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Teaching personal statement examples

Giving you the chance to show why you'd be a great teacher, your personal statement is an important part of your application and worth taking the time over

What is a teaching personal statement?

Your personal statement is used to explain why you want to become a teacher and your suitability for the role. While your application form briefly outlines your qualifications, skills and work experience, your teaching personal statement is where your personality shines through.

Take your time with it. Many candidates often spend a few weeks on this part of the application as you don't have to write it all at once. You should get someone to read over it and be prepared to receive constructive feedback and write a few drafts before you send it off.

It's important to:

• use examples based on your recent teaching experience
• tailor your personal statement according to the school/age group
• use good, clear, written English, using first person terms such as 'my' and 'I'
• be original and honest
• avoid clichés and general statements, such as 'I've always wanted to teach'
• demonstrate a passion for teaching.

While it's crucial to get it right, your teaching personal statement is only a small part of the application process. Find out how else you'll need to prepare to  get a teaching job .

How to write a personal statement for teaching

Your personal statement should be between 500 and 1,000 words. It's crucial that you  don't copy  and that the statement you provide is  your own work .

This is your opportunity to:

• write about any relevant skills and experience you have
• explain your understanding of why teaching is important
• detail why you want to become a teacher
• list any extra skills or experience you have, such as volunteering or first aid.

See  personal statements for postgraduate applications  for more guidance.

The nature of your personal statement will vary, depending on the type of teaching you'd like to pursue. Take a look at some of our example personal statements to get an idea of how they differ.

Personal statement for PGCE primary

As well as focusing on roles in which you've gained experience with primary-age children, a PGCE primary personal statement should demonstrate your well-rounded personality and any skills that could be useful for the range of extra-curricular activities primary schools provide (such as the ability to read music for recorder lessons, or drama experience to help with school plays).

Personal statement for PGCE secondary

Many good PGCE secondary personal statements acknowledge the challenges involved in teaching older pupils and provide examples of where the candidate has worked to overcome these problems. As secondary teaching roles are geared towards teaching a specific subject, training providers are looking for more evidence of your subject and degree knowledge.

Personal statement for School Direct

If you're applying for the salaried School Direct route, you should discuss the experience you've gained in the classroom prior to your application. One of your references will need to be from an employer, or someone who can comment on your work ethic and suitability for teaching. Don't worry if your degree is unrelated to the subject you'd like to teach - you may still be able to apply by completing a subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) course .

Find out more

• Discover how to structure a teaching CV .
• Find out what it's really like to be a primary or secondary school teacher .
• Search postgraduate courses in teaching .

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How to Teach Personal Statement Writing

If you are looking to read about how to teach personal statement writing, I’ve got you covered. Keep reading to learn more and to see valuable resources!

At the start of a new school year, I like to assign my students a personal statement as one of the first writing assignments of the year. However, I don’t just assign this to my students and set them free. Instead, I use this personal statement teaching unit to take time to teach my students all about personal statement writing.

It usually always happens like this. I’ll assign the personal statement in August. Students write their personal statements. And then in October or November when students start putting together their college essays, I remind them of their personal statements. And bingo! They have a stellar first draft of their college essay.

When I teach personal statement writing in my classroom, I like to dedicate several days to the assignment. I like to take time with direct instruction. In the lesson, I teach students about what a personal statement is and why they should have one.

What students should include in a personal statement:

• Formal tone
• Professional language
• Precise words

Ideas for students’ personal statements:

• Biggest accomplishment
• Strengths and talents
• Goals and aspirations
• Unique and defining attributes
• Unusual obstacles

After students read and discuss the sample statements, I assign the personal statement and give them some time to begin brainstorming ideas. I like to take some time on the brainstorming part of the writing process to allow students adequate time to think about what they want to write about. From there, I have students start to outline the structure of their personal statements. From there, we move to drafting, peer editing, and revising.

Teaching Personal Statement Writing

This personal statement writing unit will help your students write phenomenal personal statements that stand out! This personal statement unit includes a presentation for direct instruction and student materials to help students brainstorm, plan, write, and finalize their personal statements.

Ideal for a class assignment or for preparing students to write college entrance essays, this teaching resource includes everything you need from personal statement prompts, to student handouts, to example statements, to peer editing, and more.

Help your students stand out in the crowd by focusing on effective personal statement writing!

What teachers are saying:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Extremely satisfied

“ This is a great resource for writing the personal statement. My students found it engaging, relevant, and thought provoking. The guided packet made this a great resource for the kids to complete a unit on personal statement writing. Thank you!”

“ My 11/12th graders struggle every year with the personal statement. This resource helped them brainstorm ideas and narrow down their choices. I will be using this with juniors and seniors for a long time!”

“ This is a fabulous resource for teaching personal statements! I love how examples are included for students to read. It is so nice to not hunt them down on different websites! I also love how the pre-writing prompts match up with the brainstorming activities. Thank you!”

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Crafting a Compelling Teaching Personal Statement

Your teaching personal statement needs to give an insight into your personality, teaching style & unique qualities only you hold. In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of writing a compelling teaching personal statement.

The best personal statements are more than just a list of experiences and achievements. A personal statement which tells a compelling story will always compel the reader to want to find out more. If you keep your philosophy as the central theme and ensure that you use examples of practice which link back to that, it will ensure that your personal statement is a coherent and interesting piece of writing.

What Inspired You:

Begin by reflecting on what motivated you to become a teacher. Headteachers want to understand your background, inspiration, the reason you trained as a teacher and why you want to teach your specialism. Highlight your passion for teaching and your genuine desire to make a positive impact on students’ lives.

Showcase Key Achievements:

Highlight your career achievements, qualifications and teaching milestones that you’re most proud of. Demonstrate your ability to drive student progress and results through concrete examples throughout your teaching personal statement. If you’re an early career teacher, discuss your teaching placements, voluntary work, or even include any quotes from observation reports.

Showcase Teaching Skills:

Demonstrate your teaching skills by providing specific examples. Discuss successful teaching strategies you’ve employed, innovative lesson plans you’ve created, or how you’ve adapted to meet the needs of diverse learners. Highlight any extracurricular involvement, such as coaching sports teams or leading clubs, which showcases your dedication to students’ holistic development.

Keep It Concise and Well-Structured:

Teaching personal statements should be clear, concise, and well-structured. Aim for a maximum of 500-600 words. Use headings or bullet points to organize your content. Start with a captivating opening paragraph and conclude with a strong summary of your qualifications and enthusiasm for teaching.

Proofread and Edit:

Thoroughly proofread your teaching personal statement to eliminate grammatical errors, typos, or awkward phrasing. Consider seeking feedback from mentors, colleagues, or friends to ensure clarity and impact. Editing is crucial to present yourself as a professional and detail-oriented teacher.

Show Enthusiasm:

Infuse your teaching personal statement with enthusiasm and optimism. Convey your passion for teaching, showcase your qualifications, and demonstrate your commitment to fostering student growth. A positive and enthusiastic tone can be infectious and leave a lasting impression.

To conclude, your teaching personal statement is your chance to shine as a teacher. Get personal. Write about what makes YOU in the classroom.

For further support and tips, please reach out to Gemma Yates.

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How to write a teacher personal statement

Your personal statement is your first opportunity to show the school you’re a great fit for the job, and gets you closer to being shortlisted for an interview. The more you show how your skills and interests match the school’s ethos and values, the better. We’ve spoken to a range of teachers to get their top tips for success.

What experience do you have?

Schools want to hear about your trainee experience with different subjects, key stages, types of school, and working with a range of pupils.

Think about your approach to teaching, how you keep pupils engaged, and how you communicate with different kinds of people (children, staff, parents and carers). Ensure you provide evidence for how you have improved student engagement and built positive relationships with pupils.

Schools will be interested in your approach to behaviour management, so think about your go-to strategies.

Are you engaged in teaching theory and research?

Think about any research that has affected your teaching practice. Explain what has worked well and if it didn’t, what you learnt.

Are you up to date on safeguarding statutory guidance?

You need to demonstrate your awareness of the importance of safeguarding and the requirements of Keeping Children Safe in Education . Include any examples of how you worked with a Designated Safeguarding Lead.

What are your skills and qualities?

