Teaching Assistants, Special Education
Assist a preschool, elementary, middle, or secondary school teacher to provide academic, social, or life skills to students who have learning, emotional, or physical disabilities. Serve in a position for which a teacher has primary responsibility for the design and implementation of educational programs and services.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Reading Comprehension
- Learning Strategies
- Monitoring
- Service Orientation
- Instructing
Key knowledge
- English Language
- Psychology
- Education and Training
- Customer and Personal Service
- Mathematics
- Public Safety and Security
- History and Archeology
- Geography
What the work involves
- Carry out therapeutic regimens, such as behavior modification and personal development programs, under the supervision of special education instructors, psychologists, or speech-language pathologists.
- Clean classrooms.
- Discuss assigned duties with classroom teachers to coordinate instructional efforts.
- Distribute teaching materials, such as textbooks, workbooks, papers, and pencils, to students.
- Employ special educational strategies or techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, or memory.
- Enforce administration policies and rules governing students.
- Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment and materials to prevent injuries and damage.
- Instruct students in daily living skills required for independent maintenance and self-sufficiency, such as hygiene, safety, or food preparation.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Conventional, Artistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (39.2% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (36.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (35.2%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Teaching Assistants, Special Education is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
- Projection education uses SOC 25-9043 (exact); 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) · 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 90% of occupations compared | 93% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 78% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Higher on teamwork than 52% of occupations compared | — |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 93% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 92% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 84% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 60% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Lower on consequence of error than 58% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly 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: 0.32%
- Contact with others about half the time: 5.72%
- Contact with others most of the time: 1.46%
- Constant contact with others: 92.51%
n = 29, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 31.8%
- Fairly important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Important: 4.45%
- Very important: 1.39%
- Extremely important: 29.96%
n = 29, Incumbent 08/2025
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 1.47%
- Important: 15.09%
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2025
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 7.56%
- Limited freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Some freedom: 16.81%
- A lot of freedom: 11.01%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2025
Time pressure
- Never: 8.32%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 21.54%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 28.65%
- Every day: 8.36%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2025
Conflict situations
- Never: 15.41%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 9.57%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 16.43%
- Once a week or more but not every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Every day: 28.43%
n = 29, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 24.85%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 10.4%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 1.39%
- Every day: 26.99%
n = 29, Incumbent 08/2025
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 3.95%
- Fairly serious: 54.82%
- Serious: 18.66%
- Very serious: 0.07%
- Extremely serious: 22.51%
n = 28, Incumbent 08/2025
Is this career right for me? Find jobs with conditions you prefer
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Find more alternativesCompare skills with another job
O*NET-SOC 25-9043.00 · SOC 25-9043 (exact, low confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8