Faculty and staff educator routes · checked Nov 6, 2026
How to become a nurse educator, by route
Facts checked against nln.org, nursingworld.org and codeofethics.ana.org · Last checked Nov 6, 2026 · Not affiliated with ANCC, ANA, AONL, NLN or AACN.
"Nurse educator" covers two jobs. Faculty teach students in nursing programs and answer to a school; staff educators run orientation, competency and continuing education inside a hospital or health system. The degrees overlap, the experience does not, and each route ends in a different certification exam.
In numbers
- routes: academic and hospital
- 2
- certification exams across them
- 4
- window for the novice faculty exam
- 3 years
First, which educator
- Faculty and nursing professors design courses, teach, write and analyze tests, and evaluate programs. Their certifying body is the National League for Nursing, and its main faculty exam requires a graduate degree in nursing.
- Clinical instructors supervise students in clinical rotations and simulation labs. A BSN with clinical teaching experience can be enough to certify.
- Hospital staff educators, also called clinical or NPD educators, onboard new staff, keep competencies current and run continuing education. Their credential is in nursing professional development.
Pick the route by the place you want to teach; the rest follows from its eligibility rules.
The academic route
RN and practice
A current RN license and clinical experience; programs and employers set how much.
Graduate degree
A master's or doctorate in nursing with an education emphasis. A post-master's nursing-education certificate, or at least 9 graduate education credits, covers the education part as well.
First faculty years
In the first 3 years of academic teaching, and with the same education preparation, the novice exam (CNEn) is open; it lasts 3 years and is not renewed.
Full CNE
Open with the education-focused degree, or with any graduate nursing degree plus 2 years in an academic nursing program within the last 5. Details: CNE eligibility.
Clinical instructors with a BSN
Clinical teaching is the one academic route that does not start with a master's. The NLN clinical educator exam, CNEcl, asks for an RN license and 3 years of nursing practice, plus either a graduate degree with a nursing-education focus or a BSN or higher plus 2 years teaching clinical courses for an academic program within the past 5. Simulation teaching counts toward those years. Fees and format sit beside the other educator exams in the educator credentials compared.
The hospital route
BSN and RN practice
A BSN or higher and the equivalent of 2 years of full-time practice as an RN.
NPD role
2,000 hours of nursing professional development practice in the last 3 years: orientation, education, competency programs.
NPD continuing education
30 hours of continuing education in nursing professional development in the same 3 years.
NPD-BC
The board exam for staff educators. What counts as NPD practice: NPD-BC requirements.
With a graduate degree as well, an NPD-certified educator meets ANPD's definition of an NPD specialist (graduate degree plus certification). Job ads use that title more loosely.
Where nurse educator pay is published
Faculty pay is published by the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program (OEWS) under code 25-1072, Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary, which gives national and state wages by percentile. That code covers college and university faculty only. Hospital staff educators are not counted in it, and pay figures for them come from job-ad aggregators, which mix degree levels and titles.
For a figure, open the survey page for your state.
Question practice for both educator routes
CNE on your phone
The same CNE questions with every option explained, in a study app.
NPD-BC on your phone
The same NPD-BC questions with every option explained, in a study app.
Next steps for educators
- Nurse executive certificationNE-BC, NEA-BC, CNML and CENP in one dated table: eligibility, fees, pass rates
- ANCC certificationsWhat the American Nurses Credentialing Center certifies, its shared exam rules and costs
- ANCC certification renewal75 CE hours plus one of 8 categories, the in-cycle rule, lapses, the 2027 handbook
- Nurse educator certificationFour educator credentials, academic and hospital, compared on eligibility, format and cost
- Nurse leader competenciesAONL's 2026 competency domains and where each is tested on the leadership exams
- Magnet requirementsWhat Magnet asks of the CNO, managers and nurse leaders, and where certification fits
Becoming an educator
Can I teach nursing with only a BSN?
In clinical teaching, often yes, and the NLN clinical educator exam accepts a BSN with 2 years of academic clinical teaching and 3 years of nursing practice. For classroom teaching, the degree a school expects is set by the school and its program accreditor.
How long does it take to become a nurse educator?
On the academic route, the graduate degree is the long part; the full faculty exam then needs either an education-focused degree or 2 years in an academic program. On the hospital route, NPD-BC counts 2,000 hours of NPD practice within 3 years.
Is a nurse educator certificate the same as certification?
No. A university certificate is coursework, though a post-master's certificate in nursing education does count toward the faculty exams. Certification is the board exam.