Are you a well-organised, confident, and motivated teacher? Say it, and provide examples! Schools are looking for great communicators, team players and relationship builders. Make sure you say how you create a positive learning environment, and consider skills like time management, organisation, and flexibility. Schools will also want to know how you overcome challenges.

How can you contribute to wider school life?

Set yourself apart by showing how your hobbies and achievements could contribute to the wider school community. Could you run an after school club or organise school trips?

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Teaching Personal Statement Advice

21 August 2023

What is a Teaching Personal Statement?

A teaching personal statement explains why you, as a candidate, have a desire to become a teacher and how suitable you are for the role you have applied for. 

The teaching personal statement is where your personality is given the opportunity to shine through and help you stand out from your competitors. Having qualifications is good, but on top of them, employers want to feel your charisma and passion for teaching.

Why is a Teaching Personal Statement Important?

Teaching personal statements enhance the opportunity to be selected for your ideal teaching role. By outlining your suitability for the position, employers can gather an overview of your performance and character and make advanced decisions on your hiring process. 

If you can deliver a well-curated and professional teaching personal statement, you will be able to impress employers and advance your chances of success in your application. 

Tips for Creating the Perfect Teaching Personal Statement

We have put together five of our top tips for creating the perfect teaching personal statement that will assist you in landing your ideal role.

Use Examples

Employers want real-life examples of when you made a difference in your teaching career to prove you would make the same difference in their establishment. Make sure each experience, if giving more than one, is evident in its approach to conveying the skills you want to show and don’t make each example too long. Short and snappy is the best way to briefly deliver your best experiences.

Be sure to tailor your statement in a way that caters to the job role you would like to fulfil. This includes being mindful of the type of school and age of pupils you will meet the needs of. 

Visit a Library

Though they are becoming quieter each year, libraries are still a brilliant way to encourage reading within your communities. Librarians are incredibly knowledgeable about different genres of books and can help you to choose the best book for your interests. Libraries pave the way for improved reading skills and encourage more regular reading.

Be Original and Honest

You need your teaching personal statement needs to reflect you as an individual. To do so, avoid clichés and general statements that have been used thousands of times. 

Instead, use words and phrases that naturally flow in your mind, giving more of a personal touch to the statement and standing out to the employer as something they have never seen before. 

Use Good, Clear, Written English

Good English is an absolute must when writing your teaching personal statement. Ensure you are always speaking in the first person, which includes using terms such as ‘my’ and ‘I’. 

As you will be seeking a path into the education of children and young adults, you must demonstrate you have the ability to teach them the basics of the English language by first showing this to the employer.

Explain Why Teaching is Important to You

Adding the personal touch is a must; hence it’s called a teaching personal statement. 

Passion and enthusiasm should go above and beyond throughout your statement, but take a subtle approach to avoid coming across as over the top. A few gentle phrases recognising your love for teaching mixed with experience to back it up is the perfect recipe. 

Details of Your Previous Education or Job Roles

As with any job role, an employer would like to see details of any previous education or educational job roles that would help strengthen your application. This means including previous teaching experiences to demonstrate you have acquired all the skills needed to fill the role appropriately.

Find your ideal teaching role with Always Flourishing.

Always Flourishing is a professional education agency specialising in education recruitment and offering teaching agency jobs. If you want to become a teacher, teaching assistant, supply teacher or any other role within the education sector, please get in touch today . We would be happy to help kickstart your career in teaching. 

AUTHOR: Vicky Snee EMAIL: [email protected]

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ESL Philosophy of Teaching Statement: What Is It & Why Does It Matter?

Coleen monroe.

• May 31, 2021

If you’re teaching English, you’ll eventually come across an important question. Someone — a student, a colleague, an interviewer — will ask you, “What’s your ESL philosophy of teaching statement?” In order to best answer this common question, you’ll need to formulate and reflect on an ESL teaching philosophy of your own. This article will help you discover and develop your personal ESL teaching philosophy and know how to talk about it with others.

What is an ESL teaching philosophy statement?

An ESL teaching philosophy statement is a summary of why you teach ESL and how. It’s basically that simple! The details you choose to include in your teaching statement are very important.

Are you interested in communication above all? Are you happy to be flexible, or do you hope to bring discipline to your learners? Where do you think learning English should fit into a student’s life? How important are test results to you? Do you strive for immersion by not using any translation in the classroom, or do you promote a bilingual environment? All of these questions can be answered succinctly if you formulate an ESL teaching philosophy statement.

A statement will also help guide your teaching, keep you positive when a lesson goes wrong (because lessons will inevitably go wrong at times), and make you a more reflective teacher overall.

Why is it important to have an ESL teaching philosophy statement?

We listed some of the reasons above, but there are lots of ways that having an ESL philosophy of teaching statement will benefit you. Let’s drill down.

It makes your teaching consistent

You need to have some consistency in your teaching. Language learning (and teaching) can be tough at times. If you’ve got a headache after a grueling grammar lesson or your learners lose it over the fifteenth exception to the rule, a statement of your teaching approach in ESL can remind you why you’re teaching and what you want your learners to get out of every lesson. It will help you to maintain consistent goals, discipline, and lesson-to-lesson continuity of character.

Take a look at some popular ESL teaching methods that all teachers should know.

Mohammed Hashiru, from Ghana, teaching in Turkey

It helps you become a reflective teacher

By formulating your own ESL philosophy, you’ll be reflecting on how you want to teach and also the more important question of why you want to teach. If you want to become good at anything, structured self-reflection on a regular basis is crucial. Without a guiding philosophy, you will possibly be tempted to label lessons as simply “good” or “bad” and move on, missing out on both the details and the big picture at the same time. Having a guiding philosophy for your teaching will make your self-reflection sessions more specific and goal-oriented.

Check out these 10 powerful goals for English teachers.

It provides context for what you’re doing

More people are now attempting to learn English than have ever tried to learn any language in history. But learning English does not exist in a historical vacuum; the context of imperialism and colonialism do play a role in English becoming the lingua franca it is today. Without an ESL philosophy, you may not reflect on how you came to teach English to those who want to learn it. You could stumble into problematic ways of thinking that are descended from the imperial and colonial history of English teaching. Being aware of your own motivations for teaching English can help you to react to the world more compassionately and with less bias.

As a global language, English has many different dialects and accents. Here’s why teachers should incorporate them into the classroom!

It leads to self-understanding

You need to start defining yourself as a teacher even before you begin teaching. Understanding yourself as a teacher will help guide your career path and ensure that you’re always improving as an ESL instructor.

Taking a TEFL course like the graduate-level IDELT Online™  TEFL/TESOL certification program will help you formulate and define your teaching, as it’ll give you an in-depth look at how to form a teaching philosophy, cover the principles of language acquisition, help you set learning objectives for your students, and more.

“What I always tell the trainees to do is take what they’ve learned, including the research that they’ve done, and translate it into how they would be in the classroom — and give a portrait of themselves as a teacher,” says Katrina Schmidt, an instructor for Bridge’s IDELT Online™ course .

What exactly is the IDELTOnline™ TEFL/TESOL course? Find out!

It establishes your credibility as a professional

Professionals are guided by their principles and make decisions based on them. If you don’t have a strong center, you’ll be easily pulled in directions that may eventually hurt your career prospects or lead to teaching burnout. Establishing a clear, personal teaching philosophy will help keep you on the right professional path.

Check out 8 strategies to avoid burnout when teaching English online.

You will be asked about it by employers

When you interview for an English teaching job, there’s a good chance that you’ll be asked to explain your personal education philosophy. Being able to easily discuss your ESL philosophy of teaching statement is one of the main reasons you should put the effort in now to develop a clear statement.

Find out how you should prepare for a TEFL/TESOL interview.

Lorena (center), an ESL business owner, offers insight into TEFL interviews in this article .

What should be included in an ESL philosophy of teaching statement?

When you craft your ESL philosophy statement, you’ll want to think about things from several perspectives. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to ask yourself open-ended questions, such as:

• What is your reason for teaching in general?
• How do you believe people learn best?
• What is your professional background? (I.e., What education or training can you bring to your ESL teaching?)
• What are your goals for English teaching in particular? What will you focus on in your classes? (E.g., Communicative competency? High scores on tests? Academic skills? Soft skills?)
• What is your broader personal morality, and what are your ideas about learning? (I.e., What is acceptable for a teacher to do? How much do teachers need to put into their work? What is your definition of effective learning?)
• What are your ideas about communication? (I.e., How much should you speak in the classroom? Are you a facilitator or an instructor?)

