Education, Training, and Library · Holland code SAC

Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education

Teach one or more subjects to students at the secondary school level.

Also called: English Teacher, Math Teacher (Mathematics Teacher), Social Studies Teacher, Teacher, Art Teacher, Music Teacher, PE Teacher (Physical Education Teacher), Science Teacher.

O*NET 25-2031.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $72,040; Middle half earn $59,980 to $92,570. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Bachelor's Degree; 77% 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.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: -2% · Decline; 1,094,500 jobs in 2024, projected 1,076,700. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "High school teachers".

What the work involves

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

Prepare students for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
Instruct through lectures, discussions, and demonstrations in one or more subjects, such as English, mathematics, or social studies.
Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among students.
Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests.
Prepare, administer, and grade tests and assignments to evaluate students' progress.
Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects, and communicate those objectives to students.
Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
Active Listening4.0 / 5
Speaking4.0 / 5
Learning Strategies4.0 / 5
Critical Thinking3.9 / 5
Monitoring3.9 / 5

Knowledge areas

Education and Training4.7 / 5
English Language4.3 / 5
Customer and Personal Service3.9 / 5
Computers and Electronics3.6 / 5
Psychology3.4 / 5
Sociology and Anthropology3.2 / 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.

Realistic29
Investigative37
Artistic46
Social100
Enterprising32
Conventional44

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
modern languages teacher secondary school · DE Lehrkraft für Lebende Sprachen Sekundarstufe · FR professeur de langues vivantes/professeure de langues vivantes
science teacher secondary school · DE Lehrkraft für Naturwissenschaften Sekundarstufe · FR professeur de matières scientifiques/professeure de matières scientifiques
biology teacher secondary school · DE Lehrkraft für Biologie Sekundarstufe · FR professeur de sciences de la vie et de la Terre/professeure de sciences de la vie et de la Terre
classical languages teacher secondary school · DE Lehrkraft für Alte Sprachen Sekundarstufe · FR professeur de langues anciennes/professeure de langues anciennes

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Secondary education teaching professionals (2313)504,100 employed
Primary education teaching professionals (2314)374,900 employed
Special and additional needs education teaching professionals (2316)125,400 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 “高等学校教員”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.

Median monthly pay: ¥410,900; Middle half earn ¥320,000 to ¥505,500 a month.
Workers in the category: 79,050; 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 +1.19. 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 (25-2031).

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.

Take the career interests test