CAPE TOWN / AGILITYPR.NEWS / October 13, 2026 / New research from The TEFL Academy reveals which careers are most resilient to AI, as 48% of South African respondents report anxiety about its impact on their future careers.

Key Findings:

• 48% are anxious about the impact AI could have on their future career opportunities.
• 57% have questioned whether their career or qualification will still be valuable because of AI.
• 84% say AI has already changed how they think about their future career, including 36% who say it has changed their thinking significantly.
• 20% say long-term career resilience is now the most important factor when choosing a career, followed by work-life balance at 19% and job security at 16%.
• 69% say AI resilience is very or extremely important when choosing a career or degree.
• 60% believe human skills will become more valuable than technical skills as AI becomes more common in the workplace.
• 80% believe AI literacy will become as essential as computer literacy.
• 87% say they would be likely to participate in AI training or upskilling.
• 54% believe AI will eliminate more jobs than it creates in South Africa over the next decade.
• Teacher/Educator scores 95 out of 100 in The TEFL Academy's AI Resilience Index.

CAPE TOWN, September 2026 – New research from The TEFL Academy's South African Career Resilience Report 2026 reveals that 57% of South African respondents have questioned whether their chosen career or qualification will still be valuable because of artificial intelligence, while 84% say AI has already changed how they think about their future career.

The findings form part of South African Career Resilience Report 2026, which examines how artificial intelligence is influencing career anxiety, skills and perceptions of long-term career value among South African career changers. The research combines an original survey of 230 South African respondents from The TEFL Academy's TEFL community with third-party labour market, occupational, education and AI research from Statistics South Africa, the Department of Higher Education and Training, the Labour Market Intelligence Partnership and the World Economic Forum, among others.

For career changers entering a labour market already facing significant employment and skills challenges, AI is adding another consideration to career planning: not simply finding a job, but choosing a career that can remain valuable as technology changes.

How AI Is Influencing Career Choices

84% of respondents said AI has changed how they think about their future career, with 48% saying it had changed their thinking somewhat and 36% saying it had changed their thinking significantly.

At the same time, 57% said they had questioned whether their chosen career or qualification would still be valuable because of AI.

AI resilience is also becoming a factor in career decision-making. 69% of respondents said AI resilience is very or extremely important when considering their career or degree.

This concern is emerging alongside a wider global shift in the skills employers expect to need. The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 estimates that 39% of workers' core skills will change by 2030, while 170 million jobs could be created and 92 million displaced globally over the same period. The World Economic Forum identifies analytical thinking, resilience, flexibility, agility and leadership among the skills expected to remain important as work changes.

The concern extends beyond individual career choices. 54% of respondents believe AI will eliminate more jobs than it creates in South Africa over the next decade, highlighting wider uncertainty about how automation will reshape the country's labour market.

For career changers deciding what to study, which qualifications to pursue and where to build their careers, the question is increasingly not just “Can I find a job?” but “Will the career I choose continue to give me opportunities?”

South Africans are willing to adapt to an AI-shaped workplace

Despite concerns about AI's impact on employment, the research suggests that South African career changers are not simply waiting for the labour market to change around them.

87% say they would be likely to participate in AI training or upskilling if it were offered by their employer, university or training provider.

80% also believe AI literacy will become as essential as computer literacy for most jobs in the future, suggesting that AI skills are increasingly being viewed as a baseline workplace capability rather than a specialist skill.

The findings point to a workforce that is concerned about how AI could reshape employment, but also willing to develop the skills needed to work alongside it.

Career changers are prioritising resilience alongside quality of life

When asked what matters most when choosing a career, long-term career resilience was the leading priority, selected by 20% of respondents, followed by work-life balance at 19% and job security at 16%.

The findings suggest that career changers are weighing more than salary when considering their next move, with long-term relevance, stability and quality of life all influencing career decisions.

The Careers Built Around Human Skills

The survey also highlights the skills South African respondents believe will matter as AI becomes more capable of handling technical and routine tasks.

Adaptability was the most commonly selected skill, chosen by 50% of respondents, followed by critical thinking at 49%, AI literacy at 43%, communication at 39% and emotional intelligence at 38%. Additionally, 60% of respondents said human skills are more valuable than technical skills, while 48% were unsure.

The emphasis on both human and technological capabilities is also reflected in attitudes towards AI literacy as 80% believe AI literacy will become as essential as computer literacy for most jobs in the future.

