Top tips for teaching applications

Some local authorities use paper application forms although the trend is increasingly to use online forms. Whichever the case, information you will be asked to supply will include:

• personal details
• national insurance number
• teacher reference number - often given an acronym relating to the current name of the Department for Education, but usually starting with the number in which you started training (for example '11-')
• contact details
• qualifications (A levels and upwards)
• details about your teaching placements
• which key stage you would prefer to teach
• a personal statement
• contact details for two referees.

You will also be required to make declarations with regard to the mandatory skills test, the rehabilitation of offenders act and medical clearance. (See below for more information).

Top tips for filling in application forms

• Read and use all the accompanying information and guidance carefully: person specifications and information on completing your supporting statement are clear indications as to what the recruiters are looking for, so it’s important to address every point listed.
• Include up-to-date, accurate contact details: supply a professional-sounding e-mail address and check that any answer-phone messages a recruiter might hear are appropriate.
• Answer all questions concisely and clearly: make it easy for the recruiters to read and take in the information you’re supplying. Anything that makes it more challenging for the selection panel to read will count against your application.

Think about what admissions tutors want to see.

• Presentation: sloppy spelling, punctuation or grammar sends a bad message and will send your application straight to the reject pile. Ensure that you keep within word counts, as recruiters may deduct points from your application if these are exceeded.
• The personal statement: plan this carefully and break it down into sections. Aspects to include are why you want the particular post you are applying for, what your course covered, your teaching experience, your teaching style and your understanding of teaching and learning.

Check out how to plan a perfect personal statement.

• Don’t include any information that hasn’t been asked for.
• Ask for advice: speak to college tutors and if possible get a tutor to look over your application. If possible, find someone to proofread it for typos, spelling mistakes and inconsistencies.
• Referees: these should include a tutor from your ITT course and (normally) a head teacher from one of your teaching placements. You should ask permission from the relevant individuals to use them as a referee out of courtesy. You could supply the school referee with a list of what you think you achieved during your teaching placement.

Next steps and QTS skills tests

You will usually be notified within a week or so of the closing date for applications if you have been invited for an interview. If you attend an interview and accept a job, be professional and inform anyone who is still carrying your name on a database or register for teaching posts.

If you are undertaking your initial teacher training in England you need to pass skills tests in numeracy, literacy, and information and communications technology before being awarded qualified teacher status (QTS). The tests cover the core skills that teachers need to fulfil their wider professional role in schools, rather than the subject knowledge required for teaching. The tests are computerised and can be taken at any of more than 40 test centres throughout England. You will need to obtain a pass mark of at least 60 % for each skills test. Teachers who qualified in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales will not need to take the QTS skills tests to teach in England.

Find out more about crafting interview magic.

Criminal records checks and medical clearance for teachers

Teachers are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and Section 41 of the Mental Health Act. You must therefore declare any criminal convictions, bind-over orders, reprimands or cautions, and disclose if you have been made subject to an order under Section 41 of the Mental Health Act. Your potential employment will not necessarily be affected, depending on what you declare. Your employer will need to carry out complete criminal record checks and health checks.

The school will approach the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) to check if you have a criminal background that might prevent you from working with children or if you have previously been excluded from working with children. The CRB’s enhanced disclosure is intended for people who will regularly be in sole charge of children or vulnerable adults. It will contain details of whether a person is included on the Children's Vetting and Barring scheme, the Protection of Children Act (PoCA) list, or is disqualified by the courts from all work with children. Enhanced disclosures may contain details of acquittals or other non-conviction information held on local police records, relevant to the position or post for which the person has been selected.

If you do not declare a criminal conviction and it is discovered when the CRB returns its report, you will probably be dismissed from your teaching post for withholding vital information from your employer – even if the original charge would not have affected your application.