Job references - when they say do not include past supervisors, does that include teachers/instructors?

I do not believe teachers and instructors you took classes from are considered supervisors. (I could be wrong.)

In the case you describe, you’re being asked to provide the names of unbiased (or relatively so) “personal references”, who will vouch for your character, honesty, attitude, etc.

Family members are obviously not unbiased, which is the reason to exclude them. Past supervisors may be focused only on your ability to perform whatever tasks were set in front of you, and while they may be unbiased, they may also not know you well, which is one of the reasons to exclude them. (There are other legal reasons for that, too, which have to do with employment law and the liability of the former employer if its employee divulges information about you. That’s probably a bigger reason for their exclusion: many employees are simply forbidden to give references to former employees of the company.)

Teachers and instructors are good references. In the first place, they can probably write decently, which cannot be gainsaid in these days of generalized illiteracy and simple carelessness with communication. In the second place, they see a lot of people that they can compare you against, so their opinion may be valuable to the prospective employer. As well, they are professionals of a sort, so their opinions may carry more value by virtue of who those people are.

If you can include neighbors, priests/ministers/rabbis and the like, that would also be helpful.

One thing that I can advise you for certain-sure is: Talk to your prospective references, first, and make sure that they are on board with this idea. Nothing can hurt your chances worse than to have a prospective employer call a reference that you have listed and have the person say either, “Who the hell is that?” or, “Boy, oh, boy, do I have some stories about that one; stories that will curl your hair!”

Contact your references first, before listing them, and get an idea at that time if their memories of you are good ones, and whether they’d be willing to be contacted. That’s a kind of professional courtesy in this area that you should always follow.

@CWOTUS Hit it, they are look for character references.

No, it does not. If you are able, ask for the recommendation from the Instuctors of your Vocational studies area. Junior and senior years if different.
Key: Ask.
If you need others, academics are next up.
The reason for no Supervisory recommendations is because of the laws now.
A- if negative responses to the reference inquiries, they are liable.
B- any employment while still in school is not as good a basis as they wish. ( Even if you did superbly.)
Do you have any family friends who own or supervise a business? Who actually do know you? Excellent. They have experience in hiring or managing and would be able to better-judge your character. **** List their job title under their name on reference page. Then next line after title, the name of the business. Next, continue with address, etc.
Remember to use Area Codes with phone listings now.
Good luck. Remember that coming from a Vocational School gives you a ‘leg up’ on regular high school graduates. You have been in educational setting geared towards the working world = more applicable skills.

I would say teachers and instructors would be good candidates to use as referees in this circumstance. You weren’t an employee when you interacted with them. Good luck with the job hunting.

Supervisors would be covered in the previous jobs section, that is why they are excluded. The potential employer should already be looking to them.

Teachers would be a great reference (if they have good things to say about you).

No