CCollegeMatcher

Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors

US occupation · SOC 25-3011

Job titles people report: Adult Basic Education Instructor (ABE Instructor), Adult Basic Education Teacher (ABE Teacher), Adult Education Instructor, Adult Education Teacher, ESL Instructor (English as a Second Language Instructor), ESL Teacher (English as a Second Language Teacher), ESOL Teacher (English for Speakers of Other Languages Teacher), GED Instructor (General Educational Development Instructor), GED Teacher (General Educational Development Teacher), Teacher

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$61,540
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$49,100 – $77,690
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
37,310
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
-13.9%
Shrinking (below 0%)
Openings a year (projected)
3,800
New jobs plus replacing people who leave
Typical education to enter
Bachelor's degree
BLS
  • All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
  • Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
  • Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Teach or instruct out-of-school youths and adults in basic education, literacy, or English as a Second Language classes, or in classes for earning a high school equivalency credential.

Main tasks

  • Observe and evaluate students' work to determine progress and make suggestions for improvement.
  • Observe students to determine qualifications, limitations, abilities, interests, and other individual characteristics.
  • Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects and communicate those objectives to students.
  • Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs, abilities, and interests.
  • Prepare students for further education by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
  • Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
  • Instruct students individually and in groups, using various teaching methods, such as lectures, discussions, and demonstrations.
  • Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)
Bachelor's degree
O*NET Job Zone 4
Considerable preparation
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Interests it suits

The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.

  • Social: helping, teaching and caring for people
  • Artistic: creating, designing and self-expression
  • Conventional: organising information, records and procedures

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 8 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Education

  • Bilingual and Multilingual Education
  • Multicultural Education
  • Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education, Other
  • Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching
  • Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language/ESL Language Instructor
  • Teaching French as a Second or Foreign Language
  • Teaching English or French as a Second or Foreign Language, Other
  • Adult Literacy Tutor/Instructor

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Education at the Major step.

Where many students take education

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

← All careers

Sources

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. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0

Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk