Teacher CV Example

If you’re targeting a teaching job in the UK, your prospects are great as more teachers are needed to reduce an increasing pupil-teacher ratio.

But increased demand for teachers doesn’t mean schools will lower their hiring standards. To land a rewarding post at your preferred school, you have to prove you’re the best teacher for the job.

To set yourself apart from other applicants, you need to make a CV that gets you to the top of employers’ interview shortlists. Here are six tips for writing your best teacher CV:

1. Format your teacher CV properly

A properly formatted CV includes sections for your:

• name and contact information
• personal statement
• work experience
• education qualifications
• skills
• relevant hobbies and interests
• optional extra sections (e.g., a section highlighting your language skills)

While your name and contact information always go at the top followed by your personal statement, you should order the rest of the sections so that the information most likely to get the recruiter’s attention is near the top of the first page.

For example, if you’re a recent graduate without much teaching experience, you can move your education and skills sections up to emphasise your training.

2. Write an engaging personal statement

A personal statement is a 2–3 sentence introduction to your CV. Your personal statement is an essential part of your teacher CV because:

• employers expect to see it as part of a standard UK CV
• it’s the first part of your CV the reviewer reads, making it a prime spot for your top selling points
• when written well, it leads the reviewer to pay close attention to the rest of your CV

To write a personal statement that impresses CV reviewers at all levels of the UK education system:

• start with your professional title and teaching status (NQT or QTS) so the employer knows right away that you’re qualified for the post
• highlight your best achievement or most relevant experience, providing data for maximum impact
• show your passion for teaching
• state how your skills can benefit the school

Here’s an example of a job-winning personal statement for a teacher CV:

3. Quantify your teaching experience

To make your CV stand out to recruiters, highlight your top teaching achievements with hard numbers in your CV’s work experience section. Adding hard numbers gives employers a clear picture of what you can accomplish if they hire you to teach for them.

Hard numbers you can showcase in your teacher CV include:

• the sizes of classes you’ve taught
• average grade increases you produced
• class attendance rates

Below are two bullet points from a teacher CV that emphasise impressive results with hard numbers:

• Used effective teaching and class management techniques to deliver instructions to a class of 50+ students, improving exam results by 30%
• Organised and coordinated 60+ school trips to cultural institutions

4. Highlight your education qualifications

Show school recruiters that you’re a well-rounded applicant who meets their qualifications by making an education section for your CV that includes your:

• university degree
• dissertation (if applicable)
• relevant modules
• GCSEs
• A-Levels

Here’s an example of how a teacher CV’s education section should look:

UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA, NORWICH (2015–2018)
Bachelor of Arts in Education, upper second-class honours (2:1)

Relevant Modules: The Role of Modality in English Grammar (Dissertation), Teaching of English as a Second Language: Issues and Challenges, Childhood, Youth, and Transitions, Digital Learning and Society, Educational Theory and Practice

THE BISHOP’S STORTFORD HIGH SCHOOL, BISHOP’S STORTFORD (2008–2014)

A-Levels: History (A*), Politics (A), Psychology (B)
GCSEs: 10 A–C including English Language (A), English Literature (A), History (A), Maths (B), Science (A), Additional Science (B), IT (Merit)

5. Emphasise your teaching skills

Make a skills section for your CV that lists your core teaching abilities. Education employers look for a mix of technical and soft CV skills that show you can get A* results in the classroom:

Technical skills

Include examples from your teaching experience that show your technical knowledge and skills related to the subject you teach:

• Maths: physics, statistics, data analytics
• Physical education (PE): coaching, kinesiology, CPR
• Art: fine art skills, art history knowledge, design software (Photoshop, Premiere, and Autodesk Maya)
• IT class: coding languages, hardware repair, software troubleshooting
• Modern foreign languages (MFL): foreign languages, TESOL certification (certTESOL, CELTA)
• History: research skills
• Science: chemistry skills, maths skills, investigation skills

Also add technical classroom management skills to your CV:

Soft skills

Successful teachers possess job-relevant soft skills (interpersonal characteristics) that help them build relationships with students and colleagues. Here are relevant soft skills to include on your teacher CV:

6. Explain your teacher CV with a cover letter

You may have heard that cover letters are no longer necessary, but that’s not true. Employers receive many CVs with similar skills and experience, and reading cover letters helps them decide which candidates to interview.

So learn how to write a cover letter that:

• introduces yourself to the employer
• shows your passion for teaching
• gives examples of how your skills and experience can benefit your target school
• requests an interview