Special Education Teachers, Elementary School
Teach academic, social, and life skills to elementary school students with learning, emotional, or physical disabilities. Includes teachers who specialize and work with students who are blind or have visual impairments; students who are deaf or have hearing impairments; and students with intellectual disabilities.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Instructing
- Reading Comprehension
- Learning Strategies
- Social Perceptiveness
- Critical Thinking
- Writing
Key knowledge
- Education and Training
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Computers and Electronics
- Mathematics
- Administration and Management
- Psychology
- Public Safety and Security
What the work involves
- Administer standardized ability and achievement tests to elementary students with special needs.
- Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, or teacher training workshops to maintain or improve professional competence.
- Collaborate with other teachers or administrators to develop, evaluate, or revise elementary school programs.
- Confer with other staff members to plan or schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula.
- Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual educational plans (IEPs) for students' educational, physical, or social development.
- Coordinate placement of students with special needs into mainstream classes.
- Develop or implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of disabilities.
- Encourage students to explore learning opportunities or persevere with challenging tasks to prepare them for later grades.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Investigative, Artistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (51.4% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (33.3%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (35.2%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Special Education Teachers, Elementary School is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
- Projection education uses SOC 25-2059 (aggregate); it may describe a broader group.
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 | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 83% of occupations compared | 81% 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 “Not important at all” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 61% of occupations compared | 66% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 84% of occupations compared | 59% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 76% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 68% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 69% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 61% of occupations compared | 26% of surveyed respondents chose “Very serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- 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: 1.87%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 16.84%
- Constant contact with others: 81.3%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 33.94%
- Fairly important: 2.98%
- Important: 20.05%
- Very important: 13.64%
- Extremely important: 29.38%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2025
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 25.62%
- Very important: 8.4%
- Extremely important: 65.98%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2025
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 11.19%
- Limited freedom: 22.76%
- Some freedom: 59.37%
- A lot of freedom: 6.68%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2025
Time pressure
- Never: 0.18%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 11.19%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 42.12%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 31.51%
- Every day: 14.99%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2025
Conflict situations
- Never: 11.38%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 19.24%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 29.8%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 25.79%
- Every day: 13.79%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 28.94%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 40.02%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 18.42%
- Every day: 12.62%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2025
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 26.27%
- Fairly serious: 21.89%
- Serious: 13.5%
- Very serious: 26.28%
- Extremely serious: 12.06%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2025
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O*NET-SOC 25-2056.00 · SOC 25-2059 (aggregate, low confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8