Sample Teaching Personal Statement
I developed an interest in teaching following a year spent working as a teacher in Pakistan after I completed my Bachelor of Arts degree. Teaching and working with children proved to be something of a revelation for me. I found that the opportunities it gave me to exert a positive and constructive influence on the lives of children offered me a deep sense of personal fulfilment. At the same time, I came to realise that working as an educator requires a considerable level of expertise, not just in terms of subject matter, but also with regards to understanding core principles such as how and why children learn, how to manage a classroom effectively, and how to make long- and short-term learning plans that meet the requirements of the curriculum and the children’s own needs. The experience of teaching in Pakistan therefore inspired in me both an awareness of the demands of teaching and, perhaps even more importantly, a fervent wish to spend my career educating children. Both of these factors have led me to apply to train as a teacher.
The teaching work that I did in Pakistan has served as an excellent preparation for studying teaching. Through this experience, in addition to learning much about how the work of the teacher in the classroom links to the overall objectives of a country’s education system, I also learnt a great deal about the role that teachers can play in a young child’s development, and also developed some of the personal qualities that are necessary for teachers. Through day-to-day interactions with the children I learnt, for example, how important patience is for a teacher, and also that the environment within which the children are working – or rather how the children feel within that environment – can have a profound effect on their ability to learn. Over the course of the teaching year, I developed teaching strategies that I found had a significant positive impact on the children’s learning, such as organizing the week’s learning thematically, which I found helped to stimulate the children’s learning skills.
My own experiences as a mother have also given me an insight into the educational development of children. As a mother I have always been keen to instil key educational skills in my children from a young age, and I have seen first-hand the beneficial effect that this has had on their learning experiences at preschool. Through tutoring the children of my friends during recent years, I have had further opportunities to hone these skills further. It has also fuelled my passion for teaching during the years when motherhood and the qualification barrier that I experienced after immigrating to the UK prevented me from working as a teacher.
Since moving to the UK I have worked in various non-teaching jobs that have equipped me with a wide range of professional skills that are relevant for a career in education. For instance, working as a branch manager of a large store helped me to acquire managerial skills, develop communication techniques and coordinate work with colleagues.
During my BA I particularly enjoyed studying psychology and economics as a I felt that they helped me to acquire analytical skills, and social work as it expanded my horizons in terms of the difficulties that people can experience in their upbringing and how these can adversely affect their abilities to succeed in areas such as education. Over the last year my efforts have been focused on preparing for teacher training through taking an Access course, which I have found has refreshed my educational skills and knowledge base, as well as sharpened my study skills. I greatly enjoyed my undergraduate degree, and I am looking forward to the opportunity of returning to higher education.
This sample Teaching personal statement should be used as a guide to content and structure for anyone looking for help with writing a statement on their own.