Education & TrainingO*NET: 25-2058.00
Will AI Replace 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.
31out of 100
Low Risk
AI Risk Score
31/100
Risk Level
Low
Job Zone
4/5
Advanced
Total Tasks Analyzed
33
🤖 What AI Can Do
- â–¸Maintain accurate and complete student records, and prepare reports on children and activities, as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
- â–¸Modify the general education curriculum for students with disabilities, based upon a variety of instructional techniques and technologies.
- â–¸Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula.
- â–¸Provide assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.
👤 What Requires Humans
- â–¸Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual educational plans (IEPs) for students' educational, physical, and social development.
- â–¸Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification and positive reinforcement.
- â–¸Confer with parents or guardians, other teachers, counselors, and administrators to resolve students' behavioral and academic problems.
- â–¸Teach personal development skills, such as goal setting, independence, and self-advocacy.
- â–¸Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
- â–¸Guide and counsel students with adjustments, academic problems, or special academic interests.
Task Breakdown
🤖AI Can Automate (4)
- Maintain accurate and complete student records, and prepare reports on children and activities, as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
- Modify the general education curriculum for students with disabilities, based upon a variety of instructional techniques and technologies.
- Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula.
- Provide assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.
👤Requires Humans (10)
- Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual educational plans (IEPs) for students' educational, physical, and social development.
- 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.
- Teach personal development skills, such as goal setting, independence, and self-advocacy.
- Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
- Guide and counsel students with adjustments, academic problems, or special academic interests.
- Collaborate with other teachers and administrators in the development, evaluation, and revision of secondary school programs.
- Meet with parents and guardians to provide guidance in using community resources and to teach skills for dealing with students' impairments.
- Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, and teacher training workshops to maintain and improve professional competence.
- Plan and supervise class projects, field trips, visits by guest speakers, or other experiential activities, and guide students in learning from those activities.
âš¡AI-Assisted (19)
- Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
- 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.
- Develop and implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of handicapping conditions.
- Prepare students for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
- Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress.
- Coordinate placement of students with special needs into mainstream classes.
Key Skills Analysis
Learning Strategies
Importance: 4.12/5.00
InstructingAI-Resistant
Importance: 4.12/5.00
Reading ComprehensionAI-Vulnerable
Importance: 4.00/5.00
Speaking
Importance: 4.00/5.00
Active Listening
Importance: 3.88/5.00
WritingAI-Vulnerable
Importance: 3.88/5.00
Monitoring
Importance: 3.88/5.00
Social PerceptivenessAI-Resistant
Importance: 3.88/5.00
CoordinationAI-Resistant
Importance: 3.88/5.00
Service OrientationAI-Resistant
Importance: 3.88/5.00
Critical ThinkingAI-Resistant
Importance: 3.75/5.00
Complex Problem SolvingAI-Resistant
Importance: 3.75/5.00
Time ManagementAI-Resistant
Importance: 3.75/5.00
Judgment and Decision MakingAI-Resistant
Importance: 3.62/5.00
Active LearningAI-Resistant
Importance: 3.38/5.00
Related Occupations
Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten
4/100 — Very Low Risk
Special Education Teachers, Elementary School
32/100 — Low Risk
Special Education Teachers, Middle School
27/100 — Low Risk
Special Education Teachers, Preschool
30/100 — Low Risk
Teaching Assistants, Special Education
65/100 — High Risk
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Frequently Asked Questions
Based on our analysis, Special Education Teachers, Secondary School have a low risk of AI replacement with a score of 31/100. This role requires significant human skills like creativity, empathy, and complex decision-making that AI cannot easily replicate.
Last updated: 2026-03-28· Data from O*NET 30.2 & Frey/Osborne automation research