3rd April 2023

How to write the ideal CV – for teaching roles

Teaching is an extremely popular job as it is such a rewarding profession if you love your role. Because teaching is so popular, jobs can be difficult to come across due to such high demand and competition. Having a strong CV is the best starting point to beat the competition and ensure you get that job! Here at Engage, we offer plenty of options so that you can kickstart your teaching career or get back in the game if you’ve taken some time out.

Find out more

Having a stand-out CV is important when applying for any job, but for teaching roles, it is crucial as it allows you to show off your skillset, extra curricular work and impact with attainment.

How to make your CV stand out from the rest

Personal Statment/ Cover Letter

Having an impactful, creative and unique personal statement or opening statement can be vital as it provides a first impression, shows your interest in a particular role and introduces your personality. Your personal statement can be the reason you get a job, do when writing it, make sure that you sell yourself to the school that you are applying for, make them feel like they need you and state what you’d bring to their school. It goes without saying, you should take your time writing a personal statement for each individual role you’re applying for and ensure there are no errors or gaps. The same tips apply for writing a cover letter if the job requires it.

Education History

Include your full education history from GCSEs up to degree level and beyond, as grades are one of the key factors for teacher jobs. Include what you enjoyed about your experiences at the schools you trained in or worked at since graduating, add reasoning and examples for when you felt most proud or happy throughout any courses that you took, this can be a great way to stand out from the crowd.

Achievements

Don’t be afraid to brag or show off your achievements, highlighting anything that you feel proud of throughout your teaching career can benefit your application. Include any conferences, events or workshops that you have attended, this will show employers that you are passionate about your role and go out of your way to improve and learn more.

All CVs should include a section that highlights your hobbies and interests, this way you can show your personality to the employer.

Teachers with experience

If you’re an experienced teacher, list your key traits and skills on your CV. A great way to show that these skills were effective is by highlighting circumstances in which you had to use them and why you had to use them. For example, talk about any plans or objectives that you introduced into your classroom rules and how they helped the environment and benefitted the children’s learning experiences. As well as your experiences, add your references to your CV. Make sure to use a recent referee that has seen you teach lately. If you have teaching experience but there’s a large gap in your CV, make sure to state the reasoning so that employers know you weren’t just out of a job, for instance, if you went travelling. If you’re looking for a way back into teaching, Engage offers many routes and roles in education to fit your needs.

People without teaching experience

If you are looking to get into teaching but haven’t got any past experience in education, as we stated before, your education history is the most important information that you can have on your CV. Along with that, it is vital that you express your passion and reasoning for why you want to get into the education sector, stating your future aspirations. Additionally, add any experience you have gained job-wise to complete your CV. We offer a variety of routes into education, from our ETAP course for those looking to work as Teaching Assistants to our Teacher Training Programme for university graduates- there’s something for everybody!

Teaching Assistants Programme

Teaching Training Programme

How can I teach in the UK when I live abroad?

We are an award-winning education recruitment company that helps place fantastic international teachers into our UK partner schools. Some of our key locations include; Canada, Australia, America, South Africa, UAE, and Ireland.
We offer a variety of job options to help qualified international teachers relocate to the UK and work in our partner schools.

Read more about international teaching opportunities here