Teacher Resume: Examples, Template, Skills & Writing Guide

Getting trained and certified as a teacher is hard.

But getting a decent teaching position? Complicated? Distressing? Unendurable? Even as a teacher, you probably find it difficult to think of a synonym that accurately describes the hardships of job-searching.

After a few unsuccessful job applications, you may think you’re doomed to spend the rest of your life rushing across the country every few months as you hop from one LTO position in the middle of nowhere to another.

Believe us, you’re not.

Just follow the steps to make sure your teacher resume gets an A+ and lands you that coveted job in front of a class.

This guide will show you:

• A teacher resume example better than 9 out of 10 other resumes.
• How to write a teacher resume that will land you more interviews.
• Tips and examples of how to put skills and achievements on a teacher resume.
• How to describe your experience on a resume for a teacher to get any job you want.

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Sample resume made with our builder—See more resume examples here.

Teacher Resume Example

Looks good? You can have a job-winning teacher resume like this, too! Just follow our step-by-step guide.

1. Use a Resume Structure That Deserves an A+

Sit back and remember the time when you packed a sprawling topic into an easy-to-understand diagram on the chalkboard. And then you saw the students’ eyes light up when a complex set of concepts suddenly started to make sense to them.

As a teacher, you’re a master at structuring and presenting information.

Let your resume show this by opting for a proven resume format that guides the reader’s eye towards the most important information.

But first, let’s revise some basics.

For a professional look, make sure your resume has even margins on all sides and lots of space between the sections. Set the line spacing to 1.15 and pick classic, easy-to-read fonts like Arial, Verdana, or Helvetica.

Note: Comic Sans doesn’t count as a classic font, even if you’re an elementary school teacher.

After you’ve set up the page and the fonts, you’ll need to create at least five resume sections:

• A header with contact info (name, location, email, LinkedIn handle etc., but please no photo)
• Resume summary or resume objective
• Work experience
• Education
• Skills

It’s also a good idea to create extra sections for your hobbies, awards, additional certifications, etc.

The work experience and education section should be structured in the reverse-chronological order: you start with your latest experiences and go back in time. This approach to structuring your resume is straightforward to write and easy to read.

All of this should fit on a single page. Unless, of course, you’re Maria Montessori’s lost sibling—in that case, opt for two pages.

If you’d like to take an in-depth look at different resume formats, check out our handy guide on choosing the best resume layout for your purposes.

When you’re done with your resume, remember to save it as a PDF file. But you probably don’t need this reminder. If you’ve ever accidentally saved lesson handouts as Word files (DOC) and tried to print them out at school, you know that Word documents can look like shipwrecks when opened on another computer.

There’s an exception to this rule, though. Some job ads clearly state that you should submit your resume as a DOC file. In this case, do as instructed.

To recap:

• Use the reverse-chronological format
• Set the line spacing to 1.15 and choose a sleek, professional resume font
• Set the font size to 11 or 12 points
• Make sure the margins are even on all four sides
• Do your best to stick to one page
• Save your resume as a PDF file, unless clearly requested otherwise

2. Let Your Work Experience Shine

You may have noticed we’ve skipped the resume summary (resume objective) section for now. It’s just much easier to write when you’ve got the rest of the resume neatly written out in front of you.

Let’s start with the work experience section first.

It consists of a series of entries arranged from latest to earliest. Each entry starts with your job title, the employer’s name and location, and the dates when you started and ended working there. You don’t need to remember the exact day一months and years are enough.

This info is followed by a few (up to 6) bullet points where you describe your achievements.

Yes, achievements. Not responsibilities and duties. You can be responsible for a lot of things and still be bad at them.

But what exactly do you write there?

As with any writing assignment, your resume’s work experience section should be closely tailored to the writing prompt. In your case, the prompt is the job ad.

Look at the job requirements listed in the specific job ad you’re applying to, and then think of achievements that match these requirements. For example, if a school board is looking for a teacher who has a “vibrant personality” and “enjoys interaction with young people”, consider a bullet point like “Staged 5 well-received plays with the school’s drama group”.

After all, it’s pretty obvious that someone who doesn’t have a vibrant personality and hates interacting with young people would burn out after three days of supervising a school drama group.

If you’re still not sure how to structure your bullet points, try the PAR technique. PAR stands for Problem-Action-Result. Let’s say one of your classes had a problem: their math grades were 10% below average. You took action: implemented new teaching methods and created customized scaffolding activities. As a result, your students’ grades improved by 15%.

So you’d write:

Helped students improve their math grades (low math grades were the problem) by 15% (result) by implementing new teaching methods and creating customized scaffolding activities (action).

