Environmental Science Teachers, Postsecondary
Teach courses in environmental science. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
Most important skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Science
- Critical Thinking
- Learning Strategies
- Instructing
Key knowledge
- Education and Training
- English Language
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Mathematics
- Computers and Electronics
- Geography
- Engineering and Technology
What the work involves
- Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
- Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.
- Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, laboratory work, assignments, and papers.
- Write grant proposals to procure external research funding.
- Supervise students' laboratory and field work.
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
- Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, and course materials and methods of instruction.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Investigative, Social, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Doctoral Degree (52.5% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (26.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (21%)
- 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 Environmental Science 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 | Low | Lower on contact with others than 60% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 66% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly important” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 63% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 82% of occupations compared | 66% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 70% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Conflict situations | Low | Lower on conflict situations than 63% of occupations compared | 42% 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 73% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 70% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: low
- 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: 3.04%
- Contact with others about half the time: 11.25%
- Contact with others most of the time: 42.05%
- Constant contact with others: 43.66%
n = 52, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 9.13%
- Fairly important: 33.87%
- Important: 17.97%
- Very important: 24.62%
- Extremely important: 14.4%
n = 52, Incumbent 08/2019
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0.62%
- Fairly important: 2.6%
- Important: 20.36%
- Very important: 37.06%
- Extremely important: 39.36%
n = 50, Incumbent 08/2019
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 14.36%
- Some freedom: 19.76%
- A lot of freedom: 65.89%
n = 52, Incumbent 08/2019
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 6.18%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 41.11%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 39.95%
- Every day: 12.76%
n = 52, Incumbent 08/2019
Conflict situations
- Never: 6.27%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 37.04%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 42.36%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 13.96%
- Every day: 0.36%
n = 52, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 11.82%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 48.31%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 27.56%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 12.31%
- Every day: 0%
n = 51, Incumbent 08/2019
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 38.62%
- Fairly serious: 20.62%
- Serious: 4.51%
- Very serious: 17.61%
- Extremely serious: 18.63%
n = 51, Incumbent 08/2019
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O*NET-SOC 25-1053.00 · SOC 25-1053 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8