Education, Training, and Library · Holland code SAI

Special Education Teachers, Middle School

Teach academic, social, and life skills to middle 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.

Also called: Learning Support Teacher, MS SPED Teacher (Middle School Special Education Teacher), SPED Resource Teacher (Special Education Resource Teacher), SPED Teacher (Special Education Teacher), ED SPED Teacher (Emotional Disabilities Special Education Teacher), Interrelated SPED Teacher (Interrelated Special Education Teacher), Learning Disabilities Teacher (LD Teacher), Middle School Resource Teacher.

O*NET 25-2057.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $66,810; Middle half earn $60,000 to $82,800. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Bachelor's Degree; 83% 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.

Develop or write Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for students.
Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
Develop and implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of handicapping conditions.
Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
Instruct students in daily living skills required for independent maintenance and self-sufficiency, such as hygiene, safety, and food preparation.
Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification and positive reinforcement.
Modify the general education curriculum for students with disabilities, based upon a variety of instructional techniques and instructional technology.
Employ special educational strategies and techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, and memory.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Learning Strategies4.1 / 5
Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
Active Listening4.0 / 5
Writing4.0 / 5
Speaking4.0 / 5
Critical Thinking4.0 / 5

Knowledge areas

English Language4.3 / 5
Education and Training4.3 / 5
Mathematics4.0 / 5
Administrative3.5 / 5
Customer and Personal Service3.4 / 5
Psychology3.4 / 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.

Realistic22
Investigative49
Artistic49
Social100
Enterprising13
Conventional38

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)

special educational needs coordinator · DE Koordinator für Sonderpädagogik/Koordinatorin für Sonderpädagogik · FR enseignant référent pour la scolarisation des élèves handicapés/enseignante référente pour la scolarisation des élèves handicapés
special educational needs teacher · DE Sonderpädagoge/Sonderpädagogin · FR enseignant spécialisé/enseignante spécialisée
adult literacy teacher · DE Lehrkraft für Erwachsenenalphabetisierung · FR formateur «lutte contre l’illettrisme/français langue étrangère»/formatrice «lutte contre l’illettrisme/français langue étrangère»
early years special educational needs teacher · DE Sonderpädagoge für Frühförderung/Sonderpädagogin für Frühförderung · FR instituteur spécialisé d’école maternelle/institutrice spécialisée d’école maternelle
learning support teacher · DE Lehrkraft für den Stützunterricht · FR enseignant spécialisé des réseaux d’aides spécialisées aux élèves en difficulté/enseignante spécialisée des réseaux d’aides spécialisées aux élèves en difficulté
special educational needs itinerant teacher · DE mobiler Sonderpädagoge/mobile Sonderpädagogin · FR enseignant spécialisé intervenant à domicile/enseignante spécialisée intervenant à domicile

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Education advisers and school inspectors (2323)39,000 employed
Teachers of English as a foreign language (2317)27,800 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.

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.

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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