with supervisors, parents or guardians, and child development specialists.
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Maintain accurate and complete student records and prepare reports on children and activities as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education" (25-2012.00).
What AI can already do
2 of 37 tasks, unaided
Maintain accurate and complete student records and prepare reports on children and activities as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
Prepare for assigned classes and show written evidence of preparation upon request of immediate supervisors.
What still needs a person
35 of 37 tasks
Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
Prepare children for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
Instruct students individually and in groups, adapting teaching methods to meet students' varying needs and interests.
Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, and social skills.
Demonstrate activities to children.
Read books to entire classes or to small groups.
Guide and counsel students with adjustment or academic problems or special academic interests.
Observe and evaluate children's performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
Provide a variety of materials and resources for children to explore, manipulate, and use, both in learning activities and in imaginative play.
Prepare and implement remedial programs for students requiring extra help.
Identify children showing signs of emotional, developmental, or health-related problems and discuss them with supervisors, parents or guardians, and child development specialists.
Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects and communicate those objectives to children.
Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
Confer with parents or guardians, other teachers, counselors, and administrators to resolve students' behavioral and academic problems.
Organize and lead activities designed to promote physical, mental, and social development, such as games, arts and crafts, music, and storytelling.
Meet with parents and guardians to discuss their children's progress and to determine their priorities for their children and their resource needs.
Provide students with disabilities with assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.
Use computers, audio-visual aids, and other equipment and materials to supplement presentations.
Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress.
Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment and materials to prevent injuries and damage.
Prepare objectives and outlines for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements of states and schools.
Assimilate arriving children to the school environment by greeting them, helping them remove outerwear, and selecting activities of interest to them.
Collaborate with other teachers and administrators in the development, evaluation, and revision of kindergarten programs.
Prepare materials, classrooms, and other indoor and outdoor spaces to facilitate creative play, learning and motor-skill activities, and safety.
Prepare, administer, and grade tests and assignments to evaluate children's progress.
Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula.
Organize and label materials and display children's work in a manner appropriate for their sizes and perceptual skills.
Plan and supervise class projects, field trips, visits by guests, or other experiential activities and guide students in learning from those activities.
Supervise, evaluate, and plan assignments for teacher assistants and volunteers.
Involve parent volunteers and older students in children's activities to facilitate involvement in focused, complex play.
Administer standardized ability and achievement tests and interpret results to determine children's developmental levels and needs.
Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, and teacher training workshops to maintain and improve professional competence.
Attend staff meetings and serve on committees as required.
Select, store, order, issue, and inventory classroom equipment, materials, and supplies.
Perform administrative duties, such as assisting in school libraries, hall and cafeteria monitoring, and bus loading and unloading.
Tasks via O*NET "Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education" (25-2012.00).
What AI can already do
15 of 37 tasks, with tools
Prepare and implement remedial programs for students requiring extra help.
Identify children showing signs of emotional, developmental, or health-related problems and discuss them with supervisors, parents or guardians, and child development specialists.
Maintain accurate and complete student records and prepare reports on children and activities as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects and communicate those objectives to children.
Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
Use computers, audio-visual aids, and other equipment and materials to supplement presentations.
Prepare objectives and outlines for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements of states and schools.
Collaborate with other teachers and administrators in the development, evaluation, and revision of kindergarten programs.
Prepare, administer, and grade tests and assignments to evaluate children's progress.
Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula.
Organize and label materials and display children's work in a manner appropriate for their sizes and perceptual skills.
Prepare for assigned classes and show written evidence of preparation upon request of immediate supervisors.
Administer standardized ability and achievement tests and interpret results to determine children's developmental levels and needs.
Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, and teacher training workshops to maintain and improve professional competence.
Select, store, order, issue, and inventory classroom equipment, materials, and supplies.
What still needs a person
22 of 37 tasks
Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
Prepare children for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
Instruct students individually and in groups, adapting teaching methods to meet students' varying needs and interests.
Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, and social skills.
Demonstrate activities to children.
Read books to entire classes or to small groups.
Guide and counsel students with adjustment or academic problems or special academic interests.
Observe and evaluate children's performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
Provide a variety of materials and resources for children to explore, manipulate, and use, both in learning activities and in imaginative play.
Confer with parents or guardians, other teachers, counselors, and administrators to resolve students' behavioral and academic problems.
Organize and lead activities designed to promote physical, mental, and social development, such as games, arts and crafts, music, and storytelling.
Meet with parents and guardians to discuss their children's progress and to determine their priorities for their children and their resource needs.
Provide students with disabilities with assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.
Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress.
Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment and materials to prevent injuries and damage.
Assimilate arriving children to the school environment by greeting them, helping them remove outerwear, and selecting activities of interest to them.
Prepare materials, classrooms, and other indoor and outdoor spaces to facilitate creative play, learning and motor-skill activities, and safety.
Plan and supervise class projects, field trips, visits by guests, or other experiential activities and guide students in learning from those activities.
Supervise, evaluate, and plan assignments for teacher assistants and volunteers.
Involve parent volunteers and older students in children's activities to facilitate involvement in focused, complex play.
Attend staff meetings and serve on committees as required.
Perform administrative duties, such as assisting in school libraries, hall and cafeteria monitoring, and bus loading and unloading.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Professional occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons