prospects pgce personal statement

Student Good Guide

The best UK online resource for students

PGCE Personal Statement Example

Are you applying to PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) Primary or Secondary? Start your application by writing a PGCE personal statement with our example as a guide.

Personal Statement Example for PGCE Secondary

My twenty-year teaching career has given me extensive skills in training and management, as well as working directly with children. As a result of these roles, I have been able to observe how my experience within teaching has impacted my ability to assess and report on a variety of issues. Moreover, I have regularly studied and completed professional training to be able to provide feedback, allowing me to provide successful mentoring and assessment.

Studying for a degree in Early Years Education offered me a chance to develop analytical skills by translating teaching experience into academic qualifications. In academic studies, the evidence must be gathered, analyzed, and interpreted, and findings must be documented consistently. My experience gathered evidence through essay writing and project work, whether consulting previous studies or conducting my own. Being consistently recognized for my outstanding performance demonstrates that I am an expert in this field.

As a supervisor, manager, chairperson and governor, I gained experience in gathering, analyzing and interpreting evidence within an academic context. Reporting on findings at committee meetings or in writing has been part of each of these roles.

Through my previous role in preschool management, I demonstrated my dedication to facilitating learning through training and supervision, which required an understanding of the impact of decisions at the management level on the quality of education. Educational planning has to be considered alongside practical concerns, such as budget restrictions when using the Early Years Educational Framework. It took organisational and diplomatic skills to implement this framework by managing an existing team. My commitment to training and development allowed me to acquire the skills necessary for this; while a fair, reasonable approach to feedback allowed me to instil the same in my colleagues. Through this approach to constructive feedback, I was also able to provide structured guidance to students visiting from local colleges.

Additionally, I recruited and trained staff, controlled budgets, and established strong relationships between colleagues and parents. The ultimate responsibility for key decisions lay with me, even though my role as chair of the committee involved considering and meditating disparate viewpoints. By accepting this responsibility, I demonstrated my ability to weigh up the evidence to reach balanced judgements, which have always benefited the children.

My experience has taught me that communication skills are essential in any management position. Besides academic writing, I have been responsible for producing a variety of documents, including staff and pupil records, training materials, and fundraising materials. I have also been instrumental in producing a monthly 35-page parish magazine, requiring an eye for detail and a strong grasp of word processing and publishing IT packages, as well as the ability to respond to the concerns of contributors and advertisers.

I have developed my verbal critical feedback skills via staff management and training, and my work on mainly located has given me a priceless opportunity to mediate and lead the conversation, defending, interpreting, and adjusting my opinion as needed.

I have consistently maintained a high degree of professionalism. I’ve continued to be passionate about learning new things and expanding my experience so that I can properly perform each function. I have expertise with and have adapted to the appropriate frameworks for each educational institution I have worked in, both in the classroom and in simpler elements, including health and safety laws.

Due to my experience working in early childhood education in both the UK and Australia, I have also demonstrated my ability to quickly and efficiently adjust to foreign environments while maintaining the same high quality of care. I have worked to establish solid, professional connections with all stakeholders in addition to my practical understanding of each function, and I have proven to be an asset as a committee member and in supervisory responsibilities.

Although it has been evident in my managerial and administrative duties, my enthusiastic and thoughtful commitment to delivering a top-notch education for every kid has also sparked energy inside the educational setting. My dedication to equality, diversity, and excellence in education—as well as the many challenges that these values present—has been inspired by my work with children of all ages and my extensive experience working with children with special educational needs, such as autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and visual and hearing impairments.

Other examples:

• Animal Science Personal Statement Examples
• Anthropology personal statement examples
• Statistics Personal Statements
• PPE Oxford Personal Statement Example
• Classics Personal Statement Examples
• Theology Personal Statement Examples
• Physics Personal Statement Examples
• Chemical Engineering personal statement examples
• Oncology Personal Statement Examples
• Psychiatry Personal Statement Examples

What to Include in Your PGCE Personal Statement

How your pgce personal statement should be structured, example personal statement, final thoughts, pgce personal statement.

