Career Explorer Education
Changing shape
Career/technical education teachers, secondary school
Teach occupational, vocational, career, or technical subjects to students at the secondary school level.
In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 43% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is moderate (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by -0.4% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on emotional intelligence and creative vision.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $66,270
- Job growth to 2035
- -0.4%
- Openings a year
- 6,400
- People doing it (2025)
- 110,000
- Usual route in
- Bachelor's degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Advise others on educational or vocational matters
- Monitor individual behavior or performance
- Teach academic or vocational subjects
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Develop educational programs, plans, or procedures
- Assess student capabilities, needs, or performance
- Collaborate in the development of educational programs
What the work looks like
- Instruct students individually and in groups, using various teaching methods, such as lectures, discussions, and demonstrations.
- Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among students.
- Prepare materials and classroom for class activities.
- Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
- Instruct students in the knowledge and skills required in a specific occupation or occupational field, using a systematic plan of lectures, discussions, audio-visual presentations, and laboratory, shop, and field studies.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Special education teachers, all otherChanging shape, Index 45, +1.9%
- Meeting, convention, and event plannersGrows with AI, Index 70, +5.8%
- Occupational therapistsGrows with AI, Index 84, +14.8%
- Occupational therapy assistantsHuman edge, growing, Index 99, +21.5%
Also known as: Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher (FACS Teacher), Instructor, Teacher, Technology Education Teacher, Agricultural Education Teacher, Auto Technology Instructor (Automotive Technology Instructor), Career and Technical Education Teacher (CTE Teacher), Cosmetology Teacher.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.