Special Education Teachers, Secondary School

What the job really is

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.

At a glance

• Sector: Education & Library
• O*NET-SOC code: 25-2058
• O*NET job zone: 4 — considerable preparation
• Work sample tasks on file: 12
• Tools and technologies listed: 12

What you actually do

Work sample tasks recorded for this occupation:

• 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.
• Develop and implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of handicapping conditions.
• Teach personal development skills, such as goal setting, independence, and self-advocacy.
• Prepare students for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
• Modify the general education curriculum for students with disabilities, based upon a variety of instructional techniques and technologies.

Tools and technology

Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Facebook, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Word

What employers expect you to already be comfortable with.

Where this job leads

Related occupations — the usual moves up and sideways:

• Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten
• Special Education Teachers, Elementary School
• Special Education Teachers, Middle School
• Special Education Teachers, Preschool
• Teaching Assistants, Special Education
• Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education
• Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
• Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors

Getting in

O*NET assigns this occupation job zone 4 (considerable preparation). The related occupations above are the realistic routes in and out.

Find openings

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Check this against the source

O*NET OnLine: Special Education Teachers, Secondary School — the authoritative public-domain profile this page is derived from, including the full task list, reported skills and the wage estimates for your region.

Derived and rewritten from the public-domain O*NET database (U.S. Department of Labor / Employment and Training Administration). Figures are observations, not promises — always confirm salary, licensing and visa requirements with the employer and the relevant authority.