Teaching CVs are read by a head of department who is trying to work out whether you can take their timetable. That means the practical facts come first: which subject, which age groups or levels, which examination specifications, and what the outcomes looked like.
Specification detail matters more than most applicants expect. Having taught a particular examination board’s syllabus is directly transferable in a way that "taught A-level Chemistry" is not, because schemes of work, assessment structure and coursework requirements differ.
Beyond the classroom, schools and colleges are looking for the contribution that makes a department work: leading a subject area, running intervention for a target cohort, mentoring trainees, or taking on pastoral responsibility. These are what separate a competent teacher from one who will be missed.
This example is written for a secondary school teacher with six years of experience taking on subject leadership.
Opens in the editor with this content already filled in, so you can replace it with your own.
Neha Bennett
Teacher of Mathematics · Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 5
neha.bennett@example.co.uk+44 7700 900862Nottingham, United Kingdom
Profile
Mathematics teacher with six years of experience across Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 5, currently second in department at an 11 to 18 comprehensive. Rewrote two years of the Key Stage 3 scheme of work, run a Year 11 intervention programme that moved 11 of 14 targeted students to grade 4 or above, and mentor two trainee teachers a year.
Qualified Teacher Status & Training
July 2019
Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)
Department for Education
July 2019
PGCE Secondary Mathematics
University of Nottingham
September 2024
Safeguarding and Child Protection – Level 3
Local Safeguarding Partnership
June 2024
National Professional Qualification for Leading Teaching (NPQLT)
Teaching School Hub
Teaching Experience
September 2022 – Present
Second in Department, Mathematics
Sherwood Vale Academy · Nottingham, United Kingdom
•Teach Mathematics across Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 5, including GCSE Higher and A-level Pure and Statistics, with a timetable of 22 periods a week across five year groups.
•GCSE Higher class of 28 achieved 79% at grade 5 or above against a predicted 64%, with all 28 entered.
•Designed and run a weekly intervention group for 14 Year 11 students on the grade 3 to 4 boundary using diagnostic question analysis; 11 of the 14 achieved grade 4 or above.
•Rewrote the Key Stage 3 scheme of work for two years of the curriculum, sequencing algebra earlier to support the GCSE foundation route, and produced the accompanying assessments and mark schemes.
•Quality assure marking across the department through half-termly work scrutiny and provide written feedback to five colleagues.
•Mentor two trainee teachers a year, including weekly meetings, lesson observation and evidence sign-off.
September 2019 – August 2022
Teacher of Mathematics
Beechfield High School · Derby, United Kingdom
•Taught Mathematics across Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4, including two GCSE Foundation groups a year.
•Introduced weekly low-stakes retrieval quizzes across Year 9, which the department adopted after end-of-year assessment scores rose across all four sets.
•Form tutor for a Year 7 to Year 9 group across three years, including transition work with feeder primaries.
•Ran the Year 10 revision programme in the spring term, attended by around 40 students a week.
University of Nottingham · Nottingham, United Kingdom
Upper Second Class (2:1)
Curriculum & Improvement Projects
Key Stage 3 curriculum resequencing
Lead
•Rewrote two years of the Key Stage 3 scheme of work with earlier algebra sequencing to strengthen the GCSE foundation route.
•Produced 18 assessments with mark schemes and a common question bank now used across the department.
•End-of-Year 9 assessment scores rose by an average of six percentage points across four sets in the first year of use.
Year 11 boundary intervention programme
Designer and lead
•Weekly small-group intervention for students on the grade 3 to 4 boundary, targeted using diagnostic question analysis rather than overall score.
•11 of 14 targeted students achieved grade 4 or above; the model has since been adopted by the science department.
Wider School Contribution
October 2022 – Present
Chess Club Lead
Sherwood Vale Academy · Nottingham, United Kingdom
•Run a weekly lunchtime chess club attended by around 25 students, and enter two teams in the county schools competition.
March 2023 – Present
Duke of Edinburgh Award Supervisor
Sherwood Vale Academy · Nottingham, United Kingdom
•Supervise bronze award expeditions, including two weekends a year and the associated training sessions.
