A certified teacher who specializes in students with disabilities and learning differences. Same salary grid, higher demand.
Click through it
Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Mid-grid
$90,000
Year 1
$55,000
Top of grid
$118,000
Job Bank's national median is $43.27 an hour, about $90,000 a year full time. That page covers special education teachers in elementary schools. You are paid on the ordinary teacher salary grid: years of experience across, qualifications down. Special education does not get a separate pay scale in most boards, it gets you hired faster.
$55,000 to $62,000
First full-time contract
Alberta and Ontario grids sit at the top end of the country. Atlantic provinces start lower. Your first year or two may be supply work before a contract.
$110,000 to $118,000
About 10 years in, with maximum qualifications
The way to reach the highest column is extra qualification courses and a master's degree. That is the only lever: there is no overtime and no bonus in teaching.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a three year bachelor's degree at a cheaper province, a one year teaching degree after it, and the three special education qualification courses. The high end is a four year first degree and a two year teaching degree at higher tuition rates, plus certification and the yearly regulator membership fee. Many school boards pay part of the cost of the special education qualification courses once you are on staff, so that piece is often not yours to find. Tuition for the two degrees together usually lands between 40,000 and 60,000 dollars.
Total tuition is usually $40,000 to $60,000. Many boards pay part of the cost of qualification courses once you are on staff.
Defined-benefit pension
Teacher pension plans are among the best in the country.
Summers, winter break and March break
About 12 weeks a year with schools closed.
Strong union protection and generous sick leave
Job security once you have a permanent contract
Special education postings are the last ones a board cuts.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Become a teacher first. The specialty is added on top, after you are certified.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Any academic path. Psychology, biology and English all help later.
Bachelor's degree
3 to 4 years
Any subject for elementary. For high school you need enough credits in two teachable subjects. Psychology and child development courses are a good fit.
Bachelor of Education (B.Ed)
1 to 2 years
Ontario requires four semesters. Most other provinces are 1 to 2 years. Includes practicum placements, and you can ask for a special education placement.
Certification
A few weeks
Register with your province, for example the Ontario College of Teachers or the BC Teacher Regulation Branch.
Special education qualification
2 to 4 years, part time
In Ontario this is a three-part Additional Qualification (AQ). Part 1 needs only your teaching certificate. Part 2 needs a year of teaching. The Specialist needs two years, including one year teaching special education.
English
Reading, writing and how children learn to do both is the core of the job.
Psychology or social sciences
Learning disabilities, autism and behaviour are all in here.
Biology
Useful for understanding medical and developmental conditions.
A co-op or volunteer placement
Time with kids who have disabilities is what admissions committees look for.
You need a teaching certificate from your province to work in a public school, and only the regulator can issue it. The specialty itself is a set of qualification courses recorded on your certificate, not a separate licence. Certificates move between provinces under the national labour mobility agreement, sometimes with conditions, but your special education courses may need to be re-assessed. In Ontario, a student's supports are set out in an Individual Education Plan, and placement decisions go through a committee called the Identification, Placement and Review Committee.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Special Education Specialist
The third part of the qualification. Required for most resource and coordinator postings.
Teaching students who are deaf or hard of hearing
A separate qualification with its own programs. Very few teachers hold it, and provincial schools recruit for it.
Teaching students who are blind or have low vision
Same story: rare, specialized, and hired directly.
Applied behaviour analysis training
Known as ABA (applied behaviour analysis). Increasingly expected in autism-focused classrooms.
Master of Education (M.Ed)
Moves you to the top salary column and is the usual step before board-level or leadership roles.
American Sign Language
Opens deaf education and makes you useful in any board.
Assistive technology skills
Speech to text, reading software, communication devices. Teachers who can set these up are in short supply.
Crisis prevention certification
Standard for teachers in behaviour-focused classrooms.
Not every special education teacher has their own class. Many work as resource or learning support teachers: no homeroom, a caseload of students across the school, and time spent writing plans, testing, and coaching other teachers on how to adapt their lessons. It is less crowd control and more case management, and it is usually where experienced special education teachers end up.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
In a self-contained class, a small group of students with high needs, all day, with assistants beside you. In a resource role, a schedule of pull-out groups and classroom visits between meetings with parents, psychologists and speech pathologists. Either way the paperwork is real: education plans to write, goals to track, evidence to file. Some days are a breakthrough with a kid who has been stuck for months. Some days are a full-blown crisis at 9:15am.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Ontario groups special education needs into five categories covering 12 named exceptionalities, from behaviour and communication to physical and multiple disabilities. A committee decides which one applies to a student.
Canadian provinces default to inclusion, so the majority of students with special education needs are taught in a regular class with support rather than a separate one. That is why regular teachers need the training too.
Special education is consistently one of the most requested additional qualifications in Canada. Teachers who hold it get contracts and their pick of postings faster than colleagues who do not.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.