Difference between Teacher, Educator, and Trainer

What is the difference between a teacher, an educator, and a trainer?


Some use the terms teacher and educator synonymously, while others claim that there is a difference.
It could be just a semantic difference (a euphemism): Because there are some negative associations with the term teacher, people started used the word educator instead, similar to "janitor" and "sanitation engineer".
However, the two terms could also refer to a difference in attitude of the individual: "Teacher" is a job description, while "educator" is a calling. A person can be an educator without being employed as a teacher, for example parents.


The distinction between teacher/educator and trainer is clearer.
A teacher helps people to get general education, which includes training. The intent of education is to enable the student to be able to integrate concepts across multiple disciplines and thus, to be able to conduct analyses and critical thinking. Education aims to induct the student to think what could be best way of doing a job with the available resources and constraints.
A trainer helps people to learn specific skills to perform a particular task. Training is the process of learing applied to a relatively narrow subject matter.Training aims to induct the trainee the best way of doing a job with the available resources and constraints (for example by following guidelines in a manual).


Education and training are both learning processes and both are important. The key distinction is the breadth and focus of the subject matter.