What Are the Requirements to Be a Daycare Teacher in California?

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) Child Care Licensing Program licenses child care centers and family child care homes, with oversight and enforcement delivered through 21 regional offices.

The center rules sit in Title 22, Division 12 of the California Code of Regulations.

California also runs a second qualification system: state-funded Title 5 child development programs follow their own staffing ratios, and the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) Child Development Permit is one optional way to meet the Title 22 teacher qualifications — not a license every teacher must hold.

Title 22's title for the classroom lead is 'teacher,' and the rule describes when that teacher is 'fully qualified.' Before employment, a teacher needs at least 6 semester units of early childhood education or child development, or a Child Development Assistant Permit, and must then complete at least 2 units each semester until fully qualified.

Fully qualified status takes 12 semester units in ECE/child development covering three core areas — child growth and development, child/family/community, and program/curriculum — plus at least six months of work experience in a licensed child care center or comparable program.

The rule counts that experience as at least 3 hours per day for a minimum of 50 days in a six-month period, paid or volunteer, under the supervision of a person who would qualify as a teacher or director.

Two alternative routes also qualify: a current Child Development Associate (CDA) credential with the appropriate age-level endorsement plus six months of experience, or a CTC Child Development Associate Teacher, Teacher, or Master Teacher Permit.

Center staff who supervise employees or provide any care and supervision to children must be at least 18 years old.

The rule's word for the assistant role is 'aide.' In a preschool center, an aide who helps a fully qualified teacher supervise up to 18 children must have 6 semester units of ECE/child development, or be completing at least 2 units each semester until 6 units are done.

The 18-year-old threshold applies to anyone who provides care and supervision; the one younger route is an aide under 18 who is a high school graduate or enrolled in an occupational program.

The CTC's Child Development Assistant Permit — which needs only 6 semester units of ECE/child development, or an approved HERO/ROP child development program — is the entry rung of the permit ladder; for teachers, Title 22 accepts it in place of the 6 pre-employment units.

The pieces a new California center teacher assembles are the education requirement, the health and safety training, the health screening and the criminal record clearance.

Before employment, a teacher needs at least 6 semester units of early childhood education or child development, or a Child Development Assistant Permit, and keeps completing at least 2 units each semester until fully qualified.

A teacher must also complete 16 hours of health and safety training if necessary under Health and Safety Code 1596.866; the sections we read do not state when those hours are due, so confirm timing with CDSS.

Two items carry their own windows: a health screening that includes a tuberculosis test must be performed by or under the supervision of a physician not more than one year prior to or seven days after employment, and criminal record clearance or an exemption from CDSS is due before employment or initial presence in the facility.

This is the one question our research could not fully answer: the Title 22 sections we read set the 16 hours of health and safety training tied to Health and Safety Code 1596.866, but they do not set a separate annual in-service hour figure for center teachers, and our research did not establish one.

Treat any annual-hours number you see elsewhere as unconfirmed and ask CDSS Child Care Licensing what applies to your role.

One related figure is real but not annual: CTC Child Development Permits are issued for five years and renew for successive five-year periods after 105 hours of professional growth — a permit renewal rule for permit holders, not a Title 22 training requirement.

California requires at least one staff member trained in pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and pediatric first aid to be present whenever children are at the center or offsite for center activities — it is not an all-staff rule in Title 22, so the requirement is a trained person on site rather than a certificate for every employee.

Teachers also complete 16 hours of health and safety training if necessary under Health and Safety Code 1596.866; the underlying statute was amended and our research could not read its current topic list, so confirm the exact course content with CDSS.

On health checks: all center personnel, including volunteers, need a health screening that includes a tuberculosis test, performed by or under the supervision of a physician not more than one year prior to or seven days after employment.

Before employment or initial presence in a California child care facility, staff must obtain a criminal record clearance or an exemption from CDSS.

The mechanism is fingerprints: under Health and Safety Code 1596.871, applicants submit fingerprint images and related information to the California Department of Justice and, through the DOJ, to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a state- and federal-level criminal offender record information search.

Our research read the fingerprint statute but not every related check named in the Health and Safety Code, so confirm the full current clearance process, timelines and any fees with CDSS Child Care Licensing.

Yes.

In an infant care center, a teacher must have completed, with passing grades, at least 3 postsecondary semester units in early childhood education or child development and 3 units related to the care of infants before employment.

To be fully qualified, an infant care teacher needs 12 ECE units with at least 3 in infant-specific coursework, plus six months of experience.

The infant center rule sits in its own section of Title 22, separate from the preschool teacher rule.

The pending change is to the permit system rather than to Title 22.

The Commission on Teacher Credentialing approved a revised Child Development Permit matrix on February 6, 2025; the revised structure is anticipated to move toward regulatory adoption in 2026, with an effective date still to be determined, so the current six-level permit structure remains in force.

The Title 22 teacher qualifications on this page come from the licensing rule itself and are separate from the permit redesign — if you are planning around a permit, check the CTC's current status before you apply.