If you can describe the epic scale of your achievement with a number, go for it—even if you’re an arts teacher with a deep-seated hatred of anything that looks like math. Numbers are hard to argue with, so they offer excellent proof of your abilities.

Teacher Resume Example: Work Experience

This candidate didn’t just show up for English and Social Studies lessons. She has succeeded in creating an effective learning environment for SEN students, made sure her students felt safe from bullies, and supervised the drama group. Absolutely worth hiring.

This example comes from the same candidate, but it leaves an entirely different impression.

Look, teaching your subjects according to the curriculum isn’t an achievement. It’s an obvious responsibility. And the phrasing of the bullet points doesn’t say if the candidate was actually good at anything they did.

But how do you approach your work experience section if you don’t have much experience to start with?

Well, guess what? You do. You’ve completed placements during your studies, and you might also have some experience as a tutor.

If you’ve had other jobs that involved dealing with (young) people, imparting knowledge, or herding kittens, by all means give them a place on your resume, too. Just make sure that you describe these jobs with a focus on the skills and qualities that are relevant to teaching.

Teacher Resume Template: Work Experience

This candidate is applying for an assistant teacher position. While he doesn’t have experience in a classroom setting, he’s been a private tutor for a while.

And, judging by his achievements as a tutor, he’s excellent teacher material.

Because there are no dates and no specific info about the tutor job, the reader can easily assume that the candidate had a single tutoring session that went terribly wrong.

Also, the second entry is pretty much irrelevant.

Unless, of course, the candidate is applying for a job at a school that requires its staff to drive forklifts.

When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.

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3. Prove Your Worth With a Compelling Education Section

After you’ve crafted an epic story of your professional achievements, it’s time to focus on your education. How much should you write in the education section of a teacher resume?

It depends on how much experience you have. If you’re a seasoned veteran, just mention your highest degree. Of course, don’t forget to add the name and location of your university, as well as your graduation year.

If you don’t have much experience, write a more elaborate education section and add bullet points with relevant coursework, extracurricular activities, or academic achievements. Just don’t go too far back in time: if you’ve already got a degree, there’s no need to mention your high school.

Teacher Resume Sample: Education

This candidate has more than 5 years of teaching experience, so there’s no need to go into too much detail about her education.

Imagine asking a student how to calculate the area of a triangle and getting an answer that starts with “When I was 3 years old, I liked drawing triangles in the sandbox”.

Entry-Level Sample Teacher Resume: Education

This rookie teacher doesn’t have a lot of work experience to speak for them. However, their education section shows that they excelled both in coursework and “in the battlefield”, so they must be top-quality teacher material.

4. Pick Your Most Relevant Skills

You’re more than a subject-matter expert.

You can make random bits of knowledge fall together like a jigsaw puzzle in your students’ minds.

You’re an expert psychologist who can see through “difficult” student behaviour and offer encouragement instead of blindly dispensing punishment.

You can nurture sparks of interest until they grow into full-blown flames of passion for your subjects.

If you had to list all of your skills, you’d quickly run out of space on the page.

So how do you choose which skills go on your resume?

As always: when doing a writing assignment, read the prompt carefully. Every job ad has multiple skills-related keywords scattered throughout it. Which of these skills do you actually have?

Now, these are the skills that go into the skills section of your resume. Ideally, you should have 5–10 bullet points there.

After that, take another look at the work experience and education sections once again. Can you edit your PAR statements a bit so that they clearly illustrate your skills even more clearly?

Before you dive straight into writing your skills section, here’s a bucket list of teacher resume skills that you might want to use.

Teacher Resume Skills: 20+ Skills to Choose From

• Advocating for others
• Leadership
• Conflict resolution skills
• Teamwork
• Time management skills
• Project management skills
• Organization skills
• Computer literacy
• Blackboard skills
• Empathy
• Communication skills
• Addressing issues proactively
• Classroom management
• Problem-solving skills
• Creative thinking
• Prioritizing
• Emotional intelligence
• Curriculum planning
• Giving and receiving feedback
• Teamwork
• Performance evaluation
• Experiential learning methods
• Task-based learning methods
• Intercultural communication

What could your resume skills section look like, then?

Teacher Skills: Resume Example

• Empathy
• Intercultural communication
• Task-based learning methods
• Teamwork
• Classroom management
• Giving feedback
• Performance evaluation
• Smartboard software
• Blackboard skills

5. Add Extra Resume Sections

Now’s the time to fill out sections such as:

• Awards
• Certifications
• Conferences you’ve spoken at
• Volunteering activities
• Hobbies and interests
• Languages

When writing about your certifications and qualifications, don’t forget to include the year and the certifying body.

