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How to write a teacher personal statement
Your personal statement is your first opportunity to show the school you’re a great fit for the job, and gets you closer to being shortlisted for an interview. The more you show how your skills and interests match the school’s ethos and values, the better. We’ve spoken to a range of teachers to get their top tips for success.
What experience do you have?
Schools want to hear about your trainee experience with different subjects, key stages, types of school, and working with a range of pupils.
Think about your approach to teaching, how you keep pupils engaged, and how you communicate with different kinds of people (children, staff, parents and carers). Ensure you provide evidence for how you have improved student engagement and built positive relationships with pupils.
Schools will be interested in your approach to behaviour management, so think about your go-to strategies.
Are you engaged in teaching theory and research?
Think about any research that has affected your teaching practice. Explain what has worked well and if it didn’t, what you learnt.
Are you up to date on safeguarding statutory guidance?
You need to demonstrate your awareness of the importance of safeguarding and the requirements of Keeping Children Safe in Education . Include any examples of how you worked with a Designated Safeguarding Lead.
What are your skills and qualities?
Are you a well-organised, confident, and motivated teacher? Say it, and provide examples! Schools are looking for great communicators, team players and relationship builders. Make sure you say how you create a positive learning environment, and consider skills like time management, organisation, and flexibility. Schools will also want to know how you overcome challenges.
How can you contribute to wider school life?
Set yourself apart by showing how your hobbies and achievements could contribute to the wider school community. Could you run an after school club or organise school trips?
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Teacher Training Personal Statement Examples
What is a teacher training personal statement?
The teacher training personal statement is your opportunity to let training providers know about your qualities, skills and expertise, and why you want to teach.
While your application form briefly outlines your qualifications, skills and work experience, your teaching personal statement is where your personality shines through.
Take your time with it, be prepared to receive constructive feedback and write a few drafts before you send it off.
How do I write a good teacher training personal statement?
To help you write a successful teacher training personal statement, we recommend you include:
- use examples to back everything up, based on your teaching experience so far
- tailor your personal statement according to the age group you wish to teach
- write using concise English, using first person terms such as 'my' and 'I'
- be original and honest - don't embellish the truth or lie outright
- avoid clichés and general statements, such as 'since a young age' or 'I've always wanted to be a teacher'
- demonstrate your passion and enthusiasm for teaching.
You have up to 4,000 characters to write a memorable opening, middle and conclusion.
Don't waste your valuable space on writing about things that are already on your UCAS form elsewhere, such as your qualifications.
What should I include in my teacher training personal statement?
When planning out your personal statement, ask yourself what it is your training providers are looking for. Make sure your statement answers the following questions:
- Why do I want to teach? - show that you know about the challenges and rewards of teaching, and remember that everything has its ups and downs. Maybe talk about any lessons you have observed/taught, what went well and how you would have improved on them. Discuss teaching styles used and the use of technology in the classroom.
- Why do I want to teach this age group/at this level? - what appeals to you, and what experience do you have teaching these students/children?
- What are my strengths? - include the relevance of your degree and subject knowledge.
- What experience do I have? - include any experience you have of volunteering with children, such as teaching a sports team, youth work or working at a summer camp? Give examples of how this helpd develop your teaching skills.
- What personal skills/abilities do I have? - these might include research, creativity, time management, IT skills, problem solving, managing people, organisational skills, listening skills, leading or working in a team. To strengthen your application, make sure you back everything up with examples.
- Are there are any location restrictions? - if you don't currently live in the UK, why do you want to study here? Are you willing to move away from your current home town/city for your degree?
You only have up to 47 lines (4,000 characters including spaces) in which to persuade your chosen initial teacher training (ITT) providers to offer you an interview. The statement must be concise, enthusiastic and sell your potential to be a successful teacher.
For more help and advice on what to write in your teacher training personal statement, please see:
- Personal Statement Editing Services
- Personal Statement Tips From A Teacher
- Analysis Of A Personal Statement
- The 15th January UCAS Deadline: 4 Ways To Avoid Missing It
- Personal Statement FAQs
- Personal Statement Timeline
- 10 Top Personal Statement Writing Tips
- What To Do If You Miss The 15th January UCAS Deadline.
What is a teacher training degree?
Teacher training degrees combine the study of curriculum subjects with learning teaching techniques and putting these into practice during hands-on school placements. The course leads to QTS (qualified teacher status) to enable you to teach in a school or college.
How long is a teacher training course?
To teach in England and Wales you need to gain QTS. You will obtain this on an ITT programme, which could be school or university-based and takes approximately one year to complete.
How do I become a teacher with a degree?
