Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary
Demonstrate and teach patient care in classroom and clinical units to nursing students. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
Most important skills
- Instructing
- Speaking
- Learning Strategies
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Critical Thinking
- Active Learning
Key knowledge
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Education and Training
- Psychology
- English Language
- Biology
- Customer and Personal Service
- Mathematics
- Therapy and Counseling
What the work involves
- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as pharmacology, mental health nursing, and community health care practices.
- Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
- Supervise students' laboratory and clinical work.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, laboratory and clinic work, assignments, and papers.
- Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
- Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Investigative, Artistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Master's Degree (50.1% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (62%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (19.3%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 73% of occupations compared | 68% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 91% of occupations compared | 63% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 88% of occupations compared | 73% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 52% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Lower on time pressure than 54% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 83% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 80% of occupations compared | 64% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 76% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 2.47%
- Contact with others most of the time: 29.84%
- Constant contact with others: 67.69%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 2.06%
- Important: 7.65%
- Very important: 27.49%
- Extremely important: 62.8%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2019
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 4.64%
- Very important: 22.23%
- Extremely important: 73.14%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2019
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 2.98%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 18.1%
- Some freedom: 36.71%
- A lot of freedom: 42.21%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2019
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 6.69%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 26.23%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 47.92%
- Every day: 19.17%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2019
Conflict situations
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 9.81%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 37.76%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 51.07%
- Every day: 1.36%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0.65%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 19.77%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 15.15%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 63.74%
- Every day: 0.69%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2019
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 11.51%
- Fairly serious: 17.07%
- Serious: 12.56%
- Very serious: 15.13%
- Extremely serious: 43.74%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2019
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O*NET-SOC 25-1072.00 · SOC 25-1072 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8