How do I write an ESL teaching philosophy?

There’s a sense of trepidation that some people get when actually crafting their personal or professional philosophies. Taking an online TEFL course like the 150-hour, graduate-level and university-affiliated IDELT Online™  can help you immensely, as you will get feedback from an instructor about the writing process and your final statement.

If you want to go ahead and get started with your ESL teaching philosophy statement, you can follow these steps:

• Set aside time to reflect on your own, removing any distractions.
• Using a journal of your choosing (digital, paper, sketchbook, whatever!), reflect on and make notes about the following:

1. What are your academic goals for teaching English? Where does your class fit in on the path that your students will take toward fluency in English?

2. What is your philosophy about classroom management? What types of communication will you encourage in your classroom?

3. What is your goal for your students in terms of using English? Is it for them to ace an English proficiency test? Communicate with others in the world?

4. What kind of teacher do you want to be remembered as? Your students may remember you for their whole lives. How would you prefer to be seen as a teacher and what can you do to achieve that?

• Use affirmative “I am” statements to communicate your philosophy, and keep yourself positive/focused on your role in teaching English.
• Take your notes and aim to write a paragraph about 5-10 sentences long. Keep it simple. The easier it is to explain your personal ESL philosophy of teaching statement, the easier it will be to follow!

Please note that this is not a one-time process. You should regularly examine your personal ESL philosophy and change it as needed to keep it relevant, useful, and thoughtful.

IDELT Online instructor, Terry McLean shared her “3 M’s” of creating a philosophy of teaching in a BridgeUniverse expert series webinar:

ESL teaching philosophy statement examples

Let’s look at some examples of personal ESL philosophy statements.

I am a kind and compassionate teacher who prefers to work with the “difficult” students because, often, there are valid reasons that they are acting out in a class. I believe that anyone can learn a language given enough time and practice, and I’m willing to be creative and find ways and unusual learning styles to help all students benefit from my lessons. My goal is to expose English learners to more of the world and prepare them for intercultural communication. I teach using a variety of techniques because every class is different and has unique needs.

In my classes, I work to create a genuine rapport with learners . This allows me to build on that connection and make them trust that I will not ask them to do something that wouldn’t benefit their learning, even if it’s hard. I think that English learners need to be able to trust themselves, their instructors, and their classmates above all. That way, in a safe environment, the mistakes that they will make as a learner don’t knock their confidence. I will intervene, early on and with dynamic classroom management skills, when I see bullying or other confidence-reducing behaviors to protect that trust in the classroom. I want the students to see my class as a refuge from normal life where they can practice English and thrive in a small community of learners.

My personal ESL teaching philosophy is influenced by my academic background. I provide rigorous thinking opportunities and challenge students to be their very best, even if it’s difficult. For me, teaching is a lot like coaching a sport. I want to help the students learn the drills and practice the skills that make up a great academic mind so that eventually they will no longer need me to be able to learn. My goal is to put myself out of a job! In the classroom, I demand focus and precision, but I also provide a space for error correction and peer feedback. In this way, I hope to build resilient learners.

When I am asked about my personal ESL philosophy, I’d like to tell people that I don’t even really believe I’m an “English teacher!” I’m not interested in old-fashioned ideas about teaching and being the center of attention in my classes. I see myself as a mostly quiet facilitator who sets up the discussions and provides materials for the learners to use mostly on their own. Obviously, I don’t just abandon them to their fate; rather, I hope that they will be independent learners if I step out of the traditional “teacher” role. When I find myself working on my lesson plans, I try to think deeply about the possible outcomes of an activity. This anticipation is what sets me apart as a teacher.

To be a professional ESL teacher and continue to grow on your teaching journey, it’s important to craft an ESL philosophy of teaching statement. Doing so will help you establish a better, more coherent teaching style and be able to express your beliefs about ESL education.

If you want to learn more about ESL philosophy statements, take the IDELTOnline™ TEFL/TESOL course, which will arm you with the methodology and practical skills needed in the ESL classroom.

Coleen Monroe is a Colorado native who has left a trail of new homes for herself around the world. She's set foot in 30 countries and lived on four continents in the last eleven years. Her nomad homes have been in Chilean Patagonia, France, Italy, Switzerland, South Korea, England, and Iceland. Her latest travel adventures took her to Yunnan, Beijing, Jiangxi, and Southern China, where she's currently teaching.

• mrsstrickey
• Jan 16, 2021

Writing a Personal Statement

Going for your first NQT post can be a daunting prospect... especially when in teaching, you need to write a personal statement to support your application form.

Schools use your personal statement to help short list candidates for a position by checking off the criteria of the person specification that they can see in your statement. It is always a good idea to write your personal statement alongside the person specification, ensuring that you have included all the "essential" criteria and as much of the "desirable" criteria you can that are assessed through the application.

Where possible, you should also use the language of the school you are applying to - their vision, values, mission and ethos statements will help you here and should be available on the school's website. You will also sometimes find these in the application pack. Read this carefully and then read it again, reading between the lines of what they might be looking for.

Here is an example of the structure of a personal statement for a trainee teacher applying for their first NQT job:

Begin with an impact statement that summarises your philosophy on teaching or that refers to the mission/vision/values/ethos of the school you are applying to:

I believe that it is, as Einstein said, the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. As a passionate teacher, dedicated to ensuring the very best outcomes for all students I teach, this statement resonates with me as I endeavour to awaken joy in all of the learners within my classroom. It was your belief all young people have the right to a transformational educational experience, that will enable them, no matter what their starting point, to fulfil their potential and realise their ambitions that first attracted me to your school as it aligns with my own personal and professional philosophy on education.

Throughout my practice, I constantly encourage pupils to participate and contribute in an atmosphere highly conducive to learning. I have consistently set high expectations of pupils in different training contexts. There are high levels of mutual respect between me and pupils. I am very effective in promoting learners’ resilience, confidence and independence when tackling challenging activities. In my lesson, I generate high levels of enthusiasm, participation and commitment to learning.

Back this up with an example from your training.

I have also assumed a high level of responsibility for the attainment progress and outcomes of the pupils I have taught. I have demonstrated confident judgement in planning for pupil progression both within individual lessons and over time and I am able to articulate a clear and well-justified rationale as to how I am building on prior achievement. Within my lessons, I seek to actively promote engaging and effective methods that support pupils in reflecting on their learning. I have demonstrated that I am able to set appropriately challenging tasks, drawing on a sound knowledge of the pupils’ prior attainment, which has been obtained through systematic and accurate assessment. I regularly create opportunities for independent and autonomous learning. As a result the majority of pupils make very good progress.

In order to plan effective lessons, I draw on my in-depth subject and curriculum knowledge of [your subject or phase] to plan confidently for progression and to stimulate and capture pupils’ interest. Throughout my training, I have demonstrated very well-developed pedagogical subject knowledge, by anticipating common errors and misconceptions in my planning. I am astutely aware of my own development needs in relation to extending and updating my subject, curriculum and pedagogical knowledge in my early career and have been proactive in developing these effectively during my training. I always model very high standards of written and spoken communication in all professional activities. I also successfully identify and exploit opportunities to develop learners’ skills, in communication, reading and writing.

I plan lessons that often use well-chosen, imaginative and creative strategies, and that match individuals’ needs and interests. I am highly reflective in critically evaluating my practice. I am able to accurately judge the impact of my practice on individual and groups of learners and can use my evaluation to inform future planning, teaching and learning. During my training, I have shown initiative in contributing to curriculum planning and developing and producing effective learning resources in my placement settings.

I have been able to quickly and accurately discern my learners’ strengths and needs and I have been proactive in differentiating and employing a range of effective intervention strategies to secure progression for individuals and groups. I have an astute understanding of how effective different teaching approaches are in relation to impact on learning and engagement of learners

I can confidently and accurately assess pupils’ attainment against national benchmarks. I use a range of assessment strategies very effectively in my day-to-day practice to monitor progress and to inform future planning. In my practice, I systematically and effectively check learners’ understanding throughout lessons, anticipating where intervention may be needed and do so with notable impact on the quality of learning. I have shown that I am able to assess learners’ progress regularly and work with them to accurately target further improvement and secure rapid progress.