To teach as a qualified teacher in England, you'll need qualified teacher status (QTS). If you already have a degree, you can complete a postgraduate teacher training course to achieve this. Additionally, you'll need to have a GCSE at grade C/4 in maths and English, as well as science if you want to teach primary.
Can I train to be a teacher without a degree?
Unfortunately no - you cannot become a teacher without a degree.
But if you are an undergraduate or have a degree in a different subject than what you want to teach, there are options to help you get into a teaching career.
Will I get paid for teacher training?
There are three types of funding available for teacher training - depending on your circumstances, you could receive all three:
- Tax-free bursary or scholarship.
- Tuition Fee Loan and Maintenance Loan.
- Extra financial support if you're a parent, have an adult dependant or a disability.
Further information
For more tips and advice on teacher training personal statements, please see:
- GetIntoTeaching
- The Complete University Guide
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Teacher training interview questions.
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1. Get The Basics Right
You need to spend a lot of time making sure that your personal statement sounds professional – this means excellent grammar, spelling and punctuation, and a good choice of words. It is definitely advisable to read example personal statements online, but you need to make sure that you don’t let any stock phrases creep into your own statement. There is nothing worse than a personal statement which looks like it has been cut and pasted from the internet. Make sure you ask someone else to check your statement – it is all too easy to miss errors when the same 600 words have been swimming before your eyes for a whole day.
2. Follow The Instructions
The personal statement is an essential component of the initial application stage. Very specific instructions are given about what you should include in your personal statement, even providing a bullet pointed list of what is needed. It might sound obvious – but you need to include everything in this list – if you miss anything then your application will be rejected. At the same time, you don’t want to make your personal statement sound wooden by simply following lists – always make sure that what you are writing flows well and sounds natural.
It could be well worth printing off the application instructions and ticking off each point to make sure that you have covered everything. If a candidate looks like they haven’t followed instructions then it puts their application in a very bad light.
There is a strict limit of 600 words – make sure you stay within this length, but also make sure you don’t write a statement which is too short – candidates who submit a statement which is nearer the minimum of 400 words may look like they are struggling to find things to write.
3. Make It Relevant
Make sure you focus on relevant experiences - particularly your experience of teaching and observation in schools It is fine to include other experiences, but you always need to make sure they are linked back to the purpose of your application – i.e. your ability to be an inspirational and passionate maths teacher. If you coach a youth football team then you need to relate this experience back to your passion for teaching young people, rather than emphasising how much you love football. If you have an experience which is not directly related to working with young people then it is important that you make it relevant, for example if you worked weekends in a restaurant, then you may have discovered that you enjoyed training new staff, helping you decide on a career in education. You might find yourself in the lucky position that you have far too much relevant experience to fit in the statement, meaning that you need to be ruthless and prioritise what to put in.
4. Don’t Repeat Yourself
Don’t include anything in the personal statement which you have already included in the application form – this is simply a waste of space. Your degree is already listed on your application form, so there is no need to include it again in the personal statement. It can be tempting to include absolutely everything in the personal statement, whereas you need to be looking at your application as a whole – have you covered all the points across the whole application?
5. Don’t Copy The Website Verbatim
Whilst you may think you are being clever by copying and pasting text from the Maths Scholarships website into your personal statement, be warned that those who are reading your personal statement also wrote this website. Basically, they recognise when they are having their own words quoted back at them. It also shows that you do not fully understand what it is you are applying for.
Take the time to fully understand what the Maths Scholarship is, why the additional support is being offered and that may help you to address the bullet points relating to being a Maths Scholar.
6. Replacing Maths Teacher With Maths Scholar
It can be tempting to replace 'maths teacher' with 'Maths Scholar' in the personal statement that you produced for your application to teacher training. As a word of caution, doing that normally makes no sense and you appear to not fully understand the Maths Scholarship and its benefits.
7. And Finally...
Try and remember that the effort you put into your personal statement will be well worth it and will hopefully be the first step on an exciting and rewarding adventure. When you read your personal statement, you need to imagine it sitting in a large pile of statements from other people. Does yours read well? Is it relevant? Does it have an excellent opening paragraph? If using clichés such as “maths is my passion”, expand on this by explaining why you are passionate about maths, and what is it that gets you all fired up. It’s OK to say you love a specific equation, or that it’s applicable to everyday life but show us how you interpret that. It’s a line that’s all too easy to say and all too hard to prove!
You could have the best teaching ability in the world, but if you have a poor personal statement then you won’t be invited to the Assessment. On the other hand – if you make the effort to write an excellent personal statement, then you will be giving yourself the best chance possible of progressing to the next stage of the application process.
Keep up-to-date with the latest Maths Scholarships news:
Find us on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , YouTube , and Instagram .
