Examples & writing guide
Teacher CV example and writing guide for 2026
Updated 14 July 2026
A strong teacher CV gives schools quick, specific evidence of how you plan lessons, support pupils and improve learning. This guide explains what to include, with a teacher CV sample style personal statement and practical ways to turn classroom duties into credible achievements.
Examples by experience level
Graduate Primary Teacher
TemplateAshford1 / 5
Why this works
This example puts recent classroom placements first and backs lesson planning, assessment, behaviour management and pupil support with specific, defensible results.
Continue writing your CVPrimary School Teacher
TemplateTeal Signal2 / 5
Why this works
This teacher CV sample shows steady classroom progression, measurable pupil outcomes and credible responsibility beyond day-to-day lesson delivery.
Continue writing your CVSenior Teacher
TemplateNavy Atlas4 / 5
Why this works
This teacher CV sample shows sustained pupil progress, department leadership, curriculum improvement and staff development at a credible senior scale.
Continue writing your CVJunior vs senior: what changes
| Aspect | Junior | Senior |
|---|---|---|
| Personal statement | Lead with recent training, placements, transferable experience and the age range or subject targeted. Keep the evidence concrete and modest. | Lead with teaching scope, sustained pupil outcomes, curriculum responsibility and leadership influence, supported by defensible evidence. |
| Experience emphasis | Give placement and school experience enough detail to show lesson planning, assessment, adaptation and behaviour management in practice. | Compress older classroom roles and devote more space to recent leadership, curriculum work, staff development and outcomes across classes or teams. |
| Achievement evidence | Use placement observations, pupil work, participation, progress checks and mentor feedback where these records are available. | Show results over longer periods and wider groups, making clear what the candidate personally led and what the wider team delivered. |
| Skills presentation | Prioritise classroom foundations such as planning, subject knowledge, assessment, differentiated instruction, safeguarding awareness and clear communication. | Retain classroom credibility while adding evidence of strategic planning, coaching, collaboration with leaders and specialists, and responsibility for improvement. |
| Education and training | Place recent teacher training prominently and include relevant placement details and grades received. | Keep established qualifications concise, then give more space to recent professional development that connects directly to current responsibilities. |
| CV structure | A clear reverse-chronological format helps recruiters find recent qualifications and school placements quickly; relevant school experience should appear early. | Use the same clear reverse-chronological structure, but organise the first page around recent impact, scale and leadership rather than a long career history. |
How to write a teacher CV
Use a clear, easy-to-read layout and keep the document focused on the post. Two pages is a sensible target for most classroom applications in England, although relevance matters more than squeezing text into a rigid limit. List employment and qualifications in reverse-chronological order. Put your personal statement near the top, followed by teaching experience, relevant skills, education and concise additional information.
| Section | What to include |
|---|---|
| Contact details | Name, UK location, mobile number, professional email and profile link if useful |
| Personal statement | Three or four targeted sentences covering teaching context, strengths and evidence |
| Experience | Recent roles and placements, with age range, responsibilities and measured results |
| Skills | Abilities supported by examples elsewhere in the CV |
| Education | Recent teacher training and qualifications, listed newest first |
| Additional information | Relevant volunteering, languages, interests or other teaching experience |
Put work experience on the first page. For each role, give the school type or a generic description, your title, location and dates. Follow this with short achievement bullets. A graduate teacher CV can draw on placements, tutoring, youth work and teacher aide experience with the age range the candidate wants to teach. Recent candidates should also record teacher-training placement details and grades received. Experienced teachers can devote more space to pupil progress, curriculum work, behaviour, mentoring and responsibilities beyond their own classroom.
Tailor the opening paragraph to the vacancy. A useful teacher personal statement names the setting or age range, gives one or two relevant strengths and adds a defensible result. Avoid broad claims such as "passionate educator" unless the next words prove what that means.
Keep the skills section selective. Assessment, curriculum knowledge, lesson planning, adaptive teaching, behaviour management, communication and organisation are relevant only when the employment section shows how you used them. Education should be brief once you have substantial experience, while a new teacher can give training and placements greater prominence.
Relevant voluntary teaching, leadership, IT capability and languages can strengthen the final section. Include a reference quote only when you have permission and it adds information that is not already obvious. A returning teacher seeking classroom experience in England should send a short cover note with the CV; for a secondary application, that note may state previously taught stages and main teaching subjects.
Personal statement examples
Reflective secondary teacher with four years' experience planning curriculum-aligned lessons and adapting teaching for mixed-attainment classes. Used regular assessment and targeted feedback to raise the proportion of pupils meeting departmental expectations from 68% to 79% across one academic year. Known for calm behaviour management, secure subject knowledge and constructive communication with pupils, colleagues and families.
I am a passionate and hardworking teacher who loves helping children learn. I have excellent communication and organisation skills, work well alone or in a team and would be a great addition to any school.
Writing your experience
Treat each bullet as a small piece of evidence. Start with a decisive verb, describe the teaching action and scope, then state the result. The strongest figures have context: class size, number of groups, time period, starting point or comparison. Use only records you are entitled to discuss, remove identifying pupil information and choose figures you could explain at interview.
A practical pattern is: action + teaching context + measured result. For example, "Redesigned retrieval practice across four Year 9 classes, increasing the average end-of-unit score from 61% to 70% over two terms." The number works because the reader can see what changed, where it changed and over what period.
| Weak duty statement | Stronger achievement bullet |
|---|---|
| Responsible for marking work | Introduced weekly feedback routines for 96 pupils, cutting overdue marking by 40% within one term |
| Helped pupils who were falling behind | Used assessment records to plan six-week small-group support for 18 pupils, with 14 meeting their individual curriculum targets |
| Managed behaviour in lessons | Reset routines in three mixed-attainment classes, reducing recorded lesson removals from 11 to 4 over half a term |
The stronger versions do not inflate the teacher's role. They specify the intervention and give a bounded outcome. Where a result depended on colleagues, write "co-developed", "contributed to" or "worked with" instead of claiming sole credit.
Useful opening verbs include planned, taught, adapted, assessed, analysed, improved, introduced, redesigned, coordinated, mentored, coached and reduced. Match the verb to your actual authority. A trainee might write "planned and taught a six-lesson sequence under mentor supervision"; a senior teacher might write "coordinated a revised assessment approach across eight classes".
Cover the main strands of the vacancy rather than repeating attainment figures. One bullet might show pupil progress, another behaviour or inclusion, and another collaboration or curriculum work. Teachers use formative and summative assessment, relevant data, targets, and oral and written feedback to monitor and support progress. They also adapt teaching for pupils at different developmental stages and with differing needs. Your bullets should show those practices in action, not merely list them as skills.
Key skills & ATS keywords
Hard skills
Soft skills
ATS keywords
Education & certifications
Present education and training in reverse-chronological order. Give the qualification, provider, subject and completion year; add a short line on relevant placements or assessed work when you are early in your career. Recent applicants should include teacher-training placement details and the grades received. Once your teaching history is substantial, reduce older education to the information needed to understand your route.
For training to teach in primary or secondary schools in England, the stated entry route requires a bachelor's degree in any subject and GCSEs at grade 4 (C) or above in English and maths. Primary teacher training in England also requires a GCSE at grade 4 (C) or above in science. Some training providers may set a condition of a bachelor's degree class 2:2 or above, so describe this as provider-dependent rather than a universal threshold.
Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) is required for teaching in maintained primary, secondary and special schools funded by local authorities in England. State Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) clearly when it applies to the role. If you hold a Teacher Reference Number (TRN) and are seeking classroom experience in England, include it with your contact details. Do not display somebody else's number or imply that an application is incomplete when the condition does not apply.
A postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) is optional for becoming a qualified teacher in England, although it can develop teaching skills and knowledge. Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) is not required for teaching in further education or early years in England, so tailor the qualifications section to the setting rather than copying a generic teacher CV template.
A Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) course can be conditionally required for candidates who lack sufficient subject knowledge on certain UCL secondary PGCE courses. Keep that narrow scope if it is relevant; it is not a blanket condition for every teacher or training route.
Common mistakes to avoid
AvoidWriting a generic opening that could belong to any teacher, without naming the age range, subject or classroom evidence relevant to the vacancy.
InsteadUse a targeted personal statement of three or four sentences. State the teaching context, strongest evidence and the contribution you can make in the advertised post.
AvoidListing duties such as "planned lessons" or "marked work" without showing what changed for pupils.
InsteadTurn each duty into evidence: name the action, the class or teaching scope, and a defensible result such as progress against a baseline, attendance, participation or completion.
AvoidBurying recent classroom experience on page two beneath a long skills list or unrelated employment.
InsteadPut relevant work experience on the front page and order roles from most recent to oldest. Give the greatest space to experience with the age range you want to teach.
AvoidGiving every placement equal weight, even when some placements are more relevant to the target post.
InsteadPrioritise school experience that matches the intended age range. For recent teacher training, add the placement setting, responsibilities and grades received.
AvoidClaiming broad strengths such as communication, patience or organisation without classroom proof.
InsteadAttach each strength to a short example, such as adapting a lesson after assessment, explaining progress to parents or carers, or coordinating support with colleagues.
AvoidAdding invented percentages or estimates because quantified bullets look stronger.
InsteadUse only figures you can defend. If a reliable number is unavailable, describe the scale and outcome precisely without manufacturing a metric.
Frequently asked questions
For teachers seeking classroom experience in England, two pages is a typical ceiling. Keep the strongest recent evidence on page one and cut repeated duties, old detail and unsupported adjectives.
Build it around recent teacher training, placements, school experience and transferable work or volunteering. Prioritise experience with the age range you want to teach, then show what you planned, adapted, assessed or improved.
Use three or four targeted sentences covering your teaching context, relevant age range or subject, strongest classroom evidence and fit for the post. Avoid stock claims such as "passionate teacher" unless the next sentence proves them.
No. Under British CV conventions, use your name and practical contact details, but leave out both a photograph and date of birth.
Translate earlier work into relevant evidence such as explaining complex ideas, leading groups, planning structured activities, using data or supporting others. School experience and recent training should sit ahead of unrelated career detail.
A short reference quote can be included where possible, but it should not displace stronger classroom evidence. If space is tight, concentrate on achievements and provide referee details through the application process when requested.
From example to application
Turn this teacher example into a CV that sounds like you.
Keep the structure that works. Tailor the details around your experience, strengths, and the role you want.