I have been able to rapidly adapt to the different circumstances in which I have trained, working confidently within the frameworks established in different settings and applying rules and routines consistently and fairly. I have also demonstrated an ability to adapt to remote working and remote delivery in response to the Global Pandemic. I consistently have high expectations and understand a range of strategies that experienced teachers use to promote positive behaviour and apply these very effectively, including use of school sanctions and rewards, and use of praise, in order to create an environment highly supportive of learning. I am able to manage pupil behaviour with ease so that learners display very high levels of engagement, courtesy, collaboration and co-operation. Where it is needed, I actively seek additional support in addressing the needs of pupils where significantly challenging behaviour is demonstrated.

During my training, I have been proactive in seeking out opportunities to contribute in a significant way to the wider life and ethos of the school. I have built strong professional relationships and have demonstrated that I am able to work collaboratively with colleagues on a regular basis. I have taken responsibility for deploying support staff in my lessons and for seeking advice from relevant professionals in relation to pupils with individual needs. I deliberately seek out opportunities to develop my own professional learning and respond positively to all the feedback I receive. I have also demonstrated that I can communicate very effectively, both verbally and in writing, with parents and carers in relation to pupils’ achievements and well-being when required to do so formally, but I am also proactive in communicating in relation to individual pupils’ emergent needs.

I always treat pupils with dignity, building relationships rooted in mutual respect, and at all times observing proper boundaries appropriate to a teacher's professional position. I realise the need to safeguard pupils' well-being, in accordance with statutory provisions. I show tolerance of and respect for the rights of others. I do not undermine fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. I always ensure that personal beliefs are not expressed in ways which exploit pupils' vulnerability or might lead them to break the law. I am always punctual and have good attendance. I have attended numerous CPD sessions and will continue to do so. I have also completed a weekly duty (before school and at break} and attends daily briefings (whole school, subject or pastoral). I have taken on board the policies of the school and maintain a high standard in all my practices. I have a good understanding of the framework within which I work and my professional duties

End with a statement that implies/assumes you will be invited for interview:

I would relish the opportunity to work at your school and look forward to discussing this further with you at interview.

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ESL Teaching Philosophy: How to Write One

Native English speakers may think that teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) is a walk in the park. While this may be true for some, others may need something to guide them if they want to stay in the industry for the long haul. That’s where an ESL teaching philosophy can come in handy.

This guide will come in the form of a teaching philosophy. And at this point, there may be a lot of questions in your mind about English teaching philosophies and how to make them.

Well, those questions will be answered. So, continue reading if you’re planning to make teaching ESL a career . An ESL teacher philosophy may also be necessary when applying for certain jobs, so get ready to impress!

Philosophy of teaching for ESL

What is an English Teaching Philosophy?

A teaching philosophy is a written statement of your personal view on teaching. If you’re planning to apply for a teaching position in colleges and universities, you may be required to submit your teaching philosophy. Aside from your view on teaching, the philosophy also reflects the teaching methods you’ll use in class.

A teaching philosophy also shows your values and beliefs when it comes to teaching. These are personal statements allowing the students to know you as a teacher. It should also show the reason why you’re a teacher as well as what you bring to the table.

By giving the students an idea about you and your principles, they will know who you are as a teacher and how you approach learning.

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• Bolen, Jackie (Author)
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• 122 Pages - 02/23/2020 (Publication Date)

Importance of an ESL Teaching Philosophy

Before you write a teaching philosophy, you should know why it is important. The following points show the importance of having a teaching philosophy.

• As indicated earlier, your teaching philosophy serves as your guide in your teaching career. It allows you to remain true to your profession and focus on why you became a teacher in the first place.
• A teaching philosophy expresses your values and beliefs as a teacher. It shows who you are to your students and gives them an idea of what your class will look like.
• It also gives you an idea of where you are trying to go and how you will get there. In other words, it shows your goal and how to attain that goal.
• If you’re applying for an ESL teaching job in a college or university , you may be asked to submit a teaching philosophy statement. Due to this, preparing way ahead of time will put you one step closer to an ESL teaching job.

Steps in Writing an ESL Teacher Philosophy

The following are the steps you can follow to write your own ESL teaching philosophy.

#1: Define Roles

The first thing you should do is to define your role as a teacher in the classroom and the role of the student in the classroom. Defining these roles sets the tone on the flow of learning in the class.

• Teacher’s Role

As a teacher, you have the option of being a facilitator, a scholar, a conductor, or an instructor. Each role is different in terms of how the classroom is run. They also differ in how learning happens in class.

For instance, an instructor provides instructions on what the students will do and expect them to strictly follow the rules in the classroom. On the other hand, a facilitator guides the learning process of the students and takes into account their challenges in absorbing the lessons in class.

• Student’s Role

Aside from your role as a teacher, you should also define the role of the students in the classroom. Do you consider them as empty vessels that have to be filled up with knowledge? Or are they unlit candles that you have to light to enhance whatever knowledge they already have?

The students may even be community members who are responsible for their own learning as well as the learning of their classmates. The role of the students is normally consistent with your role as a teacher.

#2: Define Concepts

After defining your role and the role of the students in the classroom, you should define learning and teaching concepts. These are essentially how you view learning and teaching in the classroom.

• Teaching Concepts

In addition to the roles in the classroom, you should also define your concepts of teaching. You should decide if you want to promote competency, mastery, critical thinking, lifelong learning, or transformational learning.

Additionally, you should set the benchmark on how you view an ideal learning situation. At this point, you should also decide the materials you need in class, student activities, and lesson plans, among others.

• Learning Concepts

When you define the concept of learning, you should define what learning is for you. You should decide what a successful learning environment should be. Moreover, you should also set the standard when learning and mastery are achieved by the students.

You should also define the goals for your students to achieve. It should include the skills they should learn or the changes in behaviour resulting from the learning process.

Find out how to write an English teaching philosophy

#3: Methods of Teaching

Once the roles and concepts are defined, it’s time for you to decide the methods of teaching you’ll be using in a class. At this point, you’ll have to consider the different strategies you’ll use to teach your students.

You may use simulations, interactive lectures, task-based learning , or game-based learning, among others. You should not limit yourself to one strategy since students learn in many different ways. Due to this, the strategy should meet the needs of your students.

More details here: Approaches and methods in language teaching .

#4: Learning Assessment

The last part of the ESL teaching philosophy should touch on assessment. You should decide how you can assess student growth and learning.

While assessing learning in ESL teaching may be straightforward, you should also consider that the students are different when it comes to learning capabilities. In this case, you should have several assessment tools ready to ensure you’re able to assess the students properly.

• 138 Pages - 05/30/2015 (Publication Date)

Guidelines for Writing a Teaching Philosophy

Knowing the steps is not the only thing you should consider when writing your teaching philosophy. There are some guidelines you may want to follow when you create your philosophy. The guidelines are as follows:

• Write the philosophy from the first-person point of view. This will personalize your teaching philosophy and show who you are as a teacher.
• Make the philosophy short and properly expressed. Keeping it short and simple while using the appropriate words to express it will convey your message properly.
• Similar to writing your objectives in a lesson plan, you should also be specific with your teaching philosophy. Provide tangible examples to give the reader an idea of what you’ll be inside the classroom.
• Use simple and easy to understand terms rather than jargon. This allows you to convey your message better.
• Put your students in a positive light when mentioning them in the teaching philosophy. But, don’t sound patronizing. You should also avoid being pretentious and show how you can also learn from them.
• Revisit your teaching philosophy regularly. Avoid being static since teaching is constantly evolving. You should adapt and update your teaching philosophy regularly. A teaching philosophy is a statement that is constantly a work in progress.

Even as an ESL teaching philosophy may be challenging to make, it’s essential since it provides you with a guide in your long journey through the world of ESL teaching.

ESL Teaching Philosophy Examples

If you want to see some real-world examples, have a look at some of our favourites:

Or, have a look at this one we put together:

Sample ESL Teaching Philosophy

As an ESL educator, I am committed to fostering an inclusive and engaging learning environment that empowers students to become confident, effective communicators in English. My teaching philosophy is grounded in the belief that language learning is a collaborative and dynamic process that should be student-centered, culturally sensitive, and reflective of real-life contexts.

