What's required to teach A+

The big question, is where will you be teaching?

Every college, public school and trade school has a list of requirements to become and instructor.

Consulting and training firms often require actual experience in the field of study.

If you are looking to start your own training firm, EXPERIENCE will be key to getting customers.

Chas

At most colleges, I believe that you are required to have some form of at least a bachelors degree. Preferably in the subject you are teaching.
I know at the local branch of a major technical school, that a bachelors degree IS required.

A less reputable local technical school only requires experience in the field of study. The negative for this particular school, is that you are measured by your passing students, and the sign-up rate of your students for the next sequence of courses.

At any reputable training firm, you will need at least the certs for the courses you will cover.

A degree in a computer related field will help greatly in getting in the door.

In the US, the only area of training / teaching where a degree is not required, is community education programs.

Teaching a few community ed computer courses might be a good place to start.
It will give you actual classroom experience.
Not only will this look good on your resume, it will help you hone your technique, and give you an idea as to how well you like teaching.

Chas

Another point in addition to everything Chas has said:

You can have all the experience in the world in a given subject are, but that doesn't mean you are able to TEACH the same subject. Not everyone makes a good teacher/instructor.

You might consider something along the lines of the Certified Technical Trainer (CTT+) certification from CompTIA. Going through the training for this certification should at least provide you with the tools necessary (beyond the technical knowledge of the subject) to become an effective instructor. Any type of instructor training course should provide you with these tools (take a look at Langevin Learning Services - http://207.107.10.214/index.asp).

Reading from a prepared lesson plan or syllabus isone thing. Being an effective instructor, and getting your students involved to where they actually LEARN the subject can be another story.

Good Luck.

I work full-time and teach part-time at an Oklahoma Technology Center. I don't teach A+ (I teach Windows 98 Level I, Windows ME, and IC3 Certification), but I know what is required here of state level instructors to teach full time in state schools.

First requirement is holding the certification you are teaching. So you MUST be A+ Certified; how else can you teach what you haven't experienced? Higher certifications are also encouraged.

Second, there is a state technology teacher certification. To get this, it requires the technical certification and specific training at or beyond the bachelor degree level. (Yes, you heard me correctly. To teach in public schools a minimum of a 4-year college degree is required. There is a wayaround this that I have seen, i.e., get employed with an Associates degree, then continue to work on a teaching degree/certificate. You get the degree one way or the other.)

The only other exception is people like myself who are "adjunct faculty." The primary requirement is for technical expertise. College is good, but technical expertise is preferred. "Technical expertise" is defined as having the required certifications in the field PLUS several years of experience in the field.

Our A+ Instructor is not only A+ certified, but Microsoft, Cisco, and a host of others. He is a field service technician as a day job.

Not trying to discourage you, but I do want to show you what may be a worst case scenario. (actually, there isworse. Many colleges/junior colleges require Masters degrees.) Teaching isn't something that can be moved into from nothing. It is a tiered bureaucracy, and has many tickets that need to be punched.