Education, Training, and Library · Holland code SAC

Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education

Teach academic and social skills to students at the elementary school level.

Also called: Classroom Teacher, Elementary School Teacher, Elementary Teacher, Teacher, Art Teacher, Elementary Classroom Teacher, Math Teacher (Mathematics Teacher), Music Teacher.

O*NET 25-2021.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $63,970; Middle half earn $57,710 to $81,450. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Bachelor's Degree; 78% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 4 of 5; Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Instruct students individually and in groups, using teaching methods such as lectures, discussions, and demonstrations.
Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among the students.
Guide and counsel students with adjustment or academic problems or with special academic interests.
Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests.
Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
Read books to entire classes or small groups.
Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Learning Strategies4.3 / 5
Speaking4.1 / 5
Active Listening4.0 / 5
Critical Thinking4.0 / 5
Monitoring4.0 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.9 / 5

Knowledge areas

English Language4.9 / 5
Education and Training4.8 / 5
Mathematics3.9 / 5
Customer and Personal Service3.9 / 5
Psychology3.7 / 5
Therapy and Counseling3.3 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic27
Investigative39
Artistic48
Social100
Enterprising26
Conventional46

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

secondary school teacher · DE Lehrkraft Sekundarstufe · FR chargé/chargée d'enseignement général du second degré
art teacher secondary school · DE Kunsterzieher Sekundarstufe/Kunsterzieherin Sekundarstufe · FR professeur d’enseignements artistiques/professeure d’enseignements artistiques
science teacher secondary school · DE Lehrkraft für Naturwissenschaften Sekundarstufe · FR professeur de matières scientifiques/professeure de matières scientifiques
primary school teacher · DE Lehrkraft im Primarbereich · FR instituteur d’école primaire/institutrice d’école primaire
Montessori school teacher · DE Lehrkraft für Montessori-Schulen · FR éducateur Montessori/éducatrice Montessori
adult literacy teacher · DE Lehrkraft für Erwachsenenalphabetisierung · FR formateur «lutte contre l’illettrisme/français langue étrangère»/formatrice «lutte contre l’illettrisme/français langue étrangère»

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Secondary education teaching professionals (2313)504,100 employed
Teachers of English as a foreign language (2317)27,800 employed
Primary education teaching professionals (2314)374,900 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Japan

Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “小・中学校教員”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.

Median monthly pay: ¥432,700; Middle half earn ¥336,100 to ¥542,100 a month.
Workers in the category: 25,140; Regular employees in firms of ten or more.

Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€61,714
Germany	€59,529
Ireland	€56,877
Austria	€55,374
Netherlands	€53,595
Sweden	€43,567
France	€41,515
Spain	€35,735
Italy	€33,649
Portugal	€26,072
Poland	€14,380

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +0.89. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (25-2021).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

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