Approach to Language Learning: I view language as a tool for authentic communication and personal growth. I strive to create opportunities for meaningful interactions that go beyond rote memorization, enabling students to apply language skills in real-world scenarios.

Student-Centered Instruction: In my classroom, students are active participants in their learning journey. I encourage open dialogue, critical thinking, and self-expression. By tailoring lessons to students’ interests and incorporating their diverse experiences, I aim to make learning engaging and relevant.

Communication and Collaboration: I believe in the power of collaborative learning. I foster an environment where students feel comfortable expressing their ideas, asking questions, and providing constructive feedback to their peers. This not only enhances language skills but also promotes cross-cultural understanding.

Cultural Sensitivity: Understanding that language is deeply intertwined with culture, I am dedicated to celebrating and respecting the diverse backgrounds of my students. I integrate culturally relevant content into lessons, encouraging students to share their own stories and perspectives.

Practical Application: My teaching is rooted in the principle that language should be functional. I design activities that mirror real-life situations, enabling students to practice English in contexts they are likely to encounter outside the classroom.

Adapting to Individual Needs: Recognizing that each student’s learning journey is unique, I am flexible in my approach. I provide differentiated instruction and support to accommodate different learning styles and levels of proficiency.

Technology Integration: I embrace technology as a tool to enhance learning. I incorporate multimedia resources, online platforms, and interactive activities to make lessons engaging and to facilitate language practice beyond the classroom.

Continuous Professional Growth: I am committed to ongoing professional development. I regularly seek out new pedagogical approaches, attend workshops, and engage with current research to refine my teaching practices.

In conclusion, my ESL teaching philosophy centers on creating an inclusive, interactive, and culturally sensitive learning environment that equips students with the language skills they need to succeed in an interconnected world. By fostering authentic communication, celebrating diversity, and promoting active engagement, I aim to inspire a lifelong love for language learning in each of my students.

ESL teacher philosophy examples

ESL Teacher Philosophy FAQs

There are a number of common questions that people have about English teaching philosophy. Here are the answers to some of the most common ones.

What is your philosophy of teaching and learning

A philosophy of teaching and learning is a statement of self-reflection that covers beliefs about teaching and learning. It should be 1-2 pages, written in a narrative style that covers core ideas about being an effective teacher in the context of which subject you teach.

How do I write my teaching philosophy?

You can write a teaching philosophy by keeping these tips in mind:

• Make it brief (1-2 pages).
• Use the first person.
• Think specific, not abstract.
• Tailor it to your specific discipline.
• Avoid buzzwords and jargon.
• Be sincere.
• Think about what’s best for students.

Why do I need an ESL teacher philosophy?

You may be asked to submit an ESL teacher philosophy for a job application. Another instance would be for graduate school or even a TEFL certificate of some kind. Beyond, that, it’s good practice for any English teacher to have some guiding principles by which they conduct classes.

What should be included in an ESL teaching philosophy?

It should include your beliefs about language learning, your teaching style, methods you use, classroom environment, and how you address diverse student needs.

How can I showcase my teaching approach in my philosophy?

Share examples of the teaching methods you employ, such as communicative activities, real-life context, and student-centered approaches.

 Should I mention specific teaching materials or technologies in my philosophy?

While you can mention them briefly, focus more on the principles and strategies you use rather than specific tools.

Can I mention my approach to classroom management in my philosophy?

Yes, briefly mention how you create an inclusive, respectful, and supportive classroom environment that fosters learning.

How long should my ESL teaching philosophy be?

It’s typically around one to two pages, but focus on conveying your beliefs concisely and clearly.

Can I include personal anecdotes in my philosophy?

Yes, personal stories can provide context and demonstrate how your beliefs manifest in real-life teaching situations.

Can I use quotes from educational theorists in my philosophy?

While you can reference theorists, ensure that your philosophy remains focused on your personal beliefs and practices.

Have your Say about Writing an ESL Teaching Philosophy

Do you have any tips or tricks for writing about ESL teaching methods or philosophies? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you about this topic .

Also, be sure to give this article a share on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. It’ll help other busy English teachers, like yourself, find this useful resource.

Last update on 2024-04-25 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

About Jackie

Jackie Bolen has been teaching English for more than 15 years to students in South Korea and Canada. She's taught all ages, levels and kinds of TEFL classes. She holds an MA degree, along with the Celta and Delta English teaching certifications.

Jackie is the author of more than 100 books for English teachers and English learners, including 101 ESL Activities for Teenagers and Adults and 1001 English Expressions and Phrases . She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world.

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Teaching Statements

What this handout is about.

This handout will help you write a teaching statement, a 1-4 page document that describes your teaching experiences and pedagogical approaches.The first time you write a teaching statement is often in the context of an application for an academic job or teaching position.

What is a teaching statement?

A teaching statement, or statement of teaching philosophy, highlights academic job candidates’ teaching qualifications, explains their pedagogical approaches, and demonstrates how they will contribute to the teaching culture of prospective institutions.

Because hiring committees for academic jobs cannot observe the teaching of every applicant, they rely on other means of evaluating a candidate’s teaching. These alternatives may include a teaching demonstration during a campus visit; a teaching portfolio consisting of student evaluations, sample syllabi, etc; and/or a teaching statement. By illustrating a candidate’s teaching experiences and philosophy with concrete examples, a teaching statement helps the hiring committee imagine what it would be like inside the candidate’s classroom.

Teaching statements will vary from candidate to candidate (and one candidate’s teaching statements may vary from application to application). The sections below offer guidelines to help you prepare, write, and revise your own teaching statement.

Preparing to write a teaching statement

An effective teaching statement involves both reflection and research. Thinking about your teaching and your goals can be helpful before you begin writing or revising your teaching statement. This process can also prepare you for interview questions that address teaching, should your application lead to an interview.

Brainstorming

Before you begin writing your teaching statement, it can be useful to think more generally about your teaching philosophy. Once you’ve brainstormed some ideas, you can then focus on how to clearly and succinctly communicate those thoughts in a teaching statement. For some general brainstorming strategies, you can consult our Brainstorming handout; the following questions will help you brainstorm more specifically about your teaching philosophy:

• What goals do you set for students in your courses?
• How do you enact those goals?
• How do you evaluate how well those goals are being met?
• What is your plan for developing your teaching? What other aspects of pedagogy would you like to develop in your practice?
• What can a student expect to experience in your class?
• What is the relationship between your teaching and research?
• What are the unique challenges or opportunities to teaching in your field?
• What is your favorite aspect of teaching? Why?
• What is your favorite course to teach? Why?
• How do you effectively teach students with diverse identities and backgrounds?
• How do your beliefs about student learning affect your instructional choices?

Consulting models

Looking at sample teaching statements can give you a better sense of the genre and can help you determine what elements you would like to include in your own teaching statement. Students in your program, recent graduates, and professors may be willing to share models, and many examples are also available online through libraries and faculty resource centers.

As you look at sample teaching statements, think about what you do or do not like about each statement. The following questions can help you determine how you might construct your own statement.

• What is the most memorable part of the teaching statement? Why?
• How is the teaching statement organized (e.g. thematically, chronologically)?
• How easily are you able to follow the structure of the statement?
• What is the writing style of the teaching statement (e.g. formal, conversational)?
• What impression of the writer does the writing style convey?
• What image of the writer are you left with after reading the entire statement?
• How well can you imagine yourself as a student in the writer’s class?

Researching the institution

Different institutions will have different teaching cultures and, therefore, will value different types of teaching statements. For example, a research university and a community college may have different approaches to teaching, so the same teaching statement is unlikely to appeal to both institutions. Instead, you should try to tailor your teaching statement to each individual institution (and department) to which you are applying.

As a first step, you can explore the institution and department websites to learn how much emphasis they place on teaching. You might also research the department faculty, their areas of expertise, and the courses they have recently taught. By learning about your audience, their teaching expectations, and their values, you can tailor your teaching statement to demonstrate how well you will fit into the department’s teaching culture.

You might also think about the department’s needs by considering current offerings and what they can tell you about the priorities and values of the department. Without making assumptions, you can ask yourself:

• How do the department’s offerings compare with common or standard course offerings in the field? How do they compare with courses you have taken or taught?
• How does your current research relate to the department’s course offerings?
• Which courses would you be prepared to teach?
• What future courses might you envision creating for the department?
• Does the department offer any special courses, seminars, or initiatives relevant to your research or teaching experience?

