---
title: "Will AI Replace Special Education Teachers?"
description: "BLS rates special education teachers' exposure to AI as high. What that means, which parts of the work AI touches, and the 2025–2035 outlook (-0.2%…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-special-education-teachers"
last-updated: "2026-10-15T08:19:32.066Z"
---

# Will AI Replace Special Education Teachers? (2026)

**Short answer:** The job is exposed and shrinking. BLS rates the exposure as high and projects employment to fall, so expect fewer roles and more AI in the ones that remain.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics places special education teachers in its high AI exposure category, above the middle of the pack: a substantial share of the work overlaps with what AI can do. BLS projects employment to fall by 0.2% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 10,400 openings a year.

| Measure | Value | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| BLS relative AI exposure | High | BLS Employment Projections, AI exposure categories |
| NueCareer AI-resilience score | 41/100 | NueCareer analysis of O\*NET 31.0 Database |
| Projected employment change | -0.2% | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Openings a year | 10,400 | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Median annual wage | $74,260 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |

## Exposure categories

| BLS category | Occupations |
| --- | --- |
| Low | 203 |
| Moderate | 194 |
| High (this job) | 190 |
| Very high | 199 |

Exposure means AI could be or has been used to assist with or complete some of the work. BLS says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains, automation probability or wage effects. Method: https://www.bls.gov/emp/publications/ai-exposure-categories.htm

## What holds up

- Face-to-face discussions: 4.9/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Assisting and caring for others: 4.1/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships: 4.6/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Training and teaching others: 4.2/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)

## What AI reaches first

- Documenting/recording information: 4.4/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Processing information: 4.0/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Working with computers: 4.5/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Email: 5.0/5 (O\*NET work context)

## O\*NET tasks

- 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.
- Attend staff meetings and serve on committees, as required.
- Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress.
- Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects, and communicate those objectives to students.
- Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.

## Related careers less exposed to AI than special education teachers

- [Kindergarten Teacher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/kindergarten-teacher): BLS exposure Moderate, median $62,680; [Will AI replace kindergarten teachers?](https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-kindergarten-teachers)

## FAQ

**Will AI replace special education teachers?**

The job is exposed and shrinking. BLS rates the exposure as high and projects employment to fall, so expect fewer roles and more AI in the ones that remain. BLS defines exposure as AI being able to assist with or complete some of the work, and says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains or wage effects. BLS projects employment to fall by 0.2% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 10,400 openings a year.

**How exposed are special education teachers to AI?**

BLS sorts 786 occupations into four relative categories: low, moderate, high and very high. Special Education Teachers are in the high category, alongside 189 other occupations. The categories combine five public measures of where AI could be or already is used, and they compare occupations with each other rather than giving an absolute risk.

**What parts of a special education teacher, secondary school's job can AI do?**

In O\*NET's description of the work, the parts that overlap most with what AI handles well are documenting/recording information, processing information and working with computers. The parts that hold up best are face-to-face discussions, assisting and caring for others and establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships. These come from O\*NET ratings of how important each activity is to the job, read through NueCareer's AI-resilience method.

**Is being a special education teacher, secondary school a safe career from AI?**

On NueCareer's AI-resilience score, built from O\*NET work activities, special education teachers score 41 out of 100, higher than 42% of the occupations we score. The job pays a median of $74,260 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025). No job is fully safe from technological change, but the federal exposure category and the projected openings are the two numbers worth weighing.

**What careers similar to special education teachers are less exposed to AI?**

Kindergarten Teacher (moderate exposure, $62,680 median). Each is in a lower BLS exposure category than special education teachers, and most are listed by O\*NET as related to the work.

Full profile: https://nuecareer.com/careers/special-education-teacher-secondary-school.

---

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