Social Work Teachers, Postsecondary
Teach courses in social work. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
Most important skills
- Instructing
- Speaking
- Learning Strategies
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Critical Thinking
- Active Learning
Key knowledge
- Education and Training
- Sociology and Anthropology
- Therapy and Counseling
- Psychology
- English Language
- Administration and Management
- Computers and Electronics
- Customer and Personal Service
What the work involves
- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as family behavior, child and adolescent mental health, or social intervention evaluation.
- Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
- Supervise students' laboratory and field work.
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, or handouts.
- Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
- Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Investigative, Artistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Doctoral Degree (60.7% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years (22.7%)
- On-the-job training
- None or short demonstration (36.1%)
- 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 Social Work 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 65% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 69% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Higher on teamwork than 52% of occupations compared | 50% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 92% of occupations compared | 74% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 75% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Lower on conflict situations than 52% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 51% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 70% of occupations compared | 31% of surveyed respondents chose “Serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- 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: 27.47%
- Contact with others most of the time: 25.8%
- Constant contact with others: 46.73%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 10.97%
- Important: 15.92%
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: 25.67%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 18.57%
- Very important: 31.69%
- Extremely important: 49.74%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2021
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 1.09%
- Some freedom: 24.51%
- A lot of freedom: 74.4%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 10.97%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 34.08%
- Every day: 13.74%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Conflict situations
- Never: 9.88%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 23.62%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 43.86%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 21.42%
- Every day: 1.22%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 1.09%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 6.14%
- Every day: 1.22%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 27.55%
- Fairly serious: 15.92%
- Serious: 31.17%
- Very serious: 22.68%
- Extremely serious: 2.68%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2021
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O*NET-SOC 25-1113.00 · SOC 25-1113 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8