Overview
It’s not essential, but it’s a good idea to get some school experience before you apply. This will help you determine whether teaching is for you and give you an idea about the age group or subject you want to teach. It will also give you something to talk about on your application. .
You’ll then need to start thinking about your written application – this is your chance to make yourself stand out.
Applications for postgraduate primary and secondary teaching courses and teacher apprenticeships are made through the . You don’t have to complete the sections all at once – you can save your application and come back to it later.
We will review your application within 30 days – usually much sooner – and if you’ve been successful, we will invite you to an online interview. Please make sure you have as much availability as possible after you have applied.
Our advice on making your application is taken from the Department for Education’s , where you’ll find lots more tips and tricks to help you.
Personal statement
When you submit your application via the , you’ll need to write a personal statement. This consists of the following two sections.
Why you want to teach (up to 600 words)
You can include:
- your interest in the subject or age group
- the demands and rewards of teaching
- the personal qualities that would make you a good teacher
- how you could contribute to a school outside of the classroom
- any past experience working with children or young people, and what you learnt
- your thoughts on welfare and education.
Your suitability to teach a subject or age group (up to 400 words)
This section asks for detailed evidence for the knowledge and interest you bring to the subject(s) you’d like to teach.
Evidence can include:
- the subject of your undergraduate degree
- modules you studied as part of your degree
- postgraduate degrees (for example a Masters or PhD)
- your A-level subjects
- expertise you’ve gained at work.
Work and unpaid experience
On the form you should add your work experience but also any unpaid experience such as working with children or volunteering.
When you add an example, you can provide an accompanying description of up to 150 words, detailing what was involved. In this section you should also include any reasons for leaving jobs, as well as gaps in employment.
Make sure you take the time to give a clear outline of your experiences and when they happened. You can also highlight any skills from previous work that could be applicable to teaching, although if the character limit restricts you then you may choose to include this in the personal statement section.
If you’re applying for the School Direct Training Programme (salaried) – which is mainly aimed at career-changers with at least three years’ work experience – this part of the form can be important for demonstrating your eligibility.
Some schools may accept applications from high-quality graduates with fewer than three years’ experience on to the salaried programme, especially in maths, physics, chemistry, languages and computing. You can check with individual training providers about this before applying.
References
You’ll need to provide at least two referees – your application can’t be progressed without this information.
Your references need to be named individuals and not, for example, a human resources team or academic department. You need to provide a professional email address for them and not a personal one.
There are four types of references you can provide:
- academic – for example, your university tutor
- professional – for example, your manager
- school experience – for example, the headteacher of the school you’ve been working in
- character – for example, a mentor or someone you know from volunteering.
References are not contacted until after you’ve accepted an offer of a place on a course.
Further advice on references can be found at the .