Will AI replace Special Education Teachers, Secondary School?
Work in Special Education Teachers, Secondary School sits in the in-between: AI reaches some of it (~30% in theory) but is only measured doing about 10% today — part human, part machine.
O*NET-SOC 25-2058
How your 38 core tasks split
Top = what GPT-4 judged AI could speed up. Bottom = how much AI was actually used for these tasks (Anthropic's March 2026 report, usage from Aug & Nov 2025). The gap is the real story.
Back in 2023, GPT-4 judged AI could, in theory, assist with a relatively low share of this job's tasks (~30%). By late 2025, real-world AI use had reached about 10% of its task activity (growing but still limited). The gap between that 2023 forecast and today is the real story.
Where this job sits among 738 jobs
Each dot is one of 738 U.S. jobs. Right = AI can do more of it. Up = AI is actually used more.
The signals here line up
Theoretical reach (~30%), real-world use (~10%) and the task-level picture mostly agree — so this read is more reliable than for jobs where the signals contradict each other. Even so, AI-risk estimates shift by model (a 2026 study saw the "high-risk" share swing 2.7%–51.5%), so treat these as directional, not destiny.
See all 38 tasks, ratedBased on real task-level AI scores — click to collapse
- Maintain accurate and complete student records, and prepare reports on children and activities, as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
- Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects, and communicate those objectives to students.
- Prepare for assigned classes, and show written evidence of preparation upon request of immediate supervisors.
- Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, and teacher training workshops to maintain and improve professional competence.
- Develop and implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of handicapping conditions.
- 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.
- Modify the general education curriculum for special-needs students, based upon a variety of instructional techniques and technologies.
- Coordinate placement of students with special needs into mainstream classes.
- Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual educational plans (IEPs) for students' educational, physical, and social development.
- Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
- Prepare, administer, and grade tests and assignments to evaluate students' progress.
- Administer standardized ability and achievement tests, and interpret results to determine students' strengths and needs.
- Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula.
- Prepare objectives and outlines for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements of states and schools.
- Provide additional instruction in vocational areas.
- Use computers, audio-visual aids, and other equipment and materials to supplement presentations.
- Collaborate with other teachers and administrators in the development, evaluation, and revision of secondary school programs.
- Select, store, order, issue, and inventory classroom equipment, materials, and supplies.
- Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
- Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification and positive reinforcement.
- Employ special educational strategies and techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, and memory.
- Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress.
- Meet with parents and guardians to discuss their children's progress and to determine priorities for their children and their resource needs.
- Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
- Teach personal development skills, such as goal setting, independence, and self-advocacy.
- Confer with parents or guardians, other teachers, counselors, and administrators to resolve students' behavioral and academic problems.
- Monitor teachers and teacher assistants to ensure that they adhere to inclusive special education program requirements.
- Prepare students for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
- Guide and counsel students with adjustments, academic problems, or special academic interests.
- Instruct students in daily living skills required for independent maintenance and self-sufficiency, such as hygiene, safety, and food preparation.
- Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment and materials to prevent injuries and damage.
- Provide assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.
- Meet with parents and guardians to provide guidance in using community resources and to teach skills for dealing with students' impairments.
- Plan and supervise class projects, field trips, visits by guest speakers, or other experiential activities, and guide students in learning from those activities.
- Attend staff meetings and serve on committees, as required.
- Perform administrative duties, such as school library assistance, hall and cafeteria monitoring, and bus loading and unloading.
- Sponsor extracurricular activities, such as clubs, student organizations, and academic contests.
How we measured this — and how fresh it is
AI's theoretical reach data: 2023
From GPTs-are-GPTs (Eloundou et al.), where GPT-4 rated how much of each task an AI tool could meaningfully speed up. This is the most recent open, commercially-usable occupation-level potential dataset — it dates to 2023. Newer multi-model re-runs exist but swing wildly (one 2026 study saw "high-risk" jobs range 2.7%–51.5% by model) and aren't openly licensed, so we show the stable 2023 baseline and pair it with newer real-world data.
Real-world AI use 2026 report
From the Anthropic Economic Index, which observes how real Claude conversations map onto each occupation's tasks. Published in Anthropic's March 2026 labor-market report, based on usage measured in Aug & Nov 2025 (Sonnet 4 / 4.5).
Task list & ratings O*NET 30.3
Tasks come from O*NET 30.3. Each task's "AI can do / speeds up / still on you" tier uses the real task-level exposure scores from GPTs-are-GPTs (E1 / E2 / E0) — not a guess from keywords.
Sources: O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0) · GPTs-are-GPTs (MIT, 2023) · Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY, Aug & Nov 2025). Page compiled June 2026. "O*NET" is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor.
This page is for general informational purposes only and is not career, financial, or employment advice. AI exposure reflects research estimates of task overlap, not predictions about any individual's job, employer, or future employment.