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How to write a great personal statement for a teaching job.
targetjobs editorial team
12 Nov 2024, 17:40
Discover our top tips on what to include in your personal statement for a teaching job and how to present your skills, knowledge, experience and attributes.
Supported by:
Lift Schools
Your personal statement is the heart of your application for work as an early career teacher and should be tailored for each role. For teaching applications this is sometimes also called a letter of application, but it is essentially the same thing. This is your opportunity to provide evidence of how you match the needs of the specific teaching job you are applying for, and earn yourself an invitation to the next stage, which is likely to be a selection day held at the school.
Writing tips for personal statements
When completing a personal statement for a teaching job, you should typically observe the following guidelines:
- Do not write a generic statement. Instead use the person specification and job description as a structure for your statement or consider using the government's Teachers' Standards if no person specification is provided.
- Do not exceed two sides of A4, unless otherwise instructed.
- Tailor your statement for each new application according to the nature of the school or LA and the advertised role.
- Always read any guidance provided – many schools and LAs will tell you how they want this section set out.
- Emphasise your individual strengths in relation to the role.
- For a pool application, make sure you give a good overview of your skills and experience.
- It is essential that you give specific examples of what you have done to back up your claims.
Primary school personal statement
Examples of a personal statements for a primary school teaching job.
Primary school personal statement example
Secondary school personal statement
See our example of a personal statement for a secondary school teaching job.
Secondary school personal statement example
When a school advertises a teaching job , it will usually provide an information pack, which will include a person specification that states the essential attributes they are looking for. Be sure to read it carefully as it also serves as the marking criteria for the job. When drafting your statement, you should make sure to include an example or evidence for each criterion.
If the job advert does not include any documents which provide the criteria, you can use the following structure for your statement and use the Teachers’ Standards as a guide for the criteria they may be looking for.
Why you are applying for the role:
- Refer to any knowledge you have of the LA or the school, including any visits to the school and what you learned from them.
- Show you would be a good fit for the school. The best way to do this is to look at the school’s values and give an example of how you match these.
- Mention any special circumstances (for example, your religious faith) which you think are relevant.
Details about your course:
- Give an overview of your training course - including the age range and subjects covered - and any special features.
- If you are a PGCE student, mention your first degree, your dissertation (if appropriate), any classroom-based research projects and relevant modules studied. Also mention if you have studied any masters modules.
Your teaching experience:
- What year groups you have taught.
- What subjects you have covered.
- Your use and understanding of formative and summative assessment practices.
Your classroom management strategies:
- Give examples of how you planned and delivered lessons and evaluated learning outcomes, including differentiation, scaffolding etc.
- Explain how you have managed classrooms and behaviour.
- Detail your experience of working with assistants or parents in your class.
Your visions and beliefs about primary/secondary education:
- What are your beliefs about learning and your visions for the future? You could touch on areas such as learning and teaching styles and strategies.
- Reflect on key policies relevant to the age range you want to teach.
Other related experience:
- This can include information about any previous work experience.
- Include training activities you have carried out and ways in which your subject knowledge has been developed.
Other related skills and interests:
- Give details of any particular competencies, experiences or leisure interests. This will help the school to know more about you as a person and could ‘add value’ in a school environment.
- Any involvement in working with children (running clubs, youth work and summer camps) is particularly useful to include.
Aim to end on a positive note. A conclusion which displays your enthusiasm in relation to the specific application and teaching in general will enhance your application - but avoid general statements and clichés.
See our example personal statement for primary school teaching, below. Imagine it was written in response to the following person specification
We are advertising for a Year 3 Classroom Teacher. The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate the following:
- Commitment to our school and our values
- Experience across a range of age groups
- Commitment to reflection and improving practice
- Knowledge of the National Curriculum
- Excellent lesson planning
- Knowledge of assessment
- Good knowledge of SEND and positive interventions
- Positive approach to provide challenge and support student success
- Excellent behaviour management
- Good communication skills with parents
- Enthusiastic and creative approach to lessons
- Willingness to contribute to the wider life of the school.
See our personal statement for secondary school teaching, below. Imagine it was written in response to the following person specification:
Country High School are advertising for an enthusiastic Secondary PE Teacher. The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate the following:
- Ability to adapt and tailor your approach for the differing needs of pupils
- Knowledge of the National Curriculum for your subject
- Knowledge of a wide range of sports
- Willingness to engage in extra curricular activities and the wider life of the school
- Experience of supporting high ability students, as well as those who may be less able or motivated
- Ability to use data effectively
- Competence to teach across all ability levels including SEND
- Ability to use technology to enhance learning.
Written by Joanne Doherty, Stranmillis University College, July 2024
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