Education, Training, and Library · Holland code SIA
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.
Also called: HS SPED Teacher (High School Special Education Teacher), Learning Support Teacher, SPED Resource Teacher (Special Education Resource Teacher), SPED Teacher (Special Education Teacher), Education Specialist, Emotional Disability Special Education Teacher (ED SPED Teacher), Exceptional Student Education Teacher (ESE Teacher), Handicapped Teacher.
O*NET 25-2058.00
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $74,260
- Middle half earn $60,180 to $93,730. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree
- 42% 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.
- Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
- Maintain accurate and complete student records, and prepare reports on children and activities, as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
- Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual educational plans (IEPs) for students' educational, physical, and social development.
- Employ special educational strategies and techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, and memory.
- Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects, and communicate those objectives to students.
- Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
- Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification and positive reinforcement.
- Confer with parents or guardians, other teachers, counselors, and administrators to resolve students' behavioral and academic problems.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Learning Strategies4.1 / 5
- Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
- Speaking4.0 / 5
- Active Listening3.9 / 5
- Writing3.9 / 5
- Monitoring3.9 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Education and Training4.8 / 5
- English Language4.6 / 5
- Psychology4.2 / 5
- Customer and Personal Service3.9 / 5
- Therapy and Counseling3.6 / 5
- Administrative3.5 / 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.
- Realistic23
- Investigative47
- Artistic46
- Social100
- Enterprising16
- Conventional42
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
- Higher level teaching assistants (3231)62,100 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.
| 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.
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