How to become a special education teacher in Australia
Special Education Teachers teach primary, middle or intermediate, and secondary school students with learning difficulties, hearing impairment and sight impairment, and promote students' social, emotional, intellectual and physical development.
The all-jobs median is $1,852 a week. Jobs in the special education teachers group are projected to grow 12.6% between May 2025 and May 2035, about the same as the 13.3% projected for all jobs. Projections are indicative, not forecasts, and JSA says they don't yet reflect generative AI.
What the job involves
- Assessing students' abilities and limitations with regard to intellectual, physical, social and emotional disabilities, exceptional intellectual gifts, or specific problems of language and culture
- Planning, organising and implementing special programs to provide remedial or advanced tuition
- Administering various forms of assessment and interpreting the results
- Teaching basic academic subjects, and practical and self-help skills to hearing and sight impaired students
- Devising instructional materials, methods and aids to assist in training and rehabilitation
- Advising, instructing and counselling parents and teachers on the availability and use of special techniques
How to get there
What it usually takes. A bachelor degree or higher. This is the skill level Jobs and Skills Australia gives the special education teachers group, and some roles differ.
What people in the job have. Highest qualification held: 90% a degree or higher, 5% a diploma, 2% a Certificate III or IV.
Many jobs also need registration, a licence or a specific accredited course. Check the professional body or regulator before you choose.
Courses that can lead here
Estimate your ATAR and this page shows the gap to each course. Your marks stay on your device.
Victoria3 matches
VTAC lowest selection ranks, December 2025 offer round.
Education (Primary and Special Education) · ACU, Melbourne74.85 Primary and Secondary Inclusive and Special Education (Honours) · Monash, Clayton73.80Showing 2 of 3 matches. Search every course.
NSW and ACT8 matches
UAC lowest selection ranks, December Round 2, 2025-26 admissions.
Bachelor of Education (Secondary and Special Education) · ACU96.45 Bachelor of Special and Inclusive Education (Primary) · UNE78.35 Bachelor of Education (Primary and Special Education) · ACU76.90Showing 3 of 8 matches. Search every course.
Queensland1 match
QTAC course pages, ATAR/Selection Rank profile for semester 1, 2026.
Bachelor of Special and Inclusive Education (Primary) · UNE, Armidale78.55Western Australia0 matches
TISC Course Search: lowest ATAR offered for 2026 entry and guaranteed offer ATARs.
No match in TISC's list. Some courses, medicine especially, don't publish a cutoff or use their own admissions.
Matched on course names, 12 across four admissions centres. A lowest selection rank includes adjustment points and moves every year. Check prerequisites and whether the course is accredited for this job.
Graduate outcomes, national
Undergraduates surveyed about four to six months after finishing, in 2025, across all providers. Full-time work is among those available for it. All graduates: 75.4% and $77,000. These are national figures for the study area, not for this course or uni, and a first-year salary says little about later pay. Source: QILT Graduate Outcomes Survey 2025.
Does it fit your interests?
Strongest interest areas for this kind of work: Social, Investigative, Artistic.
From O*NET ratings for "Special Education Teachers, Elementary School", the closest US occupation in JSA's correspondence (a good match). US ratings are a guide to Australian jobs, not a measurement of them.
Careers with similar interests
Primary school teacher$2,226 Secondary school teacher$2,322 Early childhood teacher$1,906 Social worker$2,172 Youth worker$1,844Done this job, or studied for it?
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Share your storyJob data: © Commonwealth of Australia, Jobs and Skills Australia occupation profiles, February 2026 and Employment Projections, May 2025 to May 2035 (Victoria University), CC BY 4.0. Jobs and Skills Australia, ANZSCO 2013 Version 1.2 to O*NET-SOC 2019 Taxonomy correspondence.
Graduate outcomes: QILT Graduate Outcomes Survey 2025, National Report Tables (Social Research Centre, for the Australian Government).
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Curve ATAR has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.