Updated November 24, 2021

A PGCE personal statement is written as part of the application process for teacher training and gives candidates an opportunity to showcase their skills and attributes.

PGCE candidates will only write one personal statement, which is used to apply for all of their preferred choices. Students upload their personal statement to the UCAS Teacher Training system, and it is submitted for all choices in both phases of the application process (‘Apply 1’ and ‘Apply 2’). No changes can be made once it is submitted.

The personal statement is often used as the deciding factor for choosing whom to invite to interview . This piece of writing should explain the experience you have and how this translates into your abilities in the classroom.

It should also present what you might be like as a teacher – how will your personality and interests help engage students and get them enthused about the subject?

A lot is riding on your personal statement and writing it can be a daunting task. This guide will outline what your PGCE personal statement should contain and how to structure it for the best chance of success.

The admissions team will want to know about the skills, experience and personal qualities you have that would make you perfect for a teaching career. They need to see you have the dedication and passion to complete your PGCE and have a successful future.

Simply saying, “I would be good at this role and am well suited to it” isn’t enough. The PGCE provider needs to read real examples that demonstrate your skills and abilities and meet their requirements.

Here are some details you may want to include in your personal statement:

1. About You

A teacher’s personality and personal experience will be highly influential, therefore your own experiences are relevant to your application.

Before you start writing, it’s a good idea to spend a few minutes jotting down some key facts that are relevant to teaching. These might include:

• Your interests
• Qualifications/achievements
• What motivates you
• Your upbringing
• Relevant skills

Remember to include examples in your list. Coaching a sports team in your spare time suggests you are experienced in motivating young people and getting the best out of them. Maybe you play an instrument and use music in class. Including qualities like these will make your application stand out.

2. Why You Want to Teach

A key element of your application is explaining why you have chosen teaching as your future career. Show an awareness of how teachers can inspire individuals and also the benefits you might see in yourself.

Try to broaden your answer further than simply saying you are passionate about teaching or children. Every applicant will say they are passionate.

Give details of experiences that moved you towards this career or, perhaps, even the moment you realised this was what you were born to do. By using genuine examples, your passion and excitement will shine through.

3. Why You Are the Best Candidate

Try not to pull out a cliché like “I am passionate, dedicated and reliable” – make your application stand out by using a paragraph that the provider won’t see in any other application that day.

Think about what makes you different from any other candidate. Other applicants may say they can take charge of a class and have experience dealing with challenging children, but will they sing an entire lesson just to get the pupils to engage with them, like you did in your work experience? Or will they bring in a structure made out of Lego to demonstrate osmosis, like you did on your degree placement? Think of what makes you, you.

4. Why a PGCE?

Include details of why you have chosen to go down the route of a PGCE rather than doing a full teaching degree. Perhaps you dipped your toe into teaching while travelling after your degree and realised how much you love it, or maybe you are passionate about biology and wanted to decide at a later date whether to go into teaching or industry.

Show that you have done your research and understand the structure of the PGCE and what will be required.

5. Teaching-Related Experience

Include details of any experience you have gained working in schools or with children in another environment. This might include:

• Work experience
• Visits to schools
• Teaching assistant roles
• Voluntary teaching/supervision roles (like helping out at a scout hut, etc.)
• Experience via the Get School Experience service
• Classroom observations

With every experience you discuss, note the skills you gained and how they will benefit you as a teacher and how they have improved your understanding of the education system.

6. Other Professional Experience

Teaching demands a range of different skills – it’s not simply a case of delivering information.

Talk about past positions you have held:

• Did you manage people?
• Did you work within a team?
• Did you negotiate?
• Have you trained or coached others?
• When have you communicated information to different audiences?

The skills you have gained throughout your education, work and personal life can be highly relevant to your application. Be sure to include details of why these skills will make you excel as a teacher.

7. What You Learnt During Your Degree

Whether your degree was in the subject you intend to teach or not, it’s important to talk about the skills you developed throughout your learning and how they will benefit you as a teacher.

