High School
If you are interested in becoming a nursing instructor, take classes in health and the sciences to prepare you for a medical career. Since nursing instructors begin as nurses themselves, you need to take classes that will prepare you for nursing programs. Talk to your career services office about course requirements for specific programs, but plan on taking biology, chemistry, mathematics, and English courses to help build the strong foundation necessary for nursing school.
Postsecondary Training
Most nursing instructors first work as registered nurses and, therefore, have completed either a two-year associate's degree program, a three-year diploma program, or a four-year bachelor's degree program in nursing. Which of the three training programs to choose depends on your career goals. As a nurse, you should also have considerable clinical nursing experience before considering teaching.
Most universities and colleges require that their full-time professors have doctoral degrees, but many hire master's degree holders for part-time and temporary teaching positions. Two-year colleges may hire full-time teachers who have master's degrees.
- Adapted Physical Education Specialists
- Adult and Vocational Education Teachers
- Advanced Practice Nurses
- Art Teachers
- Athletic Directors
- Biophysicists
- Book Editors
- Career and Employment Counselors
- Career and Employment Technicians
- College Administrators
- College Professors
- Community Health Nurses
- Community Nutrition Educators
- Computer Trainers
- Cooking Instructors
- Critical Care Nurses
- Curriculum Coordinators
- Dance School Owners and Managers
- Distance Learning Coordinators
- Driving School Owners and Instructors
- Education Directors and Museum Teachers
- Edupreneurs
- Elementary School Teachers
- Emergency Nurses
- English as a Second Language (ESL) Teachers
- Environmental Education Program Directors
- Flight Instructors
- Geriatric Nurses
- Guidance Counselors
- Health Educators
- Home Health Care and Hospice Nurses
- Instructional Coordinators
- Instructional Designers
- Journalism Teachers
- Learning Innovations Designers
- Legal Nurse Consultants
- Library and Information Science Instructors
- Licensed Practical Nurses
- Mathematics Teachers
- Music Teachers
- Neonatal Nurses
- Nurse Anesthetists
- Nurse Assistants
- Nurse Managers
- Nurse Practitioners
- Nurse-Midwives
- Occupational Health Nurses
- Oncological Nurses
- Physical Education Teachers
- Preschool Teachers
- Psychiatric Nurses
- Registered Nurses
- School Administrators
- School Nurses
- Secondary School Teachers
- Special Education Teachers
- Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists
- Speech-Language Pathology Assistants
- Teacher Aides
- Tutors and Trainers