Professional Memberships
January 2020 – Present
Mathematical Association
Member
Languages
EnglishNative
HindiB2
References
References available on request.
Teacher / Lecturer example on the Academic layout. All details are fictional and shown for demonstration only.
What recruiters expect
Before writing anything, it helps to know what the person reading is checking for. In this field that is usually a short, specific list:
Subject, key stages or levels taught, and the examination specifications used.
Qualified teacher status or the local equivalent, with the award date.
Outcomes: attainment, progress measures or pass rates, with the cohort size.
Curriculum work: schemes of work written, resources developed, assessment design.
Wider contribution: form tutoring, intervention programmes, clubs, trips, mentoring.
Safeguarding training, which is a baseline expectation rather than a bonus.
Recommended CV structure
This is the running order the example uses. It is a starting point rather than a rule, but the order reflects what tends to be read first in this profession.
Profile — Three or four lines positioning you for the role.
Qualified Teacher Status & Training — Completed certifications with the issuing body.
Teaching Experience — Paid roles, in reverse chronological order.
Teaching & Curriculum Skills — Grouped skills, for example "Languages" and "Tooling".
Education — Degrees, diplomas and school-leaving qualifications.
Curriculum & Improvement Projects — Research projects, studies and audits.
Wider School Contribution — Unpaid roles that show relevant skills.
Professional Memberships — Bodies you belong to, with membership numbers where relevant.
Languages — Spoken languages with CEFR levels.
References — Referees, or a line saying they are available on request.
Sections worth adding
Publications & Resources — Use if you have published teaching resources or contributed to a textbook.
Professional Development — Useful where you have presented at subject association events.
Skills worth including
Grouped rather than listed in one block. Grouping makes a long list readable and shows that you can tell the difference between the things you use daily and the things you have touched.
Classroom Practice
Differentiated planning · Retrieval practice · Behaviour management · Formative assessment · Adaptive teaching for SEND
Curriculum
Scheme of work design · Assessment writing and moderation · Specification mapping · Resource development · Cross-phase transition planning
Data & Intervention
Tracking and target setting · Gap analysis · Intervention group design · Reporting to parents · Examination entry decisions
Leadership
Mentoring trainee teachers · Leading department meetings · Quality assurance of marking · Learning walks and feedback
Pastoral
Form tutoring · Safeguarding referral · Parental engagement · Careers and progression guidance
Beyond the technical list: Building rapport with reluctant learners, Working with parents in difficult conversations, Managing workload across a full timetable, Coaching colleagues. These belong inside your experience bullets, demonstrated, rather than in a list of adjectives.
Example professional summary
Three or four lines, positioned for the role rather than describing your personality. Two versions you can adapt:
Mathematics teacher with six years of experience across Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 5, currently second in department at an 11 to 18 comprehensive. Rewrote two years of the Key Stage 3 scheme of work, run a Year 11 intervention programme that moved 11 of 14 targeted students to grade 4 or above, and mentor two trainee teachers a year.
Newly qualified teacher of English with a strong placement record across Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4, including a GCSE Literature group taken from January to the summer series. Keen to develop a whole-school reading intervention.
Writing your experience
The difference between a CV that gets a call and one that does not is almost always in the bullet points. Each pair below shows a real rewrite of the kind of line that appears on most CVs in this field.
Weak
Taught mathematics to secondary school students.
Stronger
Teach Mathematics across Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 5, including GCSE Higher and A-level Pure and Statistics, with a timetable of 22 periods a week across five year groups.
Levels, specific content and timetable load, which together describe the actual job.
Weak
Achieved good results with my classes.
Stronger
GCSE Higher class of 28 achieved 79% at grade 5 or above against a predicted 64%, with all 28 entered and none withdrawn.
Cohort size, result against prediction, and the entry detail that stops the figure being misread.
Weak
Helped students who were falling behind.
