Special and additional needs
education teaching professionals
Special and additional needs education teaching professionals organise and provide instruction at a variety of different levels to children who have emotional, behavioural or learning difficulties or physical disabilities. These professionals may also work with exceptionally gifted pupils.
- Employees (UK)
- 37k
- Median annual pay
- £40,363
- Exposure score ?
- 1.9/10 Minimal 4.5/10 Moderate strict reading, with tools is 4.5/10 with-tools reading, strict is 1.9/10
- Wage exposure
- £284m £672m
Higher exposure than 80% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
A real share of the task list is within reach, especially drafting, summarising, research and analysis. People in this role who learn to direct AI well will pull ahead of those who do not.
If you are in this role
Treat AI like a capable junior you manage. Where you would hand a task to a junior with a clear brief, AI can do it now. Spend the time you get back on judgement and relationships.
Where the work usually starts.
These are the most important tasks a language model can already handle directly. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around them, so they stop eating the team's time.
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Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, or administrative regulations.
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Establish and communicate clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects to students, parents, or guardians.
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Prepare reports on students and activities as required by administration.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Develop individual educational plans (IEPs) designed to promote students' educational, physical, or social development.
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Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual education plans (IEPs).
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Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, or administrative regulations.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Special Education Teachers, Preschool" (25-2051.00).
What AI can already do
4 of 36 tasks, unaided
Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, or administrative regulations.
Establish and communicate clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects to students, parents, or guardians.
Prepare reports on students and activities as required by administration.
Prepare assignments for teacher assistants or volunteers.
What still needs a person
32 of 36 tasks
Employ special educational strategies or techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, or memory.
Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification or positive reinforcement.
Communicate nonverbally with children to provide them with comfort, encouragement, or positive reinforcement.
Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, or social skills, to preschool students with special needs.
Develop individual educational plans (IEPs) designed to promote students' educational, physical, or social development.
Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual education plans (IEPs).
Teach students personal development skills, such as goal setting, independence, or self-advocacy.
Develop or implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of disabilities.
Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment or materials to prevent injuries and damage.
Administer tests to help determine children's developmental levels, needs, or potential.
Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among students.
Attend to children's basic needs by feeding them, dressing them, or changing their diapers.
Prepare classrooms with a variety of materials or resources for children to explore, manipulate, or use in learning activities or imaginative play.
Monitor teachers or teacher assistants to ensure adherence to special education program requirements.
Encourage students to explore learning opportunities or persevere with challenging tasks to prepare them for later grades.
Meet with parents or guardians to discuss their children's progress, advise them on using community resources, or teach skills for dealing with students' impairments.
Confer with parents, guardians, teachers, counselors, or administrators to resolve students' behavioral or academic problems.
Modify the general preschool curriculum for students with disabilities.
Coordinate placement of students with special needs into mainstream classes.
Provide assistive devices, supportive technology, or assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.
Organize and supervise games or other recreational activities to promote physical, mental, or social development.
Prepare objectives, outlines, or other materials for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements.
Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, or teacher training workshops to maintain or improve professional competence.
Read books to entire classes or to small groups.
Arrange indoor or outdoor space to facilitate creative play, motor-skill activities, or safety.
Organize and display students' work in a manner appropriate for their perceptual skills.
Present information in audio-visual or interactive formats, using computers, television, audio-visual aids, or other equipment, materials, or technologies.
Collaborate with other teachers or administrators to develop, evaluate, or revise preschool programs.
Serve meals or snacks in accordance with nutritional guidelines.
Plan and supervise experiential learning activities, such as class projects, field trips, or demonstrations.
Control the inventory or distribution of classroom equipment, materials, or supplies.
Tasks via O*NET "Special Education Teachers, Preschool" (25-2051.00).
What AI can already do
10 of 36 tasks, with tools
Develop individual educational plans (IEPs) designed to promote students' educational, physical, or social development.
Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual education plans (IEPs).
Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, or administrative regulations.
Establish and communicate clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects to students, parents, or guardians.
Modify the general preschool curriculum for students with disabilities.
Prepare objectives, outlines, or other materials for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements.
Prepare reports on students and activities as required by administration.
Organize and display students' work in a manner appropriate for their perceptual skills.
Present information in audio-visual or interactive formats, using computers, television, audio-visual aids, or other equipment, materials, or technologies.
Prepare assignments for teacher assistants or volunteers.
What still needs a person
26 of 36 tasks
Employ special educational strategies or techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, or memory.
Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification or positive reinforcement.
Communicate nonverbally with children to provide them with comfort, encouragement, or positive reinforcement.
Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, or social skills, to preschool students with special needs.
Teach students personal development skills, such as goal setting, independence, or self-advocacy.
Develop or implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of disabilities.
Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment or materials to prevent injuries and damage.
Administer tests to help determine children's developmental levels, needs, or potential.
Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among students.
Attend to children's basic needs by feeding them, dressing them, or changing their diapers.
Prepare classrooms with a variety of materials or resources for children to explore, manipulate, or use in learning activities or imaginative play.
Monitor teachers or teacher assistants to ensure adherence to special education program requirements.
Encourage students to explore learning opportunities or persevere with challenging tasks to prepare them for later grades.
Meet with parents or guardians to discuss their children's progress, advise them on using community resources, or teach skills for dealing with students' impairments.
Confer with parents, guardians, teachers, counselors, or administrators to resolve students' behavioral or academic problems.
Coordinate placement of students with special needs into mainstream classes.
Provide assistive devices, supportive technology, or assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.
Organize and supervise games or other recreational activities to promote physical, mental, or social development.
Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, or teacher training workshops to maintain or improve professional competence.
Read books to entire classes or to small groups.
Arrange indoor or outdoor space to facilitate creative play, motor-skill activities, or safety.
Collaborate with other teachers or administrators to develop, evaluate, or revise preschool programs.
Serve meals or snacks in accordance with nutritional guidelines.
Plan and supervise experiential learning activities, such as class projects, field trips, or demonstrations.
Control the inventory or distribution of classroom equipment, materials, or supplies.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Professional occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons