Special Education Teachers, Secondary School

Overview

Special Education Teachers, Secondary School has a national median salary of $74,260 per year, with -0.2% projected job growth from 2025–2035. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a bachelor's degree as the typical education needed to enter this occupation.

Description

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.

Work Values

• Relationships
• Achievement
• Independence

Work Styles

Responsibilities

Tasks

• 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.

Work Activities

• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
• Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships
• Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings
• Working with Computers
• Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work
• Documenting/Recording Information
• Getting Information
• Training and Teaching Others
• Thinking Creatively
• Making Decisions and Solving Problems

Detailed Work Activities

• Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
• Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
• Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
• Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
• Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
• Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
• Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.
• Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
• Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.

T-A-S-K

Technology, Abilities, Skills & Knowledge

Education

Education Levels of Current Workers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a bachelor's degree as the typical education needed to enter this occupation. The chart below shows the highest level of education held by people already working in this field, ages 25 and older. It includes workers who earned more education than the job requires and workers who entered the field under earlier requirements, so the largest bar is not the entry requirement. For example, if someone finished a master's degree and then started working in this field, they are counted under “Master's degree” here, but the job itself typically asks for a bachelor's degree.

Certificates

Certifications applicable to Special Education Teachers, Secondary School:

Video Resources