Montessori Classroom Teacher’s Assistant | Provident Montessori School | San Francisco, CA

Organization: Provident Montessori School

Location: San Francisco, CA

Position Title: Montessori Classroom Teacher's Assistant

Job Description: About us
Provident Montessori School is a small, community-oriented Montessori early childhood program (Preschool & Kindergarten) in the Potrero Hill neighbourhood of San Francisco, founded by an AMI-trained husband-and-wife team devoted to giving young children the very best start. Serving children from two to six and a half years in a calm, home-like environment, we nurture independence, curiosity, concentration, and a lifelong love of learning — guided by Montessori principles and the everyday practice of grace and courtesy. We aim to support families in raising children who are emotionally, socially, and intellectually prepared to thrive in a community where order, respect, and responsibility are lived by children and adults alike.

The role
In a Montessori classroom, the lead guide and the assistant work as a single, well-matched team — an arrangement often described as "one up, one down." While the guide gives individual and small-group lessons, the assistant holds the wider room: protecting concentration, keeping the prepared environment in order, and quietly making it possible for the guide to teach without interruption. It is a role of great care and observation rather than instruction, and it is essential to a faithful Montessori experience for the children.

We are looking for a warm, attentive, and dependable assistant to partner with our lead guide in caring for the children and the environment day to day.

What you'll do
1. Prepare and maintain the environment. Keep the shelves orderly and beautiful, replenish and repair materials, and ready the classroom each day so children can work independently. Tend to the practical rhythms of the room — tidying, preparing snacks and practical-life activities, caring for plants, and looking after the space between and after sessions.
2. Observe and record. Act as a second pair of eyes, noticing each child's activity, engagement, and work cycle, and sharing those observations with the lead guide to inform planning. (Observation is at the heart of the Montessori method.)
3. Protect concentration. Maintain a broad, gentle awareness of the whole room so that a child who is deeply absorbed is never disturbed, and so the guide can give a lesson knowing the room is held.
4. Support independence and procedure. Help children move through the classroom and its routines independently — following the established procedures and offering quiet cues so the guide remains free to teach.
5. Model grace and courtesy. Through your everyday interactions with the guide and the children, consistently model the respect, kindness, and calm problem-solving that the children are learning to practise — treating every child with dignity, and every mistake as a chance to make amends.
6. Care for health and safety. Help maintain adult-to-child ratios, supervise transitions, arrivals, and departures, and, where relevant, accompany the class on outings.

Who you are
- Genuinely warm and patient, with deep respect for children and a belief in their capability.
- A calm, observant presence who notices what is needed before being asked.
- Comfortable taking the supporting role in a partnership — content to "hold the room" rather than lead the lesson.
- Reliable, discreet, and a steady team player who communicates openly with colleagues.
- Physically able to move about an active classroom, kneel and sit at children's level, and handle the practical work of preparing materials and space.
- Eligible to work in the United States, and able to meet the State licensing and clearance requirements set out below.

Requirements: Licensing and clearance requirements (California / CDSS)
This is a child care centre licensed by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), Community Care Licensing Division. Under Title 22, the successful candidate must meet the State's requirements for classroom staff before working with children. These include:

1. Age. Be at least 18 years old.
2. Criminal record clearance. Complete Live Scan fingerprinting for a Department of Justice and FBI background check, together with a Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) check, and obtain clearance (or an approved exemption) before having contact with children.
3. Tuberculosis (TB) clearance. Provide a current TB risk assessment/test clearance before starting.
4. Immunisations. Provide proof of immunisation against influenza (renewed annually), pertussis (Tdap), and measles (MMR), unless a valid exemption applies. The influenza requirement may be declined in writing.
5. Mandated reporter. Complete California's Mandated Child Abuse Reporter training; all staff are legally mandated reporters.
6. Early childhood education qualification (fully qualified teacher). This is a fully qualified teacher position, not an aide role. The successful candidate must hold at least twelve postsecondary semester units in early childhood education (ECE) or child development from an accredited college, including coursework covering child (or human) growth and development; child, family, and community; and programme/curriculum, together with at least six months of verified work experience in a licensed child care centre or comparable group programme. A Child Development Teacher Permit (or higher) from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing also satisfies this requirement.
7. Paediatric CPR and First Aid. [Current paediatric CPR and first-aid certification, required of teaching staff at our centre, or to be obtained on hire.]

We will guide the successful candidate through the clearance and onboarding process.

Desirable (not essential)
- Previous experience working with children in the 2–6.5 age range.
- Familiarity with Montessori principles, or Montessori assistant training (e.g., an AMI Assistant/Orientation Certificate course). We are happy to support the right candidate in undertaking training.
- Foreign Language competency.

How to Apply: Please send a short covering note telling us a little about yourself and why this role appeals to you, together with your CV, along with 2 reference letters: ideally, a combination of academic, professional, and/or personal references to admissions@providentmontessori.com.

We offer Montessori Training Sponsorships for this position.: Yes