Will AI replace Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education?

What this score means

Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education leans toward the safer end for Education. Parts of the role touch tasks AI is getting good at, but the core still depends on hands on work or judgment that resists automation. At 37 out of 100 it sits close to the Education average of 39. Across the 10 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 11 to 59, so the score is a weighted consensus rather than any single figure.

The number is a consensus estimate for the typical version of the role, built from published academic and industry research scored occupation by occupation. It is not a prediction about any individual. How scoring works

What this job actually involves

Exposure follows the work itself rather than the job title, so it is worth seeing what the role is made of. These are the tasks O*NET records for Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education, most central first, showing 12 of 32.

• 01Prepare students for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
• 02Instruct through lectures, discussions, and demonstrations in one or more subjects, such as English, mathematics, or social studies.
• 03Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among students.
• 04Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
• 05Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests.
• 06Prepare, administer, and grade tests and assignments to evaluate students' progress.
• 07Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects, and communicate those objectives to students.
• 08Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
• 09Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
• 10Guide and counsel students with adjustments, academic problems, or special academic interests.
• 11Use computers, audio-visual aids, and other equipment and materials to supplement presentations.
• 12Prepare objectives and outlines for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements of states and schools.

Task statements from O*NET by the National Center for O*NET Development, used under CC BY 4.0. The tasks are descriptive; the exposure score above is ours.

The research behind this score

This baseline aggregates 10 research sources that scored Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education for AI and automation exposure. More recent, higher confidence studies carry more weight in the final number.

• 01AI Will Reshape More Jobs Than It Replaces · 2026BCG Henderson Institute (2026)
• 02Anthropic Economic Index 2026 - AI Task Exposure · 2026Anthropic
• 03Crashing Waves vs. Rising Tides: Preliminary Findings on AI Automation from Thousands of Worker Evaluations of Labor Market Tasks · 2026Mertens, Thompson et al., MIT FutureTech (2026)
• 04Global Automation Atlas: Task Substitution Exposure by Occupation · 2026Garg, Crosta, Baier (2026), arXiv:2605.17086
• 05The AI Jobs Transition Framework: Mapping AI's Near-Term Impact on Jobs · 2026OpenAI Economic Research (2026)
• 06Working with AI: Measuring the Applicability of Generative AI to Occupations · 2025Tomlinson, Jaffe et al., Microsoft Research (2025)
• 07A new future of work: The race to deploy AI and raise skills in Europe and beyond · 2024McKinsey Global Institute (2024)
• 08GPTs are GPTs: Labor Market Impact Potential of LLMs · 2024Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin, Rock (Science, 2024)
• 09AI Occupational Exposure to Language Modeling · 2023Felten, Raj, Seamans (2023)
• 10Generative AI and the Future of Work in America · 2023McKinsey Global Institute (2023)

Common questions

How likely is AI to replace Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education?

Published research puts Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education at 37 out of 100 for AI displacement risk, in the lower risk band. The number is a weighted consensus of 10 research sources and describes the typical version of the role, not any individual.

Do researchers agree on the risk for Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education?

Only partly. Individual estimates for Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education run from 11 to 59 out of 100 across the 10 sources behind this score, so the single number smooths over real disagreement. More recent and higher confidence studies carry more weight in it.

Which education roles face similar AI exposure?

The closest published education roles to Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education by score are Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education (37/100), Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors (38/100), and Forestry and Conservation Science Teachers, Postsecondary (38/100). Each has its own page with the research behind its number.

Also covers

Accounting Teacher · After School Teacher · Algebra Teacher · Art Educator · Art Instructor · Art Teacher · Arts and Crafts Teacher · Athletic Instructor and related titles

More education occupations

• Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary39/100
• Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary39/100
• Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education39/100
• Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors38/100
• Forestry and Conservation Science Teachers, Postsecondary38/100
• Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education37/100
• Architecture Teachers, Postsecondary36/100
• Self-Enrichment Teachers36/100