Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten
Teach academic, social, and life skills to kindergarten 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
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Learning Strategies
- Instructing
- Writing
- Critical Thinking
- Active Learning
Key knowledge
- English Language
- Education and Training
- Psychology
- Mathematics
- Administrative
- Therapy and Counseling
- Customer and Personal Service
- Computers and Electronics
What the work involves
- Administer standardized ability and achievement tests to kindergarten 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 kindergarten programs.
- Confer with other staff members to plan, schedule, or conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
- Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual educational plans (IEPs) for students' educational, physical, or social development.
- Confer with parents, guardians, teachers, counselors, or administrators to resolve students' behavioral or academic problems.
- Develop or implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of disabilities.
- Employ special educational strategies or techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, or memory.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Investigative, Conventional.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (56.1% of expert ratings)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (32.9%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (40.1%)
- 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, Kindergarten 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 98% of occupations compared | 99% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Higher on dealing with the public than 58% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 97% of occupations compared | 89% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 58% of occupations compared | 58% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 92% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 90% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 66% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Higher on consequence of error than 50% of occupations compared | 31% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: moderate
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: 0.22%
- Contact with others most of the time: 0.84%
- Constant contact with others: 98.94%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 11.55%
- Fairly important: 22.08%
- Important: 2.47%
- Very important: 20.91%
- Extremely important: 42.99%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2026
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 11.16%
- Extremely important: 88.84%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2026
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0.52%
- Limited freedom: 9.83%
- Some freedom: 58.1%
- A lot of freedom: 31.56%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2026
Time pressure
- Never: 0.22%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 36.49%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 29.19%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 22.06%
- Every day: 12.04%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2026
Conflict situations
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 36.29%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 1.69%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 20.32%
- Every day: 41.7%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0.25%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 36.63%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 36.02%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 8.83%
- Every day: 18.27%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2026
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 21.32%
- Fairly serious: 29.82%
- Serious: 9.92%
- Very serious: 8.41%
- Extremely serious: 30.53%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2026
Is this career right for me? Find jobs with conditions you prefer
Where people with this background could move
- Analyze
Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors
Closeness 93/100
- Analyze
Tutors
Closeness 93/100 · job zone -1
- Analyze
Teaching Assistants, Special Education
Closeness 92/100 · job zone -1
- Analyze
Psychiatric Technicians
Closeness 92/100 · job zone -1
- Analyze
Low Vision Therapists, Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and Vision Rehabilitation Therapists
Closeness 92/100 · job zone +1
- Analyze
Speech-Language Pathology Assistants
Closeness 91/100 · job zone -1
Find more alternativesCompare skills with another job
O*NET-SOC 25-2055.00 · SOC 25-2059 (aggregate, low confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8