Career Explorer Education
Changing shape
Elementary school teachers, except special education
Teach academic and social skills to students at the elementary school level.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 23% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (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)
- $63,970
- Job growth to 2035
- -0.4%
- Openings a year
- 87,500
- People doing it (2025)
- 1.4 million
- Usual route in
- Bachelor's degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Advise others on educational or vocational matters
- Prepare informational or instructional materials
- 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
- Set up classrooms, facilities, educational materials, or equipment
What the work looks like
- Instruct students individually and in groups, using teaching methods such as lectures, discussions, and demonstrations.
- Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among the students.
- Guide and counsel students with adjustment or academic problems or with special academic interests.
- Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs 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.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Special education teachers, secondary schoolChanging shape, Index 29, -0.2%
- Kindergarten teachers, except special educationChanging shape, Index 58, -0.3%
- Career/technical education teachers, middle schoolChanging shape, Index 33, -0.5%
- ClergyChanging shape, Index 32, +2.4%
Also known as: Classroom Teacher, Elementary School Teacher, Elementary Teacher, Teacher, Art Teacher, Elementary Classroom Teacher, Math Teacher (Mathematics Teacher), Music Teacher.
Is this career on your child's list?
Build a free Career Playbook matched to your child, or get a 90-day Action Plan with dated next steps, written for your child by name.
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.