Should I be an outdoor educator?

An outdoor educator can have many different titles, but they all involve showing and teaching others about the great outdoors.

Like any great educator, your goal is to foster independence so others can safely and wisely experience nature by themselves.

You can be a...

• Camp Counselor

• Park Ranger

• Naturalist

• Wilderness Guide

It’s not just enjoying the beautiful outdoors.

You must be prepared to:

• Plan and lead outings, trips, and expeditions.

• Identify plants, animal signs, and geological features.

• Instruct others in wilderness survival (e.g. knot tying, camp set-up, and Leave No Trace practice).

• Design activities and tools to best teach about the environment.

You are the expert if something goes wrong. You need to know...

• first aid, 

• survival skills,

• and be a Wilderness First Responder.

Outdoor Education is a broad field ranging from a camp counselor to a coordinator of a nature organization.

Photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash

Most career outdoor educators have a bachelor's degree focusing on the environmental sciences, the humanities, or education.

Some of the places you might work for are youth camps, the park service, and wilderness guiding companies.

Outdoor educators love the work they do but they still need to pay the bills.

In the U.S. the average pay is $41, 500 USD.

In Canada the average pay is $44,000 CAD .

You should consider being an outdoor educator if you are...

• Social: you like presenting in front of people and collaborating to get the job done.

  

• Realistic: you like working with your hands.

  

• Artistic: you like to be creative in how you accomplish a task.

• want a fast paced, competitive work environment.

• like clear structured tasks.

• enjoy working independently.

Photo by Brian Mann on Unsplash

Being an outdoor educator can be a dream job, but you must lay the groundwork in order to make it a reality.

Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash