Top Tips for Writing Your NQT Personal Statement

While there are many moving parts when applying for a job as an Early Career Teacher (formerly known as an NQT), the most important of them all is your personal statement. The application form is for you to lay out your qualifications and skills. But your personal statement is where you can shine through as a candidate. It’s an opportunity to sell yourself, highlight your personality and explain why you would be an asset to their school.  

It’s not an easy thing to write. But as many successful ECTs can attest each year, it’s certainly not impossible.   

To give you the best chance to succeed, we’ve put together six top tips that will help you create a personal statement that lands you an ECT interview at your dream school. 

Rather than saying you enjoy teaching a particular age group, show that you understand the challenges (and how to overcome them) that come with those particular students.  

For example, if you’re applying for a job within a secondary school that has a sixth form, you might want to show how you have helped students with UCAS applications. Or if you’re applying for a primary position, you could demonstrate why it’s important to keep an element of play within your lesson plans.  

A list of your working experience is a necessary part of your CV, but it’s not what schools are looking for in your ECT personal statement. Instead, you should use this as a space to give your own perspective on how all this experience has shaped your outlook as a new teacher.  

Whether you want to talk about classroom time, a school trip, or coaching a youth sports team, specific examples of how your experiences have improved your skills will give the school’s hiring team a fuller picture of what you’d look like in the role.  

If you’d prefer to avoid writing a personal statement altogether, then Teaching Personnel is here to help.  

Our ECT Pool is the most efficient way for newly qualified teachers to start their careers. We will actively promote you to schools in your local area and help you prepare to nail the interview.  

As soon as you register, our educational recruitment specialists will create a detailed profile of your skills, abilities, personality, and professional goals. We use all that information to match you to jobs at local schools. This saves you precious time writing out many detailed applications. 

Find your first job as an Early Career Teacher – register for the ECT Pool today.