If you’re struggling to find transferable skills , here are some ideas:

• Think about how you communicated (presentations, critiquing the work of your peers, etc.)
• Give examples of how you organised yourself
• Describe times you helped others with their learning

Remember to talk about the benefits your initial degree will bring when studying for your PGCE and how your interest in it has inspired your desire to teach.

8. Your Knowledge of What Training to Be/Being a Teacher Entails

It’s important to stress your commitment to your training. To do this, you should demonstrate that you have done your research and are fully aware of what is to come.

Although teaching is a highly rewarding career, no one applying for teacher training will do so without being aware of the challenging nature of the profession.

There is no need to ignore these challenges in your application; actually, it will work in your favour if you show that you have thought about these challenges and are sufficiently prepared.

Talk about the positives and negatives that you expect to experience in your training and within your career, and how your core strengths will help you deal with them.

9. Your Future Plans

Discuss your plans beyond the PGCE:

• Do you have the ambition to be a headteacher?
• Do you plan to take on pastoral responsibilities?

Show a keenness to immerse yourself in the school system and be open to opportunities that come your way.

10. Extenuating Circumstances 

Your personal statement is the place to openly discuss any extenuating circumstances, such as low grades or large gaps in employment/education. Make sure you show how you have overcome these challenges and what you learnt from them.

Write your personal statement in Word (or equivalent) and make sure you are happy with it before copying and pasting it into your application on the UCAS system.

You need to keep your personal statement to no more than 4,000 characters across a maximum of 47 lines of text . The UCAS Teacher Training system may differ slightly to your word processor, so be prepared to amend slightly once you have copied it into the UCAS page.

To keep to the character limit and cover all the suggested material above, you will need to be succinct. Make sure you only talk about topics that are relevant and delete any waffle.

Your opening statement should be strong and memorable – a good idea is to state why you have decided to get into teaching. Back up all details with examples and be sure to say what you learned from the experience or how you can bring the skills you developed into the classroom.

Split your statement into three sections:

• Introduction – Introduce yourself and talk about why you want to do a PGCE
• Middle – Use the notes above to cover the key details
• Conclusion – Tell the reader why you are the best person for the place they are offering

Avoid using bold, underlining or italics, and write in English (or Welsh if applying for Welsh PGCEs). The UCAS system will strip all special formatting out of the personal statement (except paragraph breaks) so ensure you keep it simple.

When you are happy with the content, make sure you ask someone to check your work . Spelling and grammar in personal statements should be accurate. Make sure you have not copied anyone else’s work at all – UCAS screens all applications for plagiarism.

Below is an example personal statement which covers all of the key points you should include in this piece of writing:

A teacher at my secondary school single-handedly transformed my passion and ability for maths; I was predicted an ‘F’ at GCSE and in a matter of months, she helped me achieve a ‘B’ and start to enjoy the subject. I can’t think of a more satisfying job than one in which you can inspire young people in the way my teacher inspired me. After achieving a ‘B’ in maths at A-Level, I went on to study the subject at University College London and graduated in 2018 with a 2.1. It was in the final year of my degree that I had my first taste of teaching the subject, as several of the modules involved presenting topics to large groups of first-year students. I was thrilled when students asked to see me afterwards to share their observations of what I had been discussing – it was clear my enthusiasm had rubbed off on them and they were excited by maths, which is exactly why I want to teach. I currently work as a teaching assistant at St Andrew’s School, where I have been for six months. This position has given me a great insight into the skills needed to be a fantastic teacher; the school has several SEN pupils and I have been exposed to the more challenging side of the profession. Being trusted to run activities with the entire class has helped me build confidence and learn how important it is to adapt lesson plans to engage students who have different abilities. I have gained valuable skills in implementing strategies such as gentle competitiveness between pupils, and tactical seating plans to get the best out of each student. Before working at St Andrew’s, I completed a work experience placement at Bell Lane Academy where I shadowed teachers working across the five different year groups. This experience helped hone my skills in addressing different age groups in different ways. My ability to get the best out of students is further strengthened by the experience I am currently gaining in the position of assistant coach at my local netball team. Having worked with the girls for the last 18 months, I have developed different ways of motivating individuals, helping push them outside of their comfort zones and encouraging them to take on new challenges. In my spare time, I enjoy playing netball and rugby and would be keen to take on extra responsibilities at a school in the form of after school clubs or teams. I also have a keen interest in management styles and personality types. The knowledge I gain from books on these topics helps me understand pupils and their differing learning styles – what works for them and what doesn’t. It also helps me look inwardly, analysing my own leadership style and methods of teaching. I have chosen to do a PGCE because I am passionate about maths, and I wanted to spend three years of a degree course exploring the subject further, rather than embarking on teacher training straight from school. My degree course has helped me with my confidence and my ability to speak in front of large groups of people. Teaching first-year students during my degree course helped me think about how to deliver the subject in an exciting and creative way. The experience I have had so far has clearly shown that teaching is an extremely challenging profession, but one which I believe is undeniably my calling in life. I adore maths and I want to bring the subject alive, helping children learn in an exciting, rewarding environment. A few weeks ago, I took it upon myself to ask the headteacher for permission to get the whole year group involved in a human percentages exercise – the children loved it. I believe I should be offered a place on your PGCE programme because I can commit to dedicating myself to a role in which I will strive to inspire and excite every pupil I teach.

