If you're already a registered nurse, you may be considering taking your knowledge and helping the next generation of aspiring nurses make their way into the profession. However, before you start, you may want to consider the job prospects and your potential salary before you make the move.
We're going to see how you could get started, what you could expect to earn, and where your career as a nurse educator could take you before asking the question of why you should become a nurse educator.
Become a Registered Nurse First
Before you can even consider becoming a nurse educator, you have to be a registered nurse. For most people, this is done by completing a Bachelor of Nursing degree, which is normally a full-time three-year course.
If you already have a tertiary qualification, there are options to complete a two-year nursing degree rather than the three-year option. Something to consider for those looking to change careers entirely.
Admittedly, spending two years in education over spending three years in education mightn't seem like a big change, but it's still a whole year less than starting from scratch.
Going from Registered Nurse to Nurse Educator
Registered nurses looking to further their careers have the choice of moving into education, management, or research, and, as you'll see shortly, there are different salary expectations and processes to consider before you start going down that path.
For those thinking about becoming a nurse educator, the most obvious way to go from being a registered nurse to a nurse educator is through postgraduate study.
Normally, this will be a master of nurse education or similar. Once you've completed this, you'll need to get your registration from the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia and have a current Working with Children Check (WWC Check).
Much like studying nursing in the first place, this is another big decision to be considered carefully as it comes with more time in either full-time or part-time education.
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Where Do Nurse Educators Work and What Exactly Do They Do?
Most nurse educators in the healthcare industry will find themselves working in either private or public hospitals and care homes. The working hours for nurse educators are usually your typical business hours, but they can work shifts, too.
Nurse educators actually have a few different roles and a lot of hats to wear. Much like other kinds of teachers, they'll be expected to create and plan the programmes and classes that their students will follow.
Nurse educators also teach the programmes and classes they've planned and will likely also assess their students' progress and performance.
Nurse educators also play a big role as a mentor to younger and junior nurses.
Beyond just the education of nursing staff, they can also shape the ethos and approaches of the nurses in a given healthcare establishment.
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Average Nurse Educator Salary
In this kind of work, there'll never be a hard and fast answer to how much you'll earn, but there's certainly a salary expectation and we can work out that against the average salaries being paid for nurse educators around the country.
There are a few caveats here as to how much you can earn. Location and experience will affect the salary and the figures we have here are for the whole country, not a specific location.
Similarly, the average salary considers nurse educators at various stages throughout their careers so newer nurse educators can expect to earn less than the average and those with a lot of experience will likely be earning more than this figure.
The median salary for a nurse educator is $101k a year. Ranges include salaries between $99k and $122k at the higher end of the scale. As we mentioned, the higher end is likely those with more experience and the lower reported ranges will be from new or junior nurse educators.
Another important thing to consider is how these salaries compare to other jobs in the field.
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Nurse Educator Salaries Over Time
It's also important to think about how quickly you can get higher salaries once you become a nurse educator.
Don't forget that the median salary isn't likely to be what you'll start on and estimates suggest that the average nurse educator won't reach this until between 5 and 10 years in the role.
This is also a line of work where full-time employment is less common than the national average across all jobs with less than 60% of nurse educators working full-time.
That said, their full-time average hours are slightly less than the national average at 42 hours per working week. This is usually during normal business hours, but they can be expected to work shifts, especially those working in hospitals.
The Average Nurse Educator Salary In Comparison to Other Positions
With the average registered nurse earning around $79k a year and clinical nurses on $101k, too, there's obviously a potential financial incentive for registered nurses to consider a move into nurse education.
However, the average nurse manager is on $116k a year so if you are thinking about moving into a more lucrative position, the track to management might be worth considering for the higher salary.
A nurse consultant can look to earn an average of $118k a year, too, but this is another role that doesn't happen overnight. Registered nurses will have to specialise before they can start thinking about becoming a nurse consultant.
Of course, you also need to think about how quickly you can make it into these positions as your increased potential earnings will be offset by how many years you'll have to remain on your current salary before increasing your actual salary.
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Job Prospects for Nurse Educators
Currently, there are over 6,000 nurse educators in the country. With an average age of 46, nurse educators aren't necessarily approaching retirement, but they also don't have their full working lives ahead of them.
Job opportunities for nurse educators are also likely to grow very strongly according to the Australian Government's Labour Market Insights. By 2026, the number of nurse educators is expected to reach over 8,000! At the moment, it's a good idea if you're considering looking for nursing jobs in Australia.
Nurse educators are also more likely to live in capital cities than other jobs, likely owing to larger health care and social assistance facilities and larger population groups.
While most nurse educators work in healthcare, there are some operating in education and training, public administration and safety, and professional, scientific and technical services, too.
Why You Should Become a Nurse Educator
If you need more convincing than just salary expectations and future job security, there are a few reasons that people choose to become nurse educators.
Pass on Your Knowledge and Expertise
Firstly, they want to pass on their knowledge and expertise in nursing to the next generation of nurses and ensure that the current generation of nurses is up to date with the latest practices and care.
Wear Several Hats
They say variety is the spice of life and being a nurse educator will offer a good amount of it. While you'll certainly be an educator and looking to take nurses to the next level, there are opportunities to continue providing care for patients, something that a lot of nurses miss when they move into research or management positions.
Get Off Your Feet
You might like caring for patients, but you probably don't enjoy just how many hours you have to spend on your feet as a nurse. As a nurse educator, you won't have as many long shifts where you have to stand up the entire time. You can still stand up if you want when you're in an office or classroom, but you don't have to.
Continue Learning
You might be an educator, but that doesn't mean that you'll ever stop learning. In order to be able to teach future nurses and keep current nurses' training up to scratch, you'll need to be constantly learning about advances in your field.
Part of being an educator is being a lifelong learner and if you're curious and love learning, becoming a nurse educator will allow you to do that.
Express Your Creativity
If you're a creative type, becoming a nurse educator will allow you to express that side of yourself. You'll often be tasked with ensuring that your teaching is effective and you'll need to use a variety of activities and approaches to make sure that every one of your students is learning as much and as effectively as they can.
As you can see, it's not easy becoming a nurse and then a nurse educator, but the salary prospects are good, there'll likely be a lot of positions open in the future, demand is good for nurse educators, and the job itself can be very enjoyable and rewarding.
It might sound difficult, but don't forget that there are also plenty of people and resources out there to help you!
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