How to write your personal statement for teacher training

This is a crucial part of the application and your chance to stand out from the crowd. You have up to 47 lines (4,000 characters including spaces) in which to persuade your chosen initial teacher training (ITT) providers to offer you an interview. The statement must be concise, enthusiastic and sell your potential to be a successful teacher.

What you should include in the personal statement

Providers will be looking for evidence that you understand the realities, rewards and challenges of teaching. You’ll be asked to describe your reasons for wanting to teach, and should explain the relevance of your previous education and experience, including teaching, school visits and other work with young people. Consider all of the following points when you are deciding what to include in your personal statement.

 Reasons for applying for teacher training

Explain why you’ve applied to be a teacher and why you’ve applied for your chosen subject and age group. Demonstrate your commitment and motivation through recent examples from your work experience and academic work.

School experience and what you gained from it

Training providers will want to know how much experience you’ve had in schools, for example:

• areas of the national curriculum you observed
• age groups you worked with
• subjects you covered
• types of schools you visited and for how long.

Reflect on what you did in any work experience, particularly relating to the national curriculum, and what you learnt from it.

Your work experience and how it relates to teaching

Use the personal statement to give further information on the work experience you listed in the application form. Explain how this experience is relevant to teaching, particularly where you’ve been working with young people in schools and other contexts such as youth clubs, summer camps or sports clubs. Comment on work experience in other settings, such as voluntary work and extracurricular activities, and show how the skills you gained will help you become an effective teacher.

Reflect on your teaching skills

Think about the skills and qualities needed to be an effective teacher, such as communication, team working and leadership, and how your own experiences have helped you to develop these. Again, use examples from your degree and recent work experience.

Don’t forget…

If you don’t live in the UK currently, explain why you want to study in the UK and, if relevant, provide evidence, through NARIC for example, that your qualifications are at the required standard. Check that your language skills are sufficient to complete the training programme as requirements vary between institutions.

Explain anything not made clear elsewhere on the application, such as reasons for restricted geographical mobility or gaps in your education or working life.

Tips for writing and checking your personal statement

• Remember that you can only write one personal statement for all your choices, so make sure it reflects the route/s you have applied for. If you’ve applied for both primary and secondary courses, explain why.
• Give yourself enough time to write a few drafts.
• Write your statement using a word processing package so you can check it for spelling and grammar errors. Cut and paste it into the application form as you go along to make sure you don’t go over your character limit.
• Keep it simple and natural in style.
• Personalise your statement by writing in the first person, using ‘me’, ‘I’ and ‘my’.
• Use action verbs such as ‘coordinated’, ‘established’ and ‘managed’.
• Provide evidence of your motivation, experiences and qualifications as well as your understanding of teacher training and the role of a teacher.
• As the word count is limited, make sure each sentence contributes something useful.
• Show your personal statement to a school recruiter, careers adviser or tutor for feedback.
• Copy your application, particularly the personal statement, before sending it so that you can remind yourself of the content when going for interviews.
• Make sure the personal statement is all your own work, as all statements are put through the Copycatch similarity detection system.

What is the DBS Check?

DBS stands for the Disclosure and Barring Service. The actual check is a vetting process which you are asked to agree to, in order to check you’re suitable to work with children, the elderly or vulnerable people or in certain other professions. It involves checking whether you have any convictions, causes, reprimands or warnings against your name.

Who needs a DBS Check?

Anyone who works with children, the elderly or vulnerable people will most probably need to undergo a DBS Check to ensure they are suitable for the role. Organisations can request their staff, volunteers or applicants undergo DBS Checks and different roles are eligible for different levels of checks. Individuals can, however, apply for a Basic Disclosure, which will only show unspent convictions, via Disclosure Scotland using a DBS company such as CRB Check Online.

Can you fail a DBS Check?

Despite what some people think, no it’s not possible to fail a DBS Check. It’s merely part of a vetting process to see if you’re suitable for a particular role working with children, the elderly or vulnerable people.

How to apply?

If you’re an employer you can get an application form by registering with an umbrella body, such as CRB Check Online. The applicant must then fill in the form, providing all the necessary documentation.

What documents do I need?

In order to successfully complete your application you’ll need to have all the addresses you’ve resided at over the last five years and.

You’ll also need a copy of either your passport or birth certificate to verify you are who you say you are and a utility bill or bank statement, which will be used to confirm your current address.

The DBS provide useful guidelines as to what ID is required here.

How long does the process take?

It takes just five minutes to request a Disclosure with CRB Check Online, which has been designed to be quick and simple. There’s no set time for the return of a check and it can largely depend on the information about the individual, but a criminal record check is normally completed in just under 48 hours.

If there is nothing significant to report on, the employer can download a notification and log into the system. If criminal activity has been detected, the certificate will be sent out via Royal Mail.

The applicant will always receive the Certificate, regardless of the result.

Although we provide an electronic notification, employers should always see the original Disclosure as good practice.

The Disclosure is sent directly from the DBS via Royal Mail, and the umbrella/registered body will never have access to criminal record information disclosed.

If you have any further questions in how to get a DBS Check, or would like to start the DBS Check process now, then get in touch with CRB Check Online today.