---
title: "Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructor"
description: "Teach or instruct out-of-school youths and adults in basic education, literacy, or English as a Second Language classes, or in classes for earning a high…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/adult-basic-education-adult-secondary-education-and-english-as-a-second-language-instructor"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructor

**Category:** Educational Instruction and Library · **SOC code:** 25-3011 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 25-3011.00

Teach or instruct out-of-school youths and adults in basic education, literacy, or English as a Second Language classes, or in classes for earning a high school equivalency credential.

Also advertised as: Adult Basic Education Instructor (ABE Instructor); Adult Basic Education Teacher (ABE Teacher); Adult Education Instructor; Adult Education Teacher; ESL Instructor (English as a Second Language Instructor); ESL Teacher (English as a Second Language Teacher); ESOL Teacher (English for Speakers of Other Languages Teacher); GED Instructor (General Educational Development Instructor).

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $61,540 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $29.59/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $41,810 to $98,030, with the middle half between $49,100 and $77,690
- **Total US employment:** 37,310
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -13.9% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 3,800 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 37/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 37,310 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $41,810 |
| 25th | $49,100 |
| 50th (median) | $61,540 |
| 75th | $77,690 |
| 90th | $98,030 |
| Mean (average) | $65,860 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CA | $102,030 | $92,151 | 1,660 |
| NJ | $81,100 | $74,537 | 1,350 |
| DE | $78,600 | $78,751 | 200 |
| NY | $78,010 | $72,284 | 2,810 |
| MN | $76,800 | $77,874 | 2,880 |
| CT | $72,180 | $69,665 | 410 |
| WA | $69,990 | $65,403 | 1,310 |
| LA | $66,870 | $75,810 | 100 |
| OR | $65,700 | $63,564 | 510 |
| WV | $65,050 | $72,684 | 250 |
| WI | $64,980 | $69,058 | 1,050 |
| VA | $64,540 | $63,835 | 700 |
| NH | $64,440 | $61,863 | 50 |
| ND | $63,820 | $71,741 | 180 |
| DC | $62,940 | $57,270 | 570 |

35 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 50 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/adult-basic-education-adult-secondary-education-and-english-as-a-second-language-instructor/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/adult-basic-education-adult-secondary-education-and-english-as-a-second-language-instructor.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 41,100 in the 2025–2035 base year to 35,400 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 5,700 jobs, or -13.9%. Declining: -13.9% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 3,800 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 40.8% |
| Master's Degree | 19.8% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 11.4% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 11.4% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 11.4% |
| Some College Courses | 3.3% |

## What the work involves

- Observe and evaluate students' work to determine progress and make suggestions for improvement.
- Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects and communicate those objectives to students.
- Instruct students individually and in groups, using various teaching methods, such as lectures, discussions, and demonstrations.
- Observe students to determine qualifications, limitations, abilities, interests, and other individual characteristics.
- Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs, abilities, and interests.
- Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
- Attend professional meetings, conferences, and workshops to maintain and improve professional competence.
- Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Instructing — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- English Language — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Expression — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Social (S), Artistic (A), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| S — Social | 7.00 |
| A — Artistic | 3.91 |
| C — Conventional | 3.38 |
| I — Investigative | 3.14 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.85 |
| R — Realistic | 2.32 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ENFJ | 76.9 |
| ESFP | 74.6 |
| ENFP | 73.4 |
| ESFJ | 69.5 |
| INFJ | 64.7 |

Best-fitting types: ENFJ, ESFP, ENFP.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Elementary School Teacher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/elementary-school-teacher) — median $63,970
- [High School Teacher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/high-school-teacher) — median $72,040
- [Tutor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/tutor) — median $43,350
- [Special Education Teacher, Kindergarten](https://nuecareer.com/careers/special-education-teacher-kindergarten) — median $67,170
- [Middle School Teacher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/middle-school-teacher) — median $64,370
- [Special Education Teacher, Elementary School](https://nuecareer.com/careers/special-education-teacher-elementary-school) — median $67,170
- [Special Education Teacher, Middle School](https://nuecareer.com/careers/special-education-teacher-middle-school) — median $66,810
- [Special Education Teacher, Secondary School](https://nuecareer.com/careers/special-education-teacher-secondary-school) — median $74,260
- [Kindergarten Teacher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/kindergarten-teacher) — median $62,680
- [Teaching Assistant, Special Education](https://nuecareer.com/careers/teaching-assistant-special-education) — median $37,010

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/adult-basic-education-adult-secondary-education-and-english-as-a-second-language-instructor