English teacher CV example and writing guide for 2026

Choose a structure that suits your experience

For most teachers, reverse-chronological order is the clearest option. Put your current or most recent role first, followed by earlier employment. Someone moving into English teaching as a second career may find that a functional format gives more room to relevant transferable skills and qualifications. A hybrid CV can suit a teacher returning after a break or combining classroom experience with useful work from another field.

Two pages is a practical target, although a relevant third page is better than cramped type or deleted evidence. Use clear section headings, consistent dates, comfortable spacing and an ordinary, readable font. In the header, include your full name, target role, professional email address, reachable mobile number and city or general location. Leave out your photograph, date of birth and personal social-media accounts.

After the header, use this order: personal statement, employment history, skills, education and selected extras. Your English teacher personal statement should establish your level and teaching context quickly. Replace broad phrases such as "passionate educator" with one defensible example of pupil progress, curriculum work or departmental contribution.

For each job, show the organisation, title and dates, then add three to six concise points. A reader should be able to see what you taught, the scale involved and what changed because of your work. Select skills that appear elsewhere in the CV rather than presenting an unsupported list. Record education in reverse-chronological order and use the qualification's exact awarded title.

Tailor each English teacher CV to the advertised post. Borrow relevant wording from the job description only where it accurately describes your experience. This can make the match easier to see and may help when an applicant tracking system reads the document, but a block of disconnected keywords will sound forced. Optional sections belong at the end. Keep them only when they add evidence that the main sections cannot provide.

Turn classroom work into evidence

A duty tells the reader what the job involved. An achievement shows what you changed. Build each substantial bullet around action + teaching context + method + result. For example: "Redesigned the Year 10 writing sequence for 96 pupils, using weekly retrieval tasks and moderated exemplars; the proportion meeting internal assessment targets rose from 58% to 71% over two terms."

Use measures that your employer could recognise and that you can defend. Depending on your own work, useful evidence might include progress against an internal baseline, completed assignments, revision-session attendance, reading participation, marking turnaround or the number of classes and colleagues supported. Give the basis of a percentage where space permits. "Improved attainment by 12%" leaves questions; "increased the proportion meeting the department's writing target from 60% to 72%" tells the reader what was measured.

Choose verbs that identify your contribution: planned, taught, assessed, moderated, redesigned, introduced, coached, coordinated, analysed, adapted and mentored. Avoid beginning every line with "responsible for" or "helped with". Keep the outcome beside the action so the connection is clear.

Give priority to accomplishments involving pupil attainment, engagement initiatives or teaching recognition instead of filling the section with routine duties. Relevant evidence may also cover secure subject and curriculum knowledge, literacy standards, professional relationships, use of support staff, professional development or communication with parents about pupil achievement and wellbeing. Add scale where it helps: year group, pupil number, programme length, class count or team size. Never invent a convenient figure. A specific qualitative result you can support is stronger than a fabricated percentage.

Match the qualification to the route

List education in reverse-chronological order, using the exact award title, institution and completion year. Mark unfinished study as in progress and include the expected completion date. Do not rename an award to resemble a more familiar credential. Teaching routes vary by setting, so check the vacancy and give prominence to the qualification that supports that particular application.

For teaching GCSE and A-level English in UK further education colleges, most colleges require a degree (Level 6) in a relevant subject. The specified route for fully qualified academic further education teachers is PGCE post-16 education or a similar teaching qualification. Some FE colleges may recruit someone for their industry experience and support them to complete a teaching qualification while working. A Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) course is optional for an FE English candidate whose degree is outside the intended subject or who wants to refresh their knowledge.

Some UK employers recruiting English as a foreign language teachers may expect a degree or postgraduate course that gives qualified teacher status (QTS). English, linguistics, modern foreign languages and education studies are useful university subjects for candidates following this path, but they are not stated as universal entry conditions.

For 2026/27 entry to the Secondary Education (English) PGDE route covered here, applicants need an ordinary degree or international equivalent. The degree must include at least 80 SCQF credits in English, of which 40 must be in Literature. Applicants also need Higher (SCQF Level 6) English Grade C or above and National 5 (SCQF Level 5) Mathematics Grade C or above; either qualification may be in progress at application. This specified PGDE route is regulated by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) and the Scottish Government.

Keep every entry factual. Record only qualifications you hold or are genuinely completing. Add modules, subject credits or other course detail beneath an award only when they help demonstrate fit for the route in question.