Special Education Teachers, Secondary School
Teach academic, social, and life skills to secondary 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
- Learning Strategies
- Instructing
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Monitoring
- Social Perceptiveness
Key knowledge
- Education and Training
- English Language
- Psychology
- Customer and Personal Service
- Therapy and Counseling
- Administrative
- Computers and Electronics
- Mathematics
What the work involves
- Maintain accurate and complete student records, and prepare reports on children and activities, as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
- Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification and positive reinforcement.
- Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
- Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
- Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual educational plans (IEPs) for students' educational, physical, and social development.
- Instruct through lectures, discussions, and demonstrations in one or more subjects, such as English, mathematics, or social studies.
- Employ special educational strategies and techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, and memory.
- Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Investigative, Artistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (42.4% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (31.9%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (30.2%)
- 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, Secondary School 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 | 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 | Lower on dealing with the public than 52% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 97% of occupations compared | 90% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 83% of occupations compared | 64% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Lower on time pressure than 53% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 98% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 90% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 62% of occupations compared | 31% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very 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: 0.3%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 0.56%
- Constant contact with others: 99.14%
n = 33, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 15.94%
- Fairly important: 9.69%
- Important: 25.74%
- Very important: 18.32%
- Extremely important: 30.31%
n = 32, Incumbent 08/2025
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0.3%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0%
- Very important: 9.69%
- Extremely important: 90.01%
n = 33, Incumbent 08/2025
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 10.21%
- Some freedom: 25.72%
- A lot of freedom: 64.07%
n = 32, Incumbent 08/2025
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 31.89%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 54.64%
- Every day: 13.47%
n = 33, Incumbent 08/2025
Conflict situations
- Never: 0.8%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0.3%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 9.85%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 45.47%
- Every day: 43.57%
n = 33, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0.83%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 13.72%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 15.51%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 44.22%
- Every day: 25.73%
n = 33, Incumbent 08/2025
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 27.28%
- Fairly serious: 30.72%
- Serious: 11.34%
- Very serious: 0.56%
- Extremely serious: 30.1%
n = 32, Incumbent 08/2025
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O*NET-SOC 25-2058.00 · SOC 25-2058 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8