Although a targeted teaching statement is important at any point in the application process, the timing of the hiring committee’s request can also inform you about how targeted the statement should be. For example, if the committee requests a teaching statement after they have already reviewed your initial materials, then you should be even more purposeful in demonstrating how you will fit into their specific teaching culture and how you can contribute to their department’s teaching needs.

Drafting a teaching statement

Because teaching statements are variable in design and structure, you will have many choices to make during the drafting process. Here are some common decision points, considerations, and challenges to keep in mind while writing your teaching statement.

Organizational strategies

Teaching statements do not have one set organizational structure. Instead, you can employ different organizational strategies to emphasize different aspects of your teaching. Here are a few examples that you could consider:

Think of your teaching history as a narrative (past, present, future). How have your previous experiences informed your current practices? How might those practices transform within different contexts in the future? This narrative strategy allows you to build upon past experiences to point towards future development.

Structure your statement around your teaching goals, methods, and assessment. How do your goals inform your methods, and how do you assess the extent to which those goals have been reached? This process-oriented strategy can help you highlight connections between goals and outcomes and show how those connections inform your practice.

Identify themes, concepts, ways of thinking, or learning strategies that are prevalent in your teaching. How do these elements help students learn? This approach can characterize what’s distinctive about your teaching and how it serves students.

Be specific and concrete

Including specific details and explanations in your teaching statement will help the audience picture what it’s like to be in your classroom. Rather than simply mentioning a particular innovation or strategy, include examples of how it has helped students in practice.

Explain terms that could be open to interpretation by your reader. For example, if you mention the importance of critical thinking in your teaching statement, explain what that means to you as an instructor.

Use concrete examples from your teaching and classroom experiences to illustrate how your teaching philosophy informs your practice. How does your philosophy shape your students’ experiences in the classroom?

Incorporate inclusivity

While some applications will also require a diversity statement, the teaching statement is your opportunity to express how you consider diversity and foster inclusivity in the classroom through specific examples. Incorporating inclusivity throughout your teaching statement demonstrates that it is an integral part of your philosophy and practice rather than just a required element tacked on at the end. Here are some questions to help you reflect on how you might incorporate inclusivity in your teaching:

• How does your course material reflect contributions from diverse perspectives?
• How do you encourage collaboration among all students?
• How do you help students from diverse backgrounds feel welcome and safe in your classroom?
• How do you cultivate an inclusive learning environment that encourages students to think about the effects of racial, cultural, gender, socioeconomic, and other differences?
• How do you make your instruction accessible to students with physical disabilities and learning differences?

How do I keep my teaching statement both professional and personal?

As with most writing, knowledge of your intended audience can help guide choices around style. You can use the information you gleaned from researching the institution to develop a sense of their values and level of formality. You might also consider models, especially those from applicants at comparable career stages or applying to comparable institutions, and assess the type of language and tone used.

Especially if you are writing a statement as part of an application, your teaching statement should be unique to you. See our handout on Application Essays for more general advice on writing in application contexts.

What if I’m not an experienced teacher?

Although having extensive teaching experience may help you to draw examples for your teaching statement, prior teaching experience is not required to write a quality teaching statement. In some fields, opportunities to teach are few and far between; committees will be understanding of this, especially at institutions where research is prioritized. Regardless of whether you have much teaching experience, be sure to frame yourself as a teacher rather than a student.

Here are some strategies to help you draft a teaching statement, even if you aren’t an experienced teacher:

• If you haven’t taught your own courses, draw upon experiences when you served as a teaching assistant for another instructor.
• If you don’t have any experience teaching in a classroom, think of other transferable experiences like tutoring, coaching, or mentoring that illustrate what you would be like as a teacher.
• If you have time, seek out teaching-related opportunities, such as giving guest lectures or mentoring junior colleagues.
• If you really have no teaching experience, imagine and describe what you will be like as a teacher, propose courses that you could teach, and provide concrete techniques that you will employ in the classroom.

How do I unify diverse teaching experiences?

Having extensive teaching experience may seem like the optimal situation for writing a teaching statement, but teaching experiences that span a broad range of courses or positions may feel disjointed or difficult to connect in a single teaching statement. In these cases, remember that you can use the diversity of your experiences to highlight your strengths and the approaches that you implement in the classroom. Here are some strategies that can help you identify commonalities across your disparate teaching experiences and construct a cohesive narrative:

• Use a strategy like webbing to help you draw connections between the ideas, theories, and/or practices from your various teaching experiences. For more information about this strategy, see our Webbing video.
• Highlight the flexibility of your teaching and explain how your unique combination of skills can contribute to your success in different teaching contexts.
• Focus your teaching statement on the skills and experiences that are most transferable to your targeted position.

Remember that you don’t need to include every teaching experience in your teaching statement. Your CV will cover all of the courses that you have taught, so your teaching statement can be an opportunity to focus on specific experiences in more detail.

Revising a teaching statement

An effective teaching statement is often the product of a series of revisions. Once you have written a draft, the strategies below can help you look for opportunities to strengthen your statement for specific application contexts and audiences.

Review your application holistically

Consider how your teaching statement fits into your application as a whole. Your teaching statement should complement your other application materials without being redundant. For example, your CV likely lists the courses you have taught; your teaching statement should not repeat the list but may highlight certain courses. Similarly, whereas a research statement will go into detail about your scholarship, your teaching statement can be a place to explain how your research and teaching inform each other. Think about how your entire application paints a cohesive picture of you as an applicant, and determine whether any elements are missing and where they could be included.

Seeking feedback

After you have developed a draft of your teaching statement, seek feedback from multiple sources. Professors, especially those who have served on hiring committees, can provide informed suggestions about the genre, but other helpful readers include fellow students, roommates, partners, family members, and coaches at the Writing Center. Asking these readers for feedback about your entire application can help you identify redundancies or gaps that you could address. See our Getting Feedback handout for advice on how to ask for effective feedback.

Editing and proofreading

Like all application materials, your teaching statement should be free of mechanical errors. Be sure to edit and proofread thoroughly. See our Editing and Proofreading handout or Proofreading video for some strategies.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Meizlish, Deborah, and Matthew Kaplan. 2008. “Valuing and Evaluating Teaching in Academic Hiring: A Multidisciplinary, Cross-Institutional Study.” The Journal of Higher Education 79 (5): 489–512. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2008.11772114 .

Montell, Gabriela. 2003. “How to Write a Statement of Teaching Philosophy.” The Chronicle of Higher Education , 27 Mar. 2003. https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-to-Write-a-Statement-of/45133 .

O’Neal, Chris, et al. 2007. “Writing a Statement of Teaching Philosophy for the Academic Job Search.” Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. University of Michigan. http://www.crlt.umich.edu/sites/default/wp-content/uploads/sites/346/resource_files/CRLT_no23.pdf .

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Successful Personal Statement For English At Cambridge

Last Updated: 5th April 2022

Author: Rob Needleman

Table of Contents

Welcome to our popular Personal Statement series where we present a successful Personal Statement, and our Oxbridge Tutors provide their feedback on it. 

Today, we are looking through an English applicant’s Personal Statement that helped secure a place at Cambridge University. The English Course at Cambridge balances a strong grounding in literary works. Let’s see how the candidate addresses this in their Personal Statement. 

Here’s a breakdown of the Personal Statement (the applicant came very close to the 4,000 character limit):

SUCCESSFUL?

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Enrolling on our Oxbridge English comprehensive Programme will give you access to Personal Statement redrafts. 

Your tutor will give you actionable feedback with insider tips on how to improve and make your Personal Statement Oxbridge quality for the best chances of success.  

English Personal Statement

Growing up in a house where books have replaced wallpaper, acquiring a love of literature was inevitable. I love the way in which writers explore, question, and critique aspects of human nature through the presentation of their worlds and characters. My favourite pieces of writing are ones such as Levi’s ‘Order on the Cheap’, Gogol’s ‘The Overcoat’ or Hartley’s ‘The Go Between’, where a particular human tendency is both beautifully presented and meticulously analysed. In his short story, Levi explores curiosity by invoking that of his audience: readers become distracted by the narrator’s descriptions of his experiments and overlook their morally problematic side. Hartley employs an opposite technique, allowing the reader to be often sharply aware of the innocence and naivety of the protagonist. Gogol manipulates the reader even more, invoking a painful sense of pathos around the main character whilst at the same time daring us to find Akaky’s concerns a little ridiculous.

