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Writing a pgce personal statement.

If you’re applying to train as a teacher you’ll be required to write a personal statement as part of your application.

Take your time writing your personal statement. It’s your first chance to make a good impression so it's well worth investing time to develop a clear structure and style of writing.

It’s a good idea to proofread your statement thoroughly and get others to read through and check for typos, grammatical errors, style, and tone.

What's the personal statement for?

The personal statement is crucial to your PGCE application; it is used primarily to decide whether to invite you for an interview. A poorly written personal statement could end your teaching career before it has started!

This is your chance to demonstrate what you have to offer as a teacher. You should also explain why you want to teach a particular subject or age range, and how your skills and experience will help you become a great teacher. It’s your chance to show your motivation, commitment and teaching potential and an opportunity to show your enthusiasm for teaching a particular subject or age group.

Remember, you only get one opportunity to write a personal statement for both cycles of applications, so it’s important to keep in mind that you should avoid creating tailored personal statements for each university.

How to write and structure your personal statement

The personal statement is split into two sections totalling a maximum of 1,000 words. It’s important to make sure you do not repeat yourself and to take time to ensure that each section is organised coherently. Divide your writing into paragraphs, each dealing with a particular aspect of the question.

Section 1: Why do you want to teach?

(Up to 600 words).

This is the place to talk about why you think you would make a great teacher. You can include:

what has led you to choose teacher training
your understanding of the demands and rewards of the PGCE course and of the teaching profession
the personal qualities that will make you a valuable asset to a school
details of any paid or unpaid experience you have of working with young people and what you learnt
details of any other experiences which you can bring to the teaching profession. Think about any ‘transferable skills’ or qualities which you have developed which may be relevant to teaching.
If you are a career-changer, what have you been doing and what are your reasons for the switch to teaching?
your thoughts on children’s wellbeing and the education system

Your personal statement should tell us why you want to teach, your skills and about any experience you might have of working with young people or in the education sector. If you are taking any exams or additional study before starting the course, particularly if this relates to your eligibility to join the course, we want to hear about it.

It should also show that you understand the education system, what challenges teachers face and that you’re engaged with issues around education.

If you’ve not taught before, think about any other things you’ve done that might demonstrate the skills you’ll need to be a teacher (your transferable skills).

Although it’s a good place to expand on your skills and experience, this shouldn’t be the main focus of your personal statement as the rest of the application will showcase this.

Section 2: Why are you suited to teach your subjects or age group?

Up to 400 words.

Remember to not repeat anything you have already said in section 1!

If you’re writing a personal statement for secondary teacher training, use this section to describe your knowledge and experience of the subjects you’ve chosen. Any work experience in the field will be of interest.

What universities are looking for

Universities want to see your passion for teaching and understand why you think teaching this subject or age group is the right career for you.

Your personal statement should be original and honest. Try and avoid clichés or writing what you think we want to hear. All we really want to hear are the real reasons you’re applying to study a PGCE and become a teacher.

If you’re writing a personal statement for primary teacher training, say why you’d like to teach this age group. If you are particularly interested in certain primary subjects or have relevant experience in them, you can talk about that here too.

You could talk about:

any relevant work or unpaid experience
your degree and degree modules
your other relevant qualifications, such as A levels
any relevant skills, interests or achievements
your understanding of the national curriculum

Questions your personal statement should answer

Why do you want to be a teacher?
Why do you want to teach a particular subject, Key Stage or age group?
What are your strengths?
What experience do you have and how has this influenced your desire to teach?
What skills do you have that would be useful for teaching

The finer details

Your personal statement should be:

no more than 1000 words
written in the first-person
grammatically correct - we suggest writing in a document before adding to your application
your own work, don’t copy from anywhere online
structured correctly with a clear introduction, evidenced paragraphs and a conclusion
proof-read before being submitted

And finally, be prepared to answer questions about what you’ve written in your personal statement at the interview stage!

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How to write a PGCE personal statement

29 th September 2021

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Advice on how to write a PGCE personal statement that shows you’d make a great addition to a teacher training course.

What is a teacher training personal statement?

What to write, pgce personal statement tips.

When applying for a PGCE or postgraduate teacher training, you’ll probably have to write a personal statement. This is your chance to say why you’d make a great teacher by highlighting your relevant experiences and passion for teaching.

If you’re applying directly to a university or school, you should tailor your statement precisely to the course you’re applying for.

If you’re applying through UCAS Teacher Training, you can send your application to more than one university. Therefore, your statement should be more generic so that it applies to each one you’re applying to.

In both cases, make sure that your personal statement reflects the nature of the course or courses you’re applying for. Think about, for example, is it school- or university-based training? What age of students will you be teaching? Will you be specialising in a particular subject?

Before you start writing, look at any information you can find about the course and what you must do to apply. Has the university provided any guidance or topics of what you need to cover?

If not, can you speak to one of the course tutors to discuss what they might want to see in your statement? Or can you talk to a current PGCE student and ask what they wrote in theirs?

When you have a good idea of what admissions tutors will be looking for, create a mind map or list:

Your relevant academic and practical experiences
Areas of the course that you’re most interested in
Anything else the university wants you to include

When structuring your statement, you can use your mind map or list to plan what information to put where.

Your structure can look something like:

Introduction – about yourself and why you want to do the PGCE
Middle paragraphs – relevant information of your academic achievements and experiences of working within education
Concluding paragraph – tying up the main points of why you’re the best candidate for the course

If you’re applying directly to the university, check what the word limit for your personal statement is.

If you’re submitting to UCAS Teacher Training, your personal statement can be up to 47 lines of text or 4,000 characters.

Expanding on your mind map or list from before, think in more depth about why you want to teach.

What qualities do you have that would make you good at teaching?
What do you think are the challenges and benefits of being a teacher?
Why have you chosen this particular age group and/or subject?
What have you learned from your previous experiences in education?
Will you be completing any extra exams or relevant experiences before the course starts?

If you studied education at undergraduate level, your course was probably focused on the theoretical side of the subject. Your PGCE course, however, will be about applying those theories to real-life situations in schools. Your personal statement should reflect your understanding of this.

If you haven’t taught before, what other activities or events in your life suggest that you would make a good teacher? Have you worked with children in different environments?

Admissions tutors don’t just want to see why you think your experiences make you a good teacher. Instead, they want to know that you’re aware of the importance of teaching and the demands that come with it.

Why is it important to reflect on your abilities as a teaching practitioner?
How will you work on your own development to become a great teacher?
What interests you about the education system and its challenges?
Do you have any thoughts are on child welfare and social justice?

When writing, make sure to use evidence and examples to back up your points. Through your tone of voice, try to show that you are positive and passionate about the work.

To see more information on how to style your personal statement, see our postgraduate statements guide.

Ask someone you know to check it through. Even better if you can get feedback from a teacher
See if you can speak to other students applying for a PGCE to share thoughts and ideas of what to write
Similarly, reach out to PGCE staff at your university – or a teacher you know – they have experience that might be valuable to you!
Any time you can spend in a school will be a valuable addition to your application. If you haven’t already, see if you can arrange to volunteer with one locally
If you’re invited to an interview, you’ll be asked about what you’ve written on your statement, so be prepared to talk about it in more detail