CV’s for School Teachers, they be Primary or Secondary School Teachers are a significant challenge for graduates who have just completed their education qualifications. There seems to be very little guidance and support in their education curriculum on how to prepare for the world of work, once they have their course completed. With very little opportunity right now in Ireland for full-time teaching posts, especially in Primary School Teaching, CV’s need to be very competitive and stand out from the crowd when applying for teaching posts. Indeed when they are used to apply for temporary posts for substitution in whatever form, they need to be different.
A CV for a Primary School Teacher should contain the following headings:
- Personal Details
- Career Objective
- Education
- Teaching Practice
- Teaching Experience
- Training, Learning & Development
- Key Accomplishments & Achievements
- Membership of Organisations
- Community & Voluntary Work
- Interests
- References
Personal Details:
Goes without saying what goes in this section. Do include your Names, Address, Teaching Council Number, Landline Contact Telephone Details, Mobile Contact Telephone Details, E-mail Address and if you are on LinkedIn, include this address as well
Career Objective:
Only paragraph in the CV where you outline your passion, enthusiasm for teaching stating your ethos, using words and statements that impress the readers and that they almost expect to read it
Education:
Starting with the most recent, list your educational details outlining the name of the course completed, where it took place, their address and month year commenced and month year completed
Teaching Practice:
In this section, outline and detail where you did your teaching practice during your teaching education. Name the school, their address, what classes you taught to and the grades achieved
Teaching Experience:
Let the reader know in this section what actual teaching experience you have done since leaving full-time education, again stating the name of the school, their address, your job title and what classes you taught
Training, Learning & Development:
In this section goes training that you did relevant to teaching i.e. one day courses, week-long courses, night-courses stating the name of the course, who delivered it, their address and the month and year completed
Key Accomplishments & Achievements:
Outline here what you achieved and accomplished under three headings / areas, 1. Career, 2. Academia and 3. Personal. State the name of the achievement and if possible the year when it took place
Membership of Organisations:
If you are a member of any organisation linked to your teaching profession, please state the name of the organisation here and its abbreviation in brackets afterwards
Community & Voluntary Work:
If you are involved in any community and / or voluntary initiatives in your community, list the names of these here. If you have held or hold a position of authority, put it in brackets after it
Interests:
List your interests here outside of teaching, what you do in your spare time, what you enjoy that should impress the reader and be somewhat relevant to teaching and children
References
Final sentence on your CV – References available upon request. If they have requested References, list details of three referees.
The Cover Letter is just as important…that is for a different day…
