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Lumen Learning Trust

A successful teaching job personal statement

These can take hours to write, but we would encourage the following process for a more successful application.

Before writing:
Begin by listing all your proudest achievements. Make these relevant to the past few years or teaching practices. Highlight what you did, any challenges you may have faced, and the outcomes.

Break down the specific job specification into parts. Your application will be read against this, so match up your first list (what you’ve done in the past), with the specification (what the school would like).

During writing:
Write in formal and clear language. Your application will be scanned first, then read in depth, so if it doesn’t read well at first glance, lower the word count and make what you are saying very clear.

Begin the statement with your philosophy for education. This isn’t The Apprentice – tell us why you came into teaching, and what type of difference you want to make in your career.

End your statement with your career aspirations and reasons for applying to this particular school.

After writing:
Proof-read your statement. This seems painfully obvious, but it is incredible how many applicants send statements which are grammatically incorrect, apply to a different school, and even have candidate names spelt incorrectly. Read the statement aloud, slowly, correcting as you go.

Send your statement to at least three people to proof-read too. Ask them for critical feedback, and if you can, have a member of SLT (at your or another school) read through the statement and give you pointers.

Lumen Learning Trust