I have to admit, however, that I am drawn to Levi’s short story not only because of its literary merits, but also because I sympathise with its main character: a man driven by his fascination with the process of creation. My favourite parts of my Chemistry A level were the ‘practicals’; I derived great excitement from the process of taking a simple substance, subjecting it to particular conditions, and thereby creating a completely different, and often much more complex, chemical. In ‘The Monkey’s Wrench’ Levi seems to emulate the same process in his development of the character of Tino. Starting from a simple first picture Tino is slowly developed, snippet by snippet, as the stories progress, until a fully evolved character finally emerges.

I find it fascinating how unexpected links can suddenly emerge between works: reading around a set text, Murakami’s ‘Blind Willow Sleeping Woman’, I read his ‘Kafka on the Shore’, which led me to read some of Kafka’s short stories, including ‘The Penal Colony’ and ‘A Country Doctor’. Whilst the works of the two writers are in many ways extremely different, I noticed some stylistic similarities. Both present protagonists whose apparently unexceptional lives are suddenly interrupted by a series of unexplained fantastical events. These events are often a metaphor for a wider-reaching process in the life of the narrator.

But without a doubt, poetry has always been my favourite form of literature: I like listening to poems or reading them aloud, appreciating their rhythm and sound, before going back and analysing them. Some of my favourite poems are those in which the sound is almost as important as the words themselves, for example, Lawrence’s ‘Ship of Death’ or Frost’s ‘After Apple Picking’. In this vein, I have a YouTube channel on which I post my readings of various poems, and have also earned at least several pence through poetry busking in the streets of Waterloo.

Eagleton’s ‘Literary Theory: an Introduction’ gave me another way in which to approach texts. As well as my visceral response and the various meanings extracted through analysis, the texts might exemplify the literary or political beliefs of a particular period. Further, members of different literary movements might approach them in very different ways – I enjoyed trying to put on the ‘mask’ of one movement or another and read a poem through it. Similarly, whilst studying ‘Othello’ I was interested by the hugely varying approaches of different critics, from Bradley who focused chiefly on character but seemed to forget the literary context, to Empson who concentrated almost solely on the changing meaning of the word ‘honest’ throughout time. Perhaps most significantly, Eagleton and the other critics reinforced the idea that engaging with a text is itself a creative process.

However, Eagleton’s book is just ‘an Introduction’: what draws me most to the study of English literature is not only that I love it, but that I want so much to learn more about it.

For more inspiration, take a look through our other successful Personal Statement a nalysis articles:

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Good Points Of The Personal Statement

The candidate clearly demonstrates a keen and actioned interest in their chosen subject through the presentation of their reading and subsequent thoughts. They can articulate their present interests in their subject, as well as the sources of these interests, and their potential directions for further development. They indicate their ability to think laterally and creatively through their cohesive discussions of seemingly disparate texts, and are self-aware of their strengths and weaknesses as a reader. Their statement is fuelled by their evident personal enthusiasm for their subject, which makes it an engaging and urgent read.

Bad Points Of The Personal Statement

The candidate has acquired a relatively personal tone, which veers into the casual or confessional at times; their point might have been made more clearly or precisely had they adopted more strictly academic modes of communicating. Their consideration of various works is quite itemised, insofar as their statement reads like a series of ‘nuggets’ of information, rather than a clearly-focused piece with argument and direction. The candidate does reference another subject they study for A-Level, but beyond that, they have not included much information beyond their academic reading and interests. While this could certainly be justified as an approach, it does leave the statement suggesting that the writer is not particularly engaged in questions or activities beyond specific areas of literature.

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The statement is at times quite chaotic in style, due to its familiar tone and slightly haphazard structure. However, it more than compensates for this since its familiarity is clearly a result of the candidate’s sheer enthusiasm for the subject. In addition, the range of material that they consider is very impressive — it includes both primary texts (of various forms) and secondary reading. The candidate has, moreover, articulated their own ideas on these works, and even if their exact communication of these are not particularly precise, the level of thought and consideration is still strong.

This Personal Statement for English is a great example of enthusiasm and passion. The candidate’s interest is clearly shown which is vital to Admissions Tutors.

Remember, at Cambridge, these Admissions Tutors are often the people who will be teaching you for the next few years so you need to appeal directly to them.

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Teaching statements.

Print Version

• What is a teaching statement?
• What purposes does the teaching statement serve?
• What does a teaching statement include?

General Guidelines

• Reflection questions to help get you started
• Exercises to help get you started
• Evaluating your teaching statement
• Further resources

What is a Teaching Statement?

A Teaching Statement is a purposeful and reflective essay about the author’s teaching beliefs and practices. It is an individual narrative that includes not only one’s beliefs about the teaching and learning process, but also concrete examples of the ways in which he or she enacts these beliefs in the classroom. At its best, a Teaching Statement gives a clear and unique portrait of the author as a teacher, avoiding generic or empty philosophical statements about teaching.

What Purposes does the Teaching Statement Serve?

The Teaching Statement can be used for personal, professional, or pedagogical purposes. While Teaching Statements are becoming an increasingly important part of the hiring and tenure processes, they are also effective exercises in helping one clearly and coherently conceptualize his or her approaches to and experiences of teaching and learning. As Nancy Van Note Chism, Professor Emerita of Education at IUPUI observes, “The act of taking time to consider one’s goals, actions, and vision provides an opportunity for development that can be personally and professionally enriching. Reviewing and revising former statements of teaching philosophy can help teachers to reflect on their growth and renew their dedication to the goals and values that they hold.”

What does a Teaching Statement Include?

A Teaching Statement can address any or all of the following:

• Your conception of how learning occurs
• A description of how your teaching facilitates student learning
• A reflection of why you teach the way you do
• The goals you have for yourself and for your students
• How your teaching enacts your beliefs and goals
• What, for you , constitutes evidence of student learning
• The ways in which you create an inclusive learning environment
• Your interests in new techniques, activities, and types of learning

“If at all possible, your statement should enable the reader to imagine you in the classroom, teaching. You want to include sufficient information for picturing not only you in the process of teaching, but also your class in the process of learning.” – Helen G. Grundman, Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement

• Make your Teaching Statement brief and well written . While Teaching Statements are probably longer at the tenure level (i.e. 3-5 pages or more), for hiring purposes they are typically 1-2 pages in length.
• Use narrative , first-person approach. This allows the Teaching Statement to be both personal and reflective.
• Be sincere and unique. Avoid clichés, especially ones about how much passion you have for teaching.
• Make it specific rather than abstract. Ground your ideas in 1-2 concrete examples , whether experienced or anticipated. This will help the reader to better visualize you in the classroom.
• Be discipline specific . Do not ignore your research. Explain how you advance your field through teaching.
• Avoid jargon and technical terms, as they can be off-putting to some readers. Try not to simply repeat what is in your CV. Teaching Statements are not exhaustive documents and should be used to complement other materials for the hiring or tenure processes.
• Be humble . Mention students in an enthusiastic, not condescending way, and illustrate your willingness to learn from your students and colleagues.
• Revise . Teaching is an evolving, reflective process, and Teaching Statements can be adapted and changed as necessary.

Reflection Questions To Help You Get You Started:*

• Why do you teach the way you do?
• What should students expect of you as a teacher?
• What is a method of teaching you rely on frequently? Why don’t you use a different method?
• What do you want students to learn? How do you know your goals for students are being met?
• What should your students be able to know or do as a result of taking your class?
• How can your teaching facilitate student learning?
• How do you as a teacher create an engaging or enriching learning environment?
• What specific activities or exercises do you use to engage your students? What do you want your students to learn from these activities?
• How has your thinking about teaching changed over time? Why?

* These questions and exercises are meant to be tools to help you begin reflecting on your beliefs and ideas as a teacher. No single Teaching Statement can contain the answers to all or most of these inquiries and activities.

Exercises to Help You Get You Started:*

• The Teaching Portfolio , including a section on teaching statements, Duquesne University Center for Teaching Excellence. This website includes five effective exercises to help you begin the writing process
• Teaching Goals Inventory , by Thomas A. Angelo and K. Patricia Cross and their book Classroom Assessment Techniques . This “quiz” helps you to identify or create your teaching and learning goals.

