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.
- Median pay
- $74,260
- Doing it now
- 164,800
- By 2035
- Down 0.2%
- Usually needs
- Bachelor's degree
a year
across the country
10,400 openings a year
to get in
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.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Special Education and TeachingSee 602 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Helping and teaching
Analytical and curious
Creative and expressive
Careers like this one
- Special Education Teachers, Middle School$66,810
- Special Education Teachers, Preschool$64,830
- Education Teachers, Postsecondary$75,350
- Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education$63,970
- Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education$64,370
- Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education$72,040
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $74,260 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.