Cover Letter for Teaching Jobs: How to Write, Samples & Tips

Being a teacher comes with superpowers: the abilities to tame unruly teens, inspire little kids, and endure parent-teacher meetings.

But those superpowers might not be enough to land a great teaching position. The competition is high, and it’s not easy to spot bad apples at first glance. That’s why school principals and recruiters are very picky when it comes to selecting candidates.

Of course, you want to improve your chances. That’s why you’ve already prepared a great application for a teaching job. Your resume looks really impressive.

Now it’s time for the cover letter.

Why?

Because an application without a cover letter for a teaching job is like a lesson without a plan. Or a school without students.

This guide will show you:

• A cover letter for teaching jobs better than 9 out of 10 others.
• Cover letters for teaching jobs that can teach you a lesson or two about writing your application.
• Step-by-step instructions for writing a cover letter for a teaching job that make the process as easy as ABC.
• How to avoid schoolboy errors while writing cover letters for teaching jobs.

Want to write your cover letter fast? Use our cover letter builder. Choose from 20+ professional cover letter templates that match your resume. See actionable examples and get expert tips along the way.

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Cover letter sample for a resume—See more cover letter templates and create your cover letter here.

Check this sample cover letter for teaching jobs to boost your chances of working at top schools:

Sample Cover Letter for Teaching Jobs

That’s easily the Teacher of The Year!

Want to make sure your resume is as good as it gets? Check this guide: How to Write a Resume for a Job

Now let’s see how to write a great cover letter for teaching jobs:

1. Use the Best Cover Letter Format for Teaching Jobs

A good lesson needs the right amount of teacher’s instruction and students’ individual work. It’s all about balance. And it’s the same with cover letters. An application for a teaching job needs to include the right amount of information and style.

Just like following a lesson plan, use the list below to make sure everything is in the right place:

Cover Letter for Teaching Job: Checklist

• Put your contact info at the top
• Follow with the company information
• Say hello to the hiring manager (Dear …)
• Paragraph 1: Introduce yourself with a great accomplishment
• Paragraph 2: List the skills that make you a great fit
• Paragraph 3: Show your passion for this job
• Paragraph 4: Add your Call To Action
• Best regards…
• Your name and title
• P.S. to impress

See? Much easier than teaching a teenager to stop checking Instagram in class.

Other than that, your cover letter format should involve an easy-to-read font set to 11–12pt, one-inch margins, and 1–1.15 line spacing. 

Make sure your cover letter matches the template of your resume. Need a bit of inspiration to create a neat layout? Check here: Free Resume Templates to Download & Use for Free.

2. Begin Your Cover Letter for a Teaching Job Strong

Kids are well-known for their short attention spans.

But do you know whose attention span is even shorter?

Hiring managers’.

With children, it’s easy. You can throw in some pretty colours, funny pictures, and catchy songs to make sure they follow the lesson.

But, unfortunately, you can’t do the same thing with your job application.

Luckily, there are other ways to ensure the recruiter stays on task while reading your cover letter.

Check out the examples below:

Sample Cover Letter for Teaching Job Application: Introduction

Your accomplishments speak for themselves. There’s no need to write a 3000-word essay to show your experience when your achievements prove you are a great teacher.

This might be a good teacher—but this introduction doesn’t show it. It’s too vague, and it will be easily forgotten.

Of course, every teacher was a beginner at some point. Even the Nobel Prize laureate Rabindranath Tagore had to gain his footing! But that doesn’t mean that a new teacher doesn’t have anything to say in their cover letter.

Maybe you’ve done some Maths tutoring while at university? Or volunteered to teach Art in the summer? Have you done any teaching internships?

These experiences can help you get the teaching job you want.

Other things you may also mention are:

• What you love about this particular school
• Name of a person working there who impressed you
• Awards or honorary achievements of the school
• Unique thing about you that shows your passion for this job

Check the sample cover letter for teaching job below:

Cover Letter for Teaching Job: Fresher Example

This personal story shows the candidate’s real interest in the position. It also makes the candidate memorable for the recruiter.

If you’re a fresher candidate, your resume is the key to landing jobs. Make sure that it gets through recruitment with flying colours with this handy guide: Resume Format for Freshers: Guide, Steps, Tips & Examples.

3. List Your Skills in the Middle of Your Cover Letter for a Teaching Job

You used a great warm-up activity in your lesson, but now your students’ energy levels are near absolute zero. They start doodling in their coursebooks and looking out of the window.

A similar thing can happen to your cover letter. You’ve started strong, but you need to continue on a similar note. Otherwise, the hiring manager will start browsing Facebook on their phone, just like the students.

To make sure your cover letter for a teaching job helps you succeed, prove that:

1. You know what skills are needed for this position
2. You have proven experience of using those skills
3. You want this job, and not just any other teaching job

Check out this sample cover letter for a teaching job application:

Cover Letter for a Teaching Job: Middle Section

This shows precisely what you can offer to your potential employer and to the students. It also proves you haven’t sent the same cover letter to 50 other educational institutions.

Unlike the teacher cover letter example below, which won’t get a passing mark:

Is this a bad teacher? Of course not! But we simply don’t know if they’re as good as they claim to be. Being experienced doesn’t equal leading to success.

Pro tip: As remote learning becomes more and more popular, teachers with experience in online teaching will be sought out on the market. It’s worth working on your digital skills—even if you don’t have decades of teaching experience, knowing online education tools can be a valuable asset.

When making a resume and a cover letter 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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When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.

4. Finish Your Cover Letter for a Teaching Job With a CTA

In the classroom, you want students to be active. Raise their hands and ask questions. Volunteer for activities. It shows they’re really interested in the topic.

Recruiters want the same. They want to see you’re interested in the position.

But don’t just put PLEAAAAASEEEEEEE at the end of your cover letter!

See how to end a cover letter for a teaching job:

That’s better than chocolates on Teachers' Day!

That’s as boring as a student saying the dog ate their homework. 

Pro Tip: Sometimes putting everything in words is not easy. Remember that your teaching application can also include sample lesson plans, handouts you created, and even photos of your students’ works.

A great cover letter that matches your CV 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 Takeaway

Just like following the coursebook, follow this formula to write a cover letter for a teaching job:

• Format cover letters for teaching jobs correctly.
• Grab the reader’s attention with the most relevant achievements.
• List the needed skills and experience.
• Leave them wanting more with a CTA.

Feeling lost like a new kid on the first day of school? Unsure how to put your skills in the cover letter for a teaching job in India? Thinking of adding something extra to your teacher cover letter? Leave a comment below. Let’s get the discussion started!