If you’ve been wondering whether you need a hobbies and interests section in your resume, consider this: hobbies are a great way to showcase your skills and personal qualities. If you play team sports, your employer will assume that you’re an excellent team player in other areas of your life. Similarly, growing bonsai is a sign of patience and attention to detail, and stress-reducing hobbies like working out or doing crafts suggest that you’re good at managing your mental health.

Just remember that you shouldn’t lie on your resume. You know how easy it is to catch a cheating student—and it’s just as easy to catch a lying job candidate.

6. Craft a Teacher Resume Summary or Resume Objective that Really Gets the Point Across

If you’ve been following our resume-writing steps, you’ve probably noticed that we’ve skipped the resume summary (resume objective) section that goes right below the resume header.

Now we’re back to it.

But before we dive into writing, let’s take a quick look at some basic definitions.

A resume summary is a short, catchy text (3–5 sentences) that showcases your achievements and skills, encouraging the recruiter to read further.

A resume objective is just as short and catchy. It shows why your skills and qualities make you suited for this job (even though you don’t have a lot of work experience yet).

If you’re a seasoned teacher, write a resume summary. If you’re just starting out, opt for a resume objective.

While they may sound complicated, resume summaries and resume objectives are essentially fill-in-the-blanks assignments. Read your resume once again, find the most relevant and impressive bits of information, and then insert them into the following formula:

Adjective + Job Title + Years of Experience + Achievements + Skills + What You Want to Do for the Employer

Here’s what a resume summary can look like:

Teacher Resume Summary Sample

This resume summary only takes a few seconds to read and it clearly gets the message across: this candidate is a skilled, confident professional who is ready to teleport straight to her new students.

Since you can’t measure or verify the claim made in the last sentence, it just comes off as bragging. Seriously, someone who teaches English should have better writing skills.

Well, that’s pretty clear. But what about resume objectives?

Examples of Teacher Resume Objectives

This new graduate doesn’t have much classroom experience yet (except for their mandatory practicum), but their resume objective shows they’re clearly top-quality teacher material. 

This resume objective would get an F in most principals’ eyes. It doesn’t mention any specific achievements or skills that would that make the candidate stand out.

7. Prove Your Worth With a Teacher Cover Letter

Congratulations on your A+ resume!

But there’s one more thing left.

The cover letter.

It’s true that some employers don’t read cover letters. But not in fields where writing and communication skills are key. Seriously, who’d hire a teacher who can’t complete what’s literally a 200-word writing assignment (yes, ideal cover letter length is shorter than you probably think)?

So just do yourself a favour and write that cover letter. It’s quick, painless, and goes a long way in helping you land that job.

Start with the header: your name, your address, the date, followed by the reader’s name and address. If you don’t know their name, it’s a good idea to do some research一do all you can to avoid dreadfully outdated formulas like “Dear Sir or Madam”.

Unless, of course, you’re a time traveller applying to a Victorian school.

After that, craft a powerful opening paragraph where you mention a big career achievement, drop a name, or use some other tactic to attract the reader’s attention and make them keep reading.

In the next paragraph, show that you understand the specific school’s unique requirements and prove that you’re the right person by piling up even more career achievements.

Once you’re done with this, explain why you want to work at this particular school and not just any school.

By the time the reader gets to this point, they’re probably eager to get in touch with you. So give them a little nudge and end your cover letter with a call to action. Yes, just ask them to schedule a call or a meeting.

Almost done. Add a closing formula, sign your name, and maybe add a mind-blowing P. S. (“I can’t wait to tell you how three of my immigrant students with zero prior knowledge of French got B+ grades after just a year!”)

Done. If you’d like more guidance and pro tips, check out our detailed guide: How to Write a Cover Letter: Examples & Step-by-Step Instructions.

And then you can hit the Send button, grab a coffee, and start getting ready for your job interview.

A great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

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See more cover letter templates and start writing.

Key Takeaways

Before the bell rings and we all go home, let’s summarize what we’ve learned today. 

Here’s how to write a teacher resume step by step:

• Choose a proven resume structure and a professional format
• Describe your work experience, focusing on achievements
• Shed some light on your educational background
• List your skills
• Add some extra sections that show your qualifications and let your personality shine through
• Craft a powerful resume summary or resume objective
• Complement your resume with an equally impressive cover letter

Thanks for reading my guide! Now I’d love to hear from you: 

• What are the biggest challenges of writing a teacher resume? 
• What part do you struggle with the most?

Let me know. Let’s get the discussion started!