Education Teachers, Postsecondary
Teach courses pertaining to education, such as counseling, curriculum, guidance, instruction, teacher education, and teaching English as a second language. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
Most important skills
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Learning Strategies
- Instructing
- Writing
- Active Learning
- Monitoring
Key knowledge
- English Language
- Education and Training
- Psychology
- Sociology and Anthropology
- Administration and Management
- Communications and Media
- Mathematics
- Customer and Personal Service
What the work involves
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as children's literature, learning and development, and reading instruction.
- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
- Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
- Supervise students' fieldwork, internship, and research work.
- Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
- Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Investigative, Conventional.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Doctoral Degree (89.8% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (32.1%)
- On-the-job training
- None or short demonstration (32.8%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Education Teachers, Postsecondary is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 61% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 74% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 69% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 97% of occupations compared | 86% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 74% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Lower on conflict situations than 58% of occupations compared | 58% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 72% of occupations compared | 73% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 71% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 46.79%
- Constant contact with others: 53.21%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0.21%
- Fairly important: 11.82%
- Important: 5.71%
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: 31.92%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2019
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 4.21%
- Very important: 43.22%
- Extremely important: 52.57%
n = 18, Incumbent 08/2019
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 0%
- Some freedom: 13.89%
- A lot of freedom: 86.11%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2019
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 14.09%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 33.44%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 39.21%
- Every day: 13.25%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2019
Conflict situations
- Never: 1.26%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 32.86%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 58.11%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 7.78%
- Every day: 0%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0.29%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 73.37%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 18.65%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 0.27%
- Every day: 7.41%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2019
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 43.56%
- Fairly serious: 11.47%
- Serious: 5.13%
- Very serious: 26.32%
- Extremely serious: 13.53%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2019
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O*NET-SOC 25-1081.00 · SOC 25-1081 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8