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

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) certifies child care centers, and DHS's Bureau of Certification Services regulates centers, group child care homes and family child care homes.

The rules center teachers work under sit in Chapter 3270 of Title 55 of the Pennsylvania Code, which applies to facilities that provide out-of-home care for seven or more children aged 15 or younger at any one time.

Pennsylvania certifies three facility types: child care centers, group child care homes and family child care homes.

Pennsylvania calls its lead teachers group supervisors, and the rule lists the qualification routes for that title.

One route is a bachelor's degree in early childhood education, child development, special education, elementary education or the human services field, with no experience required on that route.

An associate degree in one of those fields plus 2 years of experience with children also qualifies, and the rule adds two further routes: a bachelor's degree with 30 credits in early childhood education or a related field plus 1 year of experience, and an associate degree that includes 30 such credits plus 3 years.

A CDA credential is not enough on its own: the rule counts a CDA — like the Certified Childcare Professional (CCP) credential — as 9 credit hours of college coursework in early childhood education or child development plus 1 year of experience with children.

Where a route lists experience, the rule defines one year of child care experience as at least 1,250 clock hours.

Pennsylvania's rule calls the assistant teacher the assistant group supervisor.

The routes to this title include a high school diploma or a general educational development (GED) certificate plus 2 years of experience with children, and a high school diploma or GED plus 15 relevant credits and 1 year of experience.

The experience definition matches the lead role: one year of child care experience is at least 1,250 clock hours.

The rule also names an aide level and caps its use: no more than 50% of a center's staff persons may be at the aide qualification level, which means at least half the staff must qualify as director, group supervisor or assistant group supervisor.

Our research captured the group supervisor and assistant group supervisor routes but not the aide qualification routes, so ask the hiring center or DHS what an aide posting requires.

Pennsylvania center staff complete professional development on health and safety topics within 90 days of hire.

The rule's topic list includes safe sleep and SIDS, medication administration, abusive head trauma and pediatric first aid and CPR; that list was amended effective December 19, 2020.

The requirement covers staff persons, so it applies whether you are hired as a group supervisor, an assistant group supervisor or an aide.

Every Pennsylvania center staff person completes at least 12 clock hours of child care training each year.

The rule sets that figure as an annual minimum in the same staff-person provision that sets the minimum age of 18.

Pennsylvania requires at least one facility person competent in pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR to be at the center whenever children are in care.

Pediatric first aid and CPR also sit on the 90-day health-and-safety topic list for new staff.

A health assessment is separate: staff need one conducted within 12 months before providing initial service in a child care setting and every 24 months thereafter, and initial employment includes a Mantoux tuberculosis test, with an IGRA blood test accepted in its place.

Pennsylvania child care employees need three clearances: a PA Child Abuse History Clearance, a PA State Police criminal history check (PATCH) and an FBI fingerprint check.

Clearances are required every 60 months from the date of the oldest clearance, and certified child care staff also need a National Sex Offender Registry check.

The FBI fingerprint step runs through IDEMIA (IdentoGO), Pennsylvania's vendor for digital fingerprinting, and applicants must pre-register.

Pennsylvania's workforce registry for early childhood staff is the PD Registry, run by the Pennsylvania Key for OCDEL.

The registry is used for Career Pathway placement, CDA vouchers and the Director Credential.

Two Pennsylvania programs are worth knowing while you build qualifications.

The state's registered ECE Apprenticeship, sponsored by the 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund, takes workers from a CDA to an associate or bachelor's degree while working and includes incremental wage increases; an associate degree in early childhood education earned that way is the degree half of the group supervisor route that pairs it with 2 years of experience with children.

The state's 2025-26 Child Care Staff Recruitment and Retention (CCSRR) Program provided a one-time $450 retention bonus for all qualified staff at eligible DHS-certified providers, but that round is closed — applications closed January 29, 2026 — so check the Pennsylvania Key for any current offering.