The personal statement is your one opportunity to capture the attention of the PGCE provider and set yourself apart from other candidates. Teaching is about bringing your personality into the classroom and inspiring students, so avoid a formulaic application and speak from the heart, giving a full picture of who you are.

Your answers should convey enthusiasm for inspiring young people, a passion for teaching, creativity, excellent organisational skills and energy.

Demonstrate an awareness of this challenging profession but conclude with excitement and enthusiasm for your chosen career path.

You might also be interested in these other Wikijob articles:

Or explore the Postgraduate / Further Study sections.

Our cookies

We use cookies for three reasons: to give you the best experience on PGS, to make sure the PGS ads you see on other sites are relevant , and to measure website usage. Some of these cookies are necessary to help the site work properly and can’t be switched off. Cookies also support us to provide our services for free, and by click on “Accept” below, you are agreeing to our use of cookies .You can manage your preferences now or at any time.

Privacy overview

We use cookies, which are small text files placed on your computer, to allow the site to work for you, improve your user experience, to provide us with information about how our site is used, and to deliver personalised ads which help fund our work and deliver our service to you for free.

The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalised web experience.

You can accept all, or else manage cookies individually. However, blocking some types of cookies may affect your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

You can change your cookies preference at any time by visiting our Cookies Notice page. Please remember to clear your browsing data and cookies when you change your cookies preferences. This will remove all cookies previously placed on your browser.

For more detailed information about the cookies we use, or how to clear your browser cookies data see our Cookies Notice

Manage consent preferences

Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems.

They are essential for you to browse the website and use its features.

You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. We can’t identify you from these cookies.

Functional cookies

These help us personalise our sites for you by remembering your preferences and settings. They may be set by us or by third party providers, whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies, then these services may not function properly.

Performance cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and see where our traffic comes from, so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are popular and see how visitors move around the site. The cookies cannot directly identify any individual users.

If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site and will not be able to improve its performance for you.

Marketing cookies

These cookies may be set through our site by social media services or our advertising partners. Social media cookies enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They can track your browser across other sites and build up a profile of your interests. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to see or use the content sharing tools.

Advertising cookies may be used to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but work by uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will still see ads, but they won’t be tailored to your interests.

How to write a PGCE personal statement

29 th September 2021

• Post on Facebook
• Send to a friend
• Recommend 0

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

DON'T MISS OUT

Receive regular newsletters packed with useful tips.

Law and Legal Studies - Postgraduate Guide

As it is a subject that touches many other sectors, there are various postgraduate...

A Postgraduate Timeline

"Where on earth do I start?" That’s generally the first thought that runs through...

How to Make the Most of Postgraduate Open Days

If you’re going to university open days to help you figure out where you could do...

Similar articles and videos

Best universities for business studies, best universities for aeronautical and aerospace engineering, best universities for chemistry, best universities for sports science, don't miss out.