Career Explorer Education
Grows with AI
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.
More resilient than most: more resilient than 68% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it very high), and US jobs are projected to change by +17.1% by 2035, much faster than average. The work leans on emotional intelligence and ethical judgement.
AI can help with many of the tasks, and demand is still growing. Being fluent with AI is the edge here.
- Median pay (2025)
- $80,250
- Job growth to 2035
- +17.1%
- Openings a year
- 8,500
- People doing it (2025)
- 96,100
- Usual route in
- Doctorate or professional degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Advise others on educational or vocational matters
- Teach academic or vocational subjects
- Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Assess student capabilities, needs, or performance
- Supervise personnel activities
- Develop educational programs, plans, or procedures
What the work looks like
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, laboratory and clinic work, assignments, and papers.
- Supervise students' laboratory and clinical work.
- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Assess clinical education needs and patient and client teaching needs using a variety of methods.
- Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- More of these jobs, as demand for nursing degrees is expected to increase.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Nurse practitionersGrows with AI, Index 88, +41.0%
- Athletic trainersGrows with AI, Index 81, +12.7%
- Occupational therapistsGrows with AI, Index 84, +14.8%
- Nurse midwivesGrows with AI, Index 81, +11.5%
Also known as: Assistant Professor, Nursing Instructor, Nursing Professor, Professor, Associate Professor, Clinical Nursing Instructor, Faculty Member, Instructor.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.