Are you a teacher looking to take the next step in your career? Whether you’re seeking a new position, a promotion, or a change in location, having a well-crafted CV is essential to standing out in the competitive world of teaching. But with so many different CV formats and styles to choose from, it can be difficult to know where to start. In this blog, we’ll be sharing expert advice on how to create a CV that showcases your skills and experience in the best possible light and helps you to land the teaching job of your dreams.
1. Use a clear structure
Keep your CV to a maximum of 2 pages in length and give it a crystal clear structure that makes sense to your potential new employer. We see quite a few CVs with lengthy paragraphs for each of a teacher’s previous schools, describing teaching style and regaling the reader with anecdotal stories. We advise saving these for when relevant during the interview stage and sticking to concise key points on a CV.
The basic structure for your 2-page CV should be:
- Name & contact details
- A personal statement
- Your career details & achievements
- Your education
- Out of school interests and achievements
A great way to cut down the length of your CV is to take out some of the detail from more historical roles that you have had. Interviewers are going to focus on your most recent experience so make sure you have summarised your successes here with clarity. When mentioning older roles feel free to simply include the name of the school and the position held.
You want to make sure it’s your words that catch the attention not the presentation – including ‘I’m amazing!’ in bold and 48 size font isn’t going to help. Stick to a 12pt size and a simple font (Times New Roman if printed and Arial if your CV will be read on a screen).
Use bold to highlight headings and to help break up sections of your CV, but avoid using it to highlight keywords (e.g. don’t do what I have done in this sentence!)
2. Sound ‘human’ on your personal statement
This is probably the section that people find the most difficult to write. Unfortunately, it’s also the most important. Our biggest piece of CV writing advice for teachers would be to get this part right. The personal statement is the first thing school decision-makers will read; it’s the space where you can put across your motivations and personal qualities, aside from your career experience. Choose every word carefully here, and keep it down to 3-4 sentences in length.
In your personal statement, make sure you summarise:
- Where you are at in your career
- Your personal qualities
- Your key achievements to date
3. Choose the right vocabulary when writing your CV
Using the right vocabulary in your CV will help give it that boost to stand out from the pile. We’re not talking about the latest buzz words here, but choosing appropriate action verbs (managed, improved, developed, led, achieved, succeeded) alongside powerful & positive adjectives (productive, innovative, adaptable, versatile, resourceful, pro-active).
4. Be concise with your career summary
If you have been teaching for a few years, or if you have been working as a supply teacher, it is likely that you have a lot of information to include here. This is why using bullet points is really important to help break it up and keep it digestible.
Make sure you include the role, school and dates that you were employed with a brief summary of your responsibilities and achievements. We advise that you keep each point achievement focus to give the overall impression that you had a positive impact on the school and students.
Ideally, your key achievements will relate to the below areas:
- Motivating and encouraging pupils to make good or excellent progress (including stats, percentages, attainment level increases is very helpful)
- Additional responsibilities – mentoring an NQT, running a lunchtime club, leading INSET sessions, supporting staff members
- Experience of supporting SEN students and running an inclusive classroom
- Positive stats on previous exam results
- Positive reports from any Ofsted inspections
Definitely include any training courses or professional development you have undertaken. If you are a supply teacher and feel you haven’t had the opportunity for CPD recently – then check out our online courses. We hope that our free face-to-face CPD sessions will be back up and running soon too! Also, keeping track of Inset days and training that you have been a part of help to create that picture of a committed and progression-driven professional.
5. Include your ‘out of school’ interests
We’re not necessarily talking about your love of travel or passion for pot plants here. Importantly, when including your interests in a CV, make sure they are relevant to your school and could potentially be brought in to inspire students. Schools are very interested in having a diverse & interesting staff team to spark pupils’ imagination in a variety of different ways. If you have a love for learning languages, are mad about musicals or get a kick out of sport, running or environmental issues curiosity and conversation is likely to be sparked at interview stage.
6. Explain any gaps in your CV
Make sure you include an explanation for any gaps in your employment history. For example, ‘time at home due to caring responsibilities’ ‘break from employment due to studying commitments’. Leaving any blanks will be picked up by schools and will be flagged as a safeguarding concern, so check through for a steady flow of dates.
Thank you for reading Prospero’s ‘CV Writing Advice for Teachers.’ To summarise:
- Focus on your teaching skills, experience and responsibilities.
- Keep your career summary achievement-focused
- Make use of positive keywords
- Make it personal and tailored with your personal statement and ‘out of school interests’
- Don’t forget the basics.
Example Teacher CV:
This example CV is designed to provide guidance on how to create a winning CV for a teacher. It highlights the key elements that need to be included, such as a clear structure, relevant vocabulary, and a personal statement. By following the format and tips provided in this poat, you can ensure that your CV stands out in the competitive world of teaching and helps you land the job of your dreams:
Name: Jane Smith Contact details: Email: janesmith@email.com Phone: 555-555-1212 Address: 1234 Main St, Anytown UK
Personal statement: Dedicated and experienced teacher with 5 years of experience in the classroom. Proven track record of motivating and encouraging students to make excellent progress. Strong classroom management skills and a passion for integrating technology in the classroom.
Career details and achievements:
- Lead teacher, XYZ Elementary School (2018-present)
- Successfully led the implementation of a new curriculum, resulting in a 15% increase in student achievement
- Developed and implemented a successful behavior management program, resulting in a 50% decrease in disciplinary incidents
- Classroom teacher, ABC Middle School (2015-2018)
- Consistently received high marks on evaluations for effective classroom management and engaging lesson planning
- Collaborated with other teachers to develop and implement a successful reading intervention program for struggling students
Education:
- Bachelor of Science in Education, XYZ University (2011-2015)
- Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction, ABC University (2016-2018)
Out-of-school interests and achievements:
- Co-founder and organizer of an annual charity walk to raise money for local schools (2016-2019)
- Avid runner, completed 2 marathons and numerous half-marathons
>> Just getting started? Check out our blog on writing your first graduate teaching CV.
Are you looking for a new role?
If you are on the lookout for your next role you can view all our latest school vacancies here.
Our specialist consultants are always delighted to hear from you – Find out more about our available teaching vacancies or the free CPD-accredited training courses we offer.
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