Stronger
Designed and ran a weekly intervention group for 14 Year 11 students on the grade 3 to 4 boundary, using diagnostic question analysis to target topics; 11 of the 14 achieved grade 4 or above.
A specific cohort, a stated method and an honest outcome that does not claim all fourteen.
Weak
Contributed to curriculum planning.
Stronger
Rewrote the Key Stage 3 scheme of work for two years of the curriculum, sequencing algebra earlier to support the GCSE foundation route, and produced the accompanying assessment and mark schemes.
Names the scope, the pedagogical reasoning and the materials produced.
Taken from the example
The sample CV for this profession is fully written. A few sections from it, so you can see the level of specificity that works:
Experience
Second in Department, Mathematics, Sherwood Vale Academy
Teach Mathematics across Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 5, including GCSE Higher and A-level Pure and Statistics, with a timetable of 22 periods a week across five year groups.
GCSE Higher class of 28 achieved 79% at grade 5 or above against a predicted 64%, with all 28 entered.
Designed and run a weekly intervention group for 14 Year 11 students on the grade 3 to 4 boundary using diagnostic question analysis; 11 of the 14 achieved grade 4 or above.
Rewrote the Key Stage 3 scheme of work for two years of the curriculum, sequencing algebra earlier to support the GCSE foundation route, and produced the accompanying assessments and mark schemes.
Audit and research
Key Stage 3 curriculum resequencing — Rewrote two years of the Key Stage 3 scheme of work with earlier algebra sequencing to strengthen the GCSE foundation route.
Year 11 boundary intervention programme — Weekly small-group intervention for students on the grade 3 to 4 boundary, targeted using diagnostic question analysis rather than overall score.
Education
BSc (Hons) Mathematics, University of Nottingham — Upper Second Class (2:1)
Certifications and registration
Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) — Department for Education
PGCE Secondary Mathematics — University of Nottingham
Safeguarding and Child Protection – Level 3 — Local Safeguarding Partnership
National Professional Qualification for Leading Teaching (NPQLT) — Teaching School Hub
Common mistakes
No outcome data
Results are the most comparable evidence in teaching. Give attainment or progress figures with the cohort size, or the intervention result if whole-cohort data is not yours to claim.
Claiming whole-department results
Present your own classes, clearly labelled. Attributing departmental performance to yourself is easily unpicked at interview.
Listing every school policy followed
Following the behaviour policy is expected. What is worth space is what you did that the policy did not require.
Omitting the wider contribution
Clubs, trips, revision sessions and mentoring are a large part of what heads of department are actually recruiting for, and they are frequently left off.
Naming pupils or describing identifiable incidents
Behaviour and safeguarding examples must be entirely anonymous and generic. Never describe a specific incident in identifiable terms.
ATS considerations
Applicant tracking systems behave differently by sector, and generic advice is often wrong for a given field. These points are specific to teacher / lecturer applications:
Write "Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)" in full with the award date.
Name the key stages and the qualifications: "Key Stage 4 (GCSE)", "Key Stage 5 (A-level)".
Include the examination board where you have taught its specification; it is a genuine differentiator.
State safeguarding training with the level and the date, since it is checked as a matter of course.
The Minimal ATS layout is built for this, and the ATS guide covers what parsers do to a file in more detail.
Questions about teacher / lecturer CVs
How do I present results if my classes were shared?
Say so. "Shared a Year 11 group with a colleague, teaching three of five periods" is honest and still lets you describe your contribution and the outcome.
How long should a teaching CV be?
Two pages for classroom roles. Many schools also use their own application form, so keep the CV structured in a way that transfers into a form easily.
What if I am changing phase or subject?
Lead with the subject knowledge and the transferable classroom practice, then be explicit about what you would need to develop. Schools appoint career changers regularly and value the self-awareness.
Should I include my own GCSE and A-level results?
Degree and teaching qualification always. School results only where the employer asks, which some independent schools and some subject shortages still do.
How much detail about behaviour management is useful?
One concrete, anonymous example of a strategy you used and its effect. Generic statements about high expectations appear on every application.