Photo: Ben Clare/AusAID (CC BY 2.0)
Job description
Class time is spent delivering lectures, discussions, and demonstrations across one or more subjects, adjusted to fit each student's abilities, while also tracking behavior, social development, and physical health over time. Teachers meet regularly with other professionals, parents, and administrators to develop IEPs and resolve behavioral or academic issues, and often help coordinate which students are ready to move into mainstream classes for part of their day. The pace tends to be fast and deadline-driven, layered on top of a full high school schedule and requiring constant collaboration with the rest of the school's staff.
Pros
- Meaningful, individualized work helping students with disabilities succeed academically and socially
- Top of pay range reaches nearly $109k, the highest among the teaching tracks in this batch
- Bachelor's degree is the standard entry credential
Cons
- Above-average hours, more than a standard 40-hour work week
- Job growth projected to shrink slightly (-1.6%) over the next decade
- Fast-paced deadlines around IEPs and mainstream placement coordination add real pressure
A typical day
First block is co-taught Algebra I, splitting the room with the math teacher so students with IEPs get re-taught steps in smaller chunks without being singled out. Third period is a transition-planning seminar -- juniors researching jobs, practicing interview answers, and learning what disability accommodations look like in college versus high school. Lunch disappears into an IEP meeting where a parent, a counselor, and the student himself hammer out next year's goals. The afternoon ends coordinating with a job-site coach about a senior's internship at a grocery store, then documenting the day's progress data before heading home.
Tasks at the job
- Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
- Instruct through lectures, discussions, and demonstrations in one or more subjects, such as English, mathematics, or social studies.
- Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress.
- Coordinate placement of students with special needs into mainstream classes.
- Confer with parents or guardians, other teachers, counselors, and administrators to resolve students' behavioral and academic problems.
- Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual educational plans (IEPs) for students' educational, physical, and social development.
Workplace & working conditions
Work happens indoors in a climate-controlled setting, and you work in close physical proximity to coworkers or the public for much of the shift.
The pace is often fast, with real time pressure to meet deadlines, and you're expected to exercise significant independent judgment day to day. You'll regularly deal with frustrated or upset people as part of the job, and almost all of the work is done as part of a team.
Education necessary or common
Bachelor's degree
Common college majors
Licenses & certifications
- State teaching license with special education endorsement
Career path
Related fields
Courses to take
- AP Psychology -- adolescent development and learning science
- English or AP Language -- IEPs and transition plans are formal writing
- A core subject you could teach (Algebra, Biology, US History) -- secondary special ed pairs with content
- AP Statistics -- data-driven progress decisions
- Public speaking -- IEP meetings mean presenting to adults
Clubs, activities & competitions
- Unified sports or peer buddy program -- direct work with the students you'd serve
- Peer tutoring in a subject you're strong in
- Special Olympics volunteering
- Student council -- advocacy inside a school system
First steps you can take now
- Join or start a unified sports or Best Buddies program at your school
- Tutor a struggling student and practice explaining one concept three different ways
- Ask a special education teacher what transition planning involves
- Volunteer at a Special Olympics event this season
