Substitute Teachers, Short-Term
Teach students on a short-term basis as a temporary replacement for a regular classroom teacher, typically using the regular teacher's lesson plan.
Most important skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Instructing
- Writing
Key knowledge
- English Language
- Education and Training
- Public Safety and Security
- Customer and Personal Service
- Computers and Electronics
- Mathematics
- Psychology
- Communications and Media
What the work involves
- Answer students' questions.
- Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, or teacher training workshops to improve professional competence.
- Counsel students with adjustment or academic problems.
- Distribute or collect tests or homework assignments.
- Distribute teaching materials, such as textbooks, workbooks, papers, and pencils, to students.
- Enforce school and class rules to maintain order in the classroom.
- Follow lesson plans designed by absent teachers.
- Operate equipment such as computers or audio-visual aids to supplement presentations.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Conventional, Artistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (39.7% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (40.3%)
- On-the-job training
- None or short demonstration (68.8%)
- 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 Substitute Teachers, Short-Term 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 | High | Higher on contact with others than 71% of occupations compared | 72% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very low | Lower on dealing with the public than 90% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Lower on teamwork than 59% of occupations compared | 61% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 63% of occupations compared | 57% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 95% of occupations compared | 28% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Higher on conflict situations than 57% of occupations compared | 26% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 53% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 99% of occupations compared | 76% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: very 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: 0.15%
- Occasional contact with others: 4.31%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0.33%
- Contact with others most of the time: 22.73%
- Constant contact with others: 72.48%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly important: 21.95%
- Important: 3.58%
- Very important: 1.37%
- Extremely important: 20.96%
n = 33, Incumbent 08/2025
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0.45%
- Fairly important: 9.84%
- Important: 23.17%
- Very important: 5.86%
- Extremely important: 60.69%
n = 33, Incumbent 08/2025
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 9.97%
- Limited freedom: 10.24%
- Some freedom: 23.15%
- A lot of freedom: 56.64%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2025
Time pressure
- Never: 28.22%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 10.3%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 22.71%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 18.71%
- Every day: 20.06%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2025
Conflict situations
- Never: 24.89%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 13.5%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 26.08%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 14.07%
- Every day: 21.46%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 18.95%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 33.89%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 13.95%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 12.37%
- Every day: 20.85%
n = 33, Incumbent 08/2025
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 75.61%
- Fairly serious: 18.51%
- Serious: 3.99%
- Very serious: 0.78%
- Extremely serious: 1.11%
n = 33, Incumbent 08/2025
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O*NET-SOC 25-3031.00 · SOC 25-3031 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8