What does a field instructor do?
A field instructor supervises students and makes arrangements for their employability after. They help students prepare in their respective field by designing a consistent and progressive map of responsibility, from simple to more complex ones, which enable them to gradually cope and have a smooth transition while ensuring their health and safety. Field instructors should prepare themselves to be the role model of competence for their students.
Field instructor responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real field instructor resumes:
- Develop and maintain field curriculum for BSW program.
- Assist other CPP instructors in completing student orientation.
- Assure TCI training and documentation meet state standards for child care facilities.
- Certify CPR instructor; train and able to safely neutralize potentially violent situations.
- Provide remedial support and guidance for students to successfully complete the CPP requirements.
- Interview and place senior BSW students into community agency internships and conduct site visits.
- Provide field instruction including weekly, individual and group supervision for BASW and MSW interns.
- Teach primitive living skills including, backpacking, shelter building, and leave no trace ethics.
- Interview, hire, train and supervise an MSW intern , 8 staff and over 75 volunteers.
- Used social principles and ethics to train policies and procedures within the scope of victim services through evidence base practices.
- Cover the fundamental concepts of chemistry and biology including cell biology, metabolism, microbiology, genetics, evolution and histology.
- Provide students with employability training leading to full-time employment, higher education or advance training.
- Provide instruction on employability skills and arrange interviews for students through referral programs and recruiting agencies.
Field instructor skills and personality traits
We calculated that 18% of Field Instructors are proficient in Social Work, Field Training, and CPR. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Compassion, and Listening skills.
We break down the percentage of Field Instructors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Social Work, 18%
Participate in necessary meetings with the university *Complete evaluations plans for a masters level social work student
- Field Training, 9%
Instruct military/ contractor members during the field training phase of the U.S. Army SERE Level C global survival school.
- CPR, 8%
Maintained Wilderness First Responder and CPR certification.
- MSW, 7%
Provide regular and well-structured supervisory and instructional meetings with assigned Columbia University MSW candidates.
- Emotional Safety, 6%
Position: Level III Senior Field Instructor Duties: * Ensuring the physical and emotional safety of clients and staff team.
- Student Intern, 5%
Provided clinical and administrative supervision to undergraduate and graduate level student interns.
Common skills that a field instructor uses to do their job include "social work," "field training," and "cpr." You can find details on the most important field instructor responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for a field instructor to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what field instructors do because "school and career counselors and advisors interpret student records, schoolwide data, and assessments to match interests and abilities with potential careers. ." Additionally, a field instructor resume shows how field instructors use analytical skills: "provide data points to validate/modify the poi at the next course content review board. "
Compassion. Many field instructor duties rely on compassion. "school and career counselors and advisors often work with people who are dealing with stressful and difficult situations, so they must be able to empathize with their clients and students.," so a field instructor will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways field instructor responsibilities rely on compassion: "provided a warm, caring, and professional learning environment that encourages compassionate health care interactions with patients. "
Listening skills. This is an important skill for field instructors to perform their duties. For an example of how field instructor responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "school and career counselors and advisors need to give full attention to students and clients in order to understand their problems." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a field instructor: "teach and role model therapy skills such as assertive communication, expressing emotions effectively, active listening, and sharing vulnerabilities. ".
Interpersonal skills. For certain field instructor responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "interpersonal skills." The day-to-day duties of a field instructor rely on this skill, as "school and career counselors and advisors must be able to work with people of all backgrounds and personalities." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what field instructors do: "lead groups related to interpersonal effectiveness, meditation, substance abuse, and accountability. "
Speaking skills. A commonly-found skill in field instructor job descriptions, "speaking skills" is essential to what field instructors do. Field instructor responsibilities rely on this skill because "school and career counselors and advisors must communicate effectively with clients and students." You can also see how field instructor duties rely on speaking skills in this resume example: "presented during mental health grand rounds on the topic of chronic pain and addiction. "
The three companies that hire the most field instructors are:
- The Field Museum2 field instructors jobs
- New Vision Wilderness
2 field instructors jobs
- Acadia Healthcare1 field instructors jobs
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Compare different field instructors
Field instructor vs. Dance teacher
Dance Teachers are responsible for leading dance classes to teach individuals or groups of people various dancing techniques. Dance Teachers are required to help their students improve their dancing skills by participating in amateur or professional dance competitions or performing in social events such as high school reunions. They must teach one or more dance genres such as ballet, ballroom, or hip hop. They must also be physically fit and should possess a good sense of quality music.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a field instructor are more likely to require skills like "social work," "field training," "cpr," and "math." On the other hand, a job as a dance teacher requires skills like "hip hop dance," "front desk," "musical theater," and "dance program." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Dance teachers earn the highest salaries when working in the hospitality industry, with an average yearly salary of $51,036. On the other hand, field instructors are paid more in the education industry with an average salary of $60,108.dance teachers tend to reach lower levels of education than field instructors. In fact, dance teachers are 15.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.5% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Field instructor vs. Private music teacher
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, field instructor responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "social work," "field training," "cpr," and "math." Meanwhile, a private music teacher has duties that require skills in areas such as "mathematics," "language arts," "cello," and "in-home." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Private music teachers tend to reach lower levels of education than field instructors. In fact, they're 8.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Field instructor vs. Voice teacher
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, field instructors are more likely to have skills like "social work," "field training," "cpr," and "math." But a voice teacher is more likely to have skills like "kids," "stage presence," "music education," and "musical theater."
Most voice teachers achieve a similar degree level compared to field instructors. For example, they're 2.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Field instructor vs. Dance instructor/choreographer
Types of field instructor
Updated January 8, 2025
