What this occupation does
Secondary school teachers teach students in one or more subjects at the secondary level. The role spans lesson planning, classroom instruction, assessment, individual student support, and coordination with parents and school administration.
The exposure score in context
The ILO 2025 refined Generative AI Occupational Exposure Index places secondary school teachers in the low exposure gradient. ILO 2025 places secondary school teachers in the low exposure gradient. The role is heavy in classroom interaction, individualised instruction, and judgement under social-emotional uncertainty, all components where current generative AI is poorly positioned to substitute.
The mapping uses ISCO-08 code 2330 (BLS-published SOC-to-ISCO crosswalk). The full methodology, including the dominant-match rule for one-to-many crosswalks, is at /methodology/#algorithm.
The top five tasks, classified
The top five O*NET 30.2 tasks for this occupation, each tagged Displaceable / Changing / Growing per the Brookings 2024 task-level rubric. The tag definitions are at /glossary/#displaceable-task, /glossary/#changing-task, and /glossary/#growing-task.
- Changing: Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities. AI-generated lesson materials are increasingly used; final pedagogical curation remains teacher-led.
- Growing: Establish and enforce rules for behaviour and procedures for maintaining order among students. Classroom management is physical, social, and contextually constrained; augmentation-prone but not displaceable.
- Growing: Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests. Individualised pedagogy is high-judgement and grows in importance as AI handles more of the standard content.
- Growing: Observe and evaluate students' performance, behaviour, social development, and physical health. Holistic student observation is augmentation-prone per Brookings 2024 and remains human-led.
- Growing: Prepare students for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and persevere with challenging tasks. Mentoring and motivation are social-emotional tasks where current generative AI cannot substitute at task level.
What is growing in this role
The BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035 outlook for secondary school teachers is little or no change (0% projected change). Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035.
Per the WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025, the top three growing skills relevant to this role are: Empathy and active listening, AI and big data, Resilience, flexibility and agility. The skills are mapped to the occupation's O*NET skills profile.
Brookings 2024 finds teaching tasks among the lowest-exposure categories: in-person instruction, classroom management, and student development are augmentation-prone but cannot be displaced at task level.
Similar occupations
O*NET 30.2 lists the following related roles. Each links to its own deep dive where one is published.
- Registered Nurses
- Human Resources Specialists
- Interpreters and Translators
- Talent Acquisition Recruiters
- Chefs and Head Cooks
Industry context
This role sits primarily in the Education industry. The industry-level rollup includes the cross-occupation exposure profile and the BLS-published industry-level outlook.
How this assessment was made
The full methodology is at /methodology/: ILO 2025 refined index for the gradient, Brookings 2024 rubric for the task tags, BLS 2025-2035 for the growth outlook, WEF 2025 for the skills demand. The pre-empted critiques are at /how-to-argue-with-this/.