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Prison instructor

Prison instructors teach prisoners new skills to help them find work after their release.

Annual Salary

£18,000 to £29,000

Working hours

37 to 39 a week

You could work: between 8am and 6pm; eve

2.9%
Future employment

There will be 2.9% more Prison instructor jobs in 2027.
In your local area

What's it all about?

What you'll do

Day-to-day tasks

In your day-to-day duties, you could:

  • act as a role model for prisoners
  • introduce new prisoners to the workshop health and safety rules
  • update prisoners' learning and attendance records
  • support prisoners working towards qualifications
  • monitor discipline and behaviour
  • search prisoners using 'rub down" or "pat down" method
  • keep the workshop area and tools safe and in working order
  • maintain stocks of equipment and materials

Working environment

You could work in a prison.

Your working environment may be outdoors some of the time and physically and emotionally demanding.

Entry requirements

You can get into this job through:

  • a college course
College

You'll need, or be prepared to work towards, a level 3 vocational qualification in your subject area or trade.

You may find it useful to do qualifications in assessment, like the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement.

Entry requirements

You may need:

  • GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths
For more information

Requirements and restrictions

You'll need to:

More information

Further information

Find out more about working for Her Majesty's Prison & Probation Service and about specialist production instructor roles in:engineering; waste management; textiles; horticulture

Employment by region

Career path and progression

You could move up to industries manager or other management roles within the prison service.

You could change to other areas of training or instructing.

Skills required and how your skills match up

What skills are required?

  • the ability to teach learners how to do something
  • patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
  • the ability to create the best conditions for learning or teaching new things
  • customer service skills
  • sensitivity and understanding
  • the ability to work well with others
  • to be flexible and open to change
  • excellent verbal communication skills
  • knowledge of English language
  • to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
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