AI exposure: Teaching Assistants, Special Education
Assist a preschool, elementary, middle, or secondary school teacher to provide academic, social, or life skills to students who have learning, emotional, or physical disabilities. Serve in a position for which a teacher has primary responsibility for the design and implementation of educational programs and services.
Reading this score
computedAt 21.3% of weighted task load, Teaching Assistants, Special Education sits at the 39th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 63.6% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 30 tasks it averages 1.88 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work depends on knowledge the model cannot hold. Much of this job runs on things that were never written down: what this particular organisation does, what happened last week, what the person across the table actually meant. That context is the barrier, and it erodes as systems are given more access.
The most exposed thing this job does is Organize and supervise games and other recreational activities to promote physical, mental, and..., at 80.0%. The least is Laminate teaching materials to increase their durability under repeated use, at 0.0%. A gap of 80.0% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within educational instruction and library occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 42.4% across the group's 62 roles, with 60 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 30 tasks, 13 are currently banded exposed, 1 assisted and 16 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take systems being given deeper access to the organisation's own records and history, which is already happening. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 1.65 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.43 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.62 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.95 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.88 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.15 | 0-3 |
Task by task
30 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organize and supervise games and other recreational activities to promote physical, mental, and social development. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.65 | exposed |
| Use computers, audio-visual aids, and other equipment and materials to supplement presentations. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.46 | exposed |
| Prepare lesson materials, bulletin board displays, exhibits, equipment, and demonstrations. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.03 | exposed |
| Prepare lesson outlines and plans in assigned subject areas and submit outlines to teachers for review. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.41 | exposed |
| Take class attendance and maintain attendance records. | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 3.61 | exposed |
| Grade homework and tests, and compute and record results, using answer sheets or electronic marking devices. | 55.4% | 32.1% | 12.5% | 3.82 | exposed |
| Assist librarians in school libraries. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.14 | exposed |
| Observe students' performance, and record relevant data to assess progress. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.00 | exposed |
| Discuss assigned duties with classroom teachers to coordinate instructional efforts. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.85 | exposed |
| Requisition and stock teaching materials and supplies. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 2.90 | exposed |
| Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment and materials to prevent injuries and damage. | 28.3% | 21.7% | 50.0% | 3.98 | exposed |
| Tutor and assist children individually or in small groups to help them master assignments and to reinforce learning concepts presented by teachers. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.10 | exposed |
| Maintain computers in classrooms and laboratories, and assist students with hardware and software use. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 3.53 | exposed |
| Employ special educational strategies or techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, or memory. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.02 | assisted |
| Present subject matter to students under the direction and guidance of teachers, using lectures, discussions, supervised role-playing methods, or by reading aloud. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 3.89 | untouched |
| Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification or positive reinforcement. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.47 | untouched |
| Instruct students in daily living skills required for independent maintenance and self-sufficiency, such as hygiene, safety, or food preparation. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 3.82 | untouched |
| Participate in teacher-parent conferences regarding students' progress or problems. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 3.40 | untouched |
| Carry out therapeutic regimens, such as behavior modification and personal development programs, under the supervision of special education instructors, psychologists, or speech-language pathologists. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 4.13 | untouched |
| Provide assistance to students with special needs. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.55 | untouched |
| Provide students with disabilities with assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.15 | untouched |
| Supervise students in classrooms, halls, cafeterias, school yards, and gymnasiums, or on field trips. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.39 | untouched |
| Enforce administration policies and rules governing students. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.02 | untouched |
| Prepare classrooms with a variety of materials or resources for children to explore, manipulate, or use in learning activities or imaginative play. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.82 | untouched |
| Distribute teaching materials, such as textbooks, workbooks, papers, and pencils, to students. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.72 | untouched |
| Clean classrooms. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.26 | untouched |
| Organize and label materials and display students' work in a manner appropriate for their eye levels and perceptual skills. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.11 | untouched |
| Assist in bus loading and unloading. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.74 | untouched |
| Attend staff meetings and serve on committees, as required. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 2.89 | untouched |
| Laminate teaching materials to increase their durability under repeated use. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 2.84 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.