The findings align with research from the OECD, which says AI adoption is increasing demand for highly skilled workers and that generative AI is making skills such as data analysis and interpretation increasingly important. The OECD also reports that around 40% of employers in manufacturing and finance identify skills shortages as a major barrier to AI adoption.

This suggests that preparing for an AI-shaped labour market will involve both technological literacy and the ability to communicate, adapt, solve complex problems and exercise judgement.

Teaching Ranks Among the Most Resilient Careers

The TEFL Academy's AI Resilience Index identifies careers where human interaction, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, creativity, communication and complex decision-making remain central to the work.

Teacher/Educator scores 95 out of 100 in the South African AI Resilience Index, placing teaching sixth among the 100 occupations assessed.

The wider top 10 includes Surgeons, Nurse Practitioners, Therapists and Psychologists, Physicians and Doctors, Skilled Tradespeople, Teachers and Educators, Emergency Medical Technicians, Social Workers, Occupational Therapists and Physical Therapists.

Teaching's resilience comes from the parts of the job that require a person to understand context, respond to individual needs and make decisions in real time.

The wider evidence also shows that AI is already being incorporated into teaching rather than simply replacing teaching tasks. According to the OECD's TALIS 2024 data for South Africa, 48% of teachers reported using AI in their work, most commonly to learn about or summarise topics, generate lesson plans or activities, and generate text for feedback or communication.

This supports the report's central argument that AI resilience does not necessarily mean avoiding AI. It can mean developing a career where AI can assist with some tasks while human judgement, communication and relationships remain central.

The careers most resilient to AI

The TEFL Academy's AI Resilience Index ranks 100 occupations according to factors including human interaction, emotional intelligence, creativity, critical thinking, automation risk, labour market demand, skills shortages and future job growth.

The top 10 careers in the South African AI Resilience Index are:

1. Surgeon – 98
2. Nurse Practitioner – 97
3. Therapist / Psychologist – 97
4. Physician / Doctor – 96
5. Skilled Tradesperson – 96
6. Teacher / Educator – 95
7. Emergency Medical Technician – 95
8. Social Worker – 95
9. Occupational Therapist – 94
10. Physical Therapist – 94

The highest-scoring careers are concentrated in healthcare, education, skilled trades and emergency services, with roles that rely heavily on human interaction, physical presence, specialist expertise, complex judgement and responsibility tending to rank highest.

The index is not intended to suggest that lower-scoring occupations will disappear. Instead, it highlights careers where the nature of work may face greater pressure to change as AI develops.

The South African Labour Market Is Shifting

AI is arriving alongside existing employment and skills challenges in South Africa's labour market.

The World Economic Forum expects 39% of workers' core skills globally to change by 2030, while its research identifies resilience, flexibility, agility and leadership among the skills expected to increase in importance.

The OECD similarly identifies skills shortages as a significant barrier to AI adoption, with employers reporting growing demand for highly skilled workers alongside technological change.

For South African career changers, these global shifts intersect with the country's own employment environment. The TEFL Academy's research therefore considers not only AI exposure, but also labour demand, skills shortages and future job growth when assessing career resilience.

The report's AI Resilience Index gives 10% of its score to current labour market demand, 5% to skills shortages and 5% to projected future job growth, alongside human interaction, emotional intelligence, creativity, critical thinking and automation risk.

What Does an AI-Resilient Career Look Like?

The report's findings point towards a labour market in which human skills and AI literacy increasingly need to work together.

Rather than treating AI as a binary choice between jobs that survive and jobs that disappear, the research suggests that South African career changers may benefit from understanding how technology will change the tasks within their profession while building capabilities that remain valuable when situations require judgement, communication, creativity, adaptability or human connection.

For career changers, the implication is that career planning may increasingly involve asking which parts of a career depend on skills that technology can complement, rather than simply asking which jobs AI can perform.

For the full report, visit: South African Career Resilience Report 2026 .

About The TEFL Academy

The TEFL Academy is a leading global provider of accredited TEFL, or Teaching English as a Foreign Language, training. With a global community of more than 200,000 graduates, the Academy provides recognised qualifications, career support and access to opportunities to teach English online and around the world.

Notes to Editors

The South African Career Resilience Report 2026 combines original survey research examining how AI is influencing career confidence and career decision-making, third-party labour market and education data, AI and future-of-work research, and The TEFL Academy's original AI Resilience Index.