Evaluating Your Teaching Statement

Writing A Statement Of Teaching Philosophy For The Academic Job Search (opens as a PDF), The Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at the University of Michigan.

This report includes a useful rubric for evaluating teaching philosophy statements. The design of the rubric was informed by experience with hundreds of teaching philosophies, as well as surveys of search committees on what they considered successful and unsuccessful components of job applicants’ teaching philosophies.

Further Resources:

General information on and guidelines for writing teaching statements.

• Writing a Philosophy of Teaching Statement , Faculty and TA Development at The Ohio State University. This site provides an in-depth guide to teaching statements, including the definition of and purposes for a teaching statement, general formatting suggestions, and a self-reflective guide to writing a teaching statement.
• Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement , Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Iowa State University. This document looks at four major components of a teaching statement, which have been divided into questions—specifically, to what end? By what means? To what degree? And why? Each question is sufficiently elaborated, offering a sort of scaffolding for preparing one’s own teaching statement.
• Writing a Meaningful Statement of Teaching Philosophy , McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning at Princeton University. This website offers strategies for preparing and formatting your teaching statement.

Articles about Teaching Statements

• Grundman, Helen (2006). Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement (opens as a PDF), Notices of the AMS , Vol. 53, No. 11, p. 1329.
• Montell, Gabriela (2003). How to Write a Statement of Teaching Philosophy , from the Chronicle Manage Your Career section of the Chronicle of Higher Education .
• Montell, Gabriela (2003). What’s Your Philosophy on Teaching, and Does it Matter? , from the Chronicle Manage Your Career section of the Chronicle of Higher Education .

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What to include in a Personal Statement

Personal Statement Tips

Personal statement example english.

Submitted by Ruairi

The English language has always been central to my interests throughout my life, both in school and in my own personal hobbies. I have always felt inspired by my English studies , from primary school all the way to Sixth Form. I have developed a great interest in analysing language, meaning and structure everywhere, from language in music and film to its usage in daily life. This interest has been magnified to higher levels through my A-Level English studies, thus leading to my decision to make the next step to study English at university. I love trying to understand how English literature has influenced our societies, from Shakespeare in the Jacobean Era, to modern writers such as Stephen King and the effect they have had on pop culture; how movements such as romanticism left lasting impressions on the state of English literature and the greater society.

For my A Levels, I have studied English Literature, ICT and Religious Studies, and I believe all three of these subjects have cultivated and developed my use of English positively. English Literature has refined a passion for books into a constant need to dissect all literature presented to me. ICT coursework has allowed me to develop my mature use of language, and RE has allowed me to learn the skills of being evaluative with my language, as well as developing my own character and flair in my exam work, approaching questions with interesting and thought-provoking answers. Together, these subjects have motivated me to improve my own writing and be more open to challenge from complex literary texts and questions.

I’ve always been interested in the vast possibilities that can be explored through creative use of the English language, and I firmly believe that my choice in literature has been consistently central to my personality. My first engagement with ‘real’ literature was the Harry Potter series, and the aspects I enjoyed manifested into interests of Stephen King and Edgar Allen Poe, with “It”, “The Masque of the Red Death” and William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” all close to my heart as my favourite stories. There is so much a writer can present through smart use of the English language, and I have always admired the skill involved. It particularly interests me how an author’s work can be greatly reflective of the era they came from; offering stark commentary and criticisms as a capsule of their own times.

I have had the experience of using my enjoyment of English in a teaching environment by reading with primary school children as a mentor to develop their understanding of English. I truly enjoyed the experience as it allowed me to present my passion for literature to a younger age group, helping me learn how to adapt my language and reading for others, and it gave me great joy watching their confidence and literacy skills develop. I also completed a ‘Living Law’ programme throughout Lower Sixth at the Law Society in Belfast. Here, I was presented with a certificate for partaking in a mock bail session. I enjoyed the experience greatly as it provided a new setting to test my knowledge and application as language, as well as learning about the importance of language in contemporary law settings and the importance of choosing the right words.

Through English literature, I am more appreciative and inquisitive of the world around me than I would be if picking away at a novel was not my favourite activity from a young age. I have always been greatly fascinated at how the English language and literature has affected society and world cultures in the widest sense. An important subject to me is literature amid social instability, as it gives the best indication of how society functioned in a radically different era. I am confident in my English abilities as well as in the consumption and application of my knowledge. I am constantly engaging in the learning of new things, and it is this willingness and enthusiasm to learn that I believe will benefit me greatly in university.

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• Statement of Purpose, Personal Statement, and Writing Sample

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Statement of Purpose 

The statement of purpose is very important to programs when deciding whether to admit a candidate. Your statement should be focused, informative, and convey your research interests and qualifications. You should describe your reasons and motivations for pursuing a graduate degree in your chosen degree program, noting the experiences that shaped your research ambitions, indicating briefly your career objectives, and concisely stating your past work in your intended field of study and in related fields. Your degree program of interest may have specific guidance or requirements for the statement of purpose, so be sure to review the degree program page for more information. Unless otherwise noted, your statement should not exceed 1,000 words. 

Personal Statement

Please describe the personal experiences that led you to pursue graduate education and how these experiences will contribute to the academic environment and/or community in your program or Harvard Griffin GSAS. These may include social and cultural experiences, leadership positions, community engagement, equity and inclusion efforts, other opportunities, or challenges. Your statement should be no longer than 500 words.

Please note that there is no expectation to share detailed sensitive information and you should refrain from including anything that you would not feel at ease sharing. Please also note that the Personal Statement should complement rather than duplicate the content provided in the Statement of Purpose. 

Visit Degree Programs and navigate to your degree program of interest to determine if a Personal Statement is required. The degree program pages will be updated by early September indicating if the Personal Statement is required for your program.

Writing Sample 

Please visit Degree Programs and navigate to your degree program of interest to determine if a writing sample is required. When preparing your writing sample, be sure to follow program requirements, which may include format, topic, or length. 

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Language Personal Statement Examples

What is a languages personal statement?

Your languages personal statement is a way to sell yourself to the university admissions tutors, explaining why you want to study this subject and why you would make a great language student.

Therefore, it’s crucial you spend as much time as possible writing your languages personal statement.

This means starting early (usually the summer holidays, in July or August), and reading through lots of languages personal statement examples for inspiration (please see above).

How do I write a languages personal statement?

As a future university languages student, it's crucial to provide examples of everything you mention to back up your claims.

This includes any skills, experience, academic achievements and relevant hobbies/extracurricular activities that would be useful in a languages degree.

Most students start their languages personal statement with why they want to study this subject, and what makes them passionate about it.

Reading through our languages personal statement examples above will help you understand how students have successfully applied for this type of course in the past.

Try to start your statement with an attention-grabbing opening that will make tutors want to read to the end. Doing some brainstorming and getting some notes down will help you start putting together an initial draft.

What should I include in my languages personal statement?

• It's important your statement covers everything that is appropriate, such as achievements, work experience, personal traits/skills, hobbies and activities outside of school/college, and career plans.
• To make sure you do this, we recommend you brainstorm and write down as many notes as you can before you start writing. This way, you won't miss anything out.
• Skills you may want to focus on include communication, reading, writing and listening.
• Talk about what you hope to do with your languages degree in the future, e.g. do you want to become a journalist, marketer, or holiday rep? Students often tend to round off their statement with their career plans and ambitions once they have completed their studies.

For more help and advice on what to write in your languages personal statement, please see:

• Personal Statement Editing Services
• Personal Statement Tips From A Teacher
• Analysis Of A Personal Statement
• The 15th January UCAS Deadline: 4 Ways To Avoid Missing It
• Personal Statement FAQs
• Personal Statement Timeline
• 10 Top Personal Statement Writing Tips
• What To Do If You Miss The 15th January UCAS Deadline.

What can I do with a languages degree?

There are many different career options open to those wishing to study a languages degree. These include:

• Academic researcher
• Interpreter
• Political risk analyst
• Secondary school teacher
• Tourism officer
• Investment analyst
• Public relations officer

For more information about careers with a languages degree, please see Prospects , Targetjobs , and TopUniversities .

What are the best UK universities for languages?

Currently, the best universities in the UK for studying languages are:

For more information on UK university rankings for languages, please see The Guardian and What Uni .

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