Teachers motivate and inspire, and this should come across in your teacher cover letter. A great teacher can turn someone with little interest in learning to become a major success in life. Such is the power they hold. A teacher is someone who carries a wealth of knowledge, sometimes on one specific subject or they may have expertise in a range of topics.
If you want to find out what makes a great teacher, you may want to take a leaf out of the book of Peter Tabichi, who recently won the Global Teacher Prize 2019. Peter dedicates his life to help others and even gives away 80% of his salary to projects in his local community. Peter has changed many lives for the better, throughout his career. A great teacher can make a huge impact and is an asset to any school.
As a teacher looking for your next career move, you must put your passion across for teaching, as well as your ability to motivate and inspire others. Unlike the CV, you have a bit more freedom with your cover letter, and although it should be brief, it is important to get the key points across. What can you say that will make an impact in a very brief 300 words?
In the guide, together with our teacher cover letter examples that follow, you can expect to learn the following:
- The best cover letter format to use, and the key paragraphs to put in your cover letter (header, greeting, introduction, body of the cover letter, and the conclusion)
- How to make sure each paragraph of your cover letter is effective and correctly portrays your expertise, skills, and abilities.
- How to plan the writing of your cover letter.
- How to ensure you don’t make any mistakes on your cover letter
Teacher applications are on the rise over 2019, but down from unprecedented numbers in 2020 when there were 58,000 more than in the previous year due to unemployment concerns during Covid, so if you are applying for a teaching job, you want to ensure you stand out from the other applications. Have a read through our guide, and if you need further information, we have a library of cover letter examples you can utilise at your leisure.
Best format for a teacher cover letter
Before you get down to business and start writing your cover letter, it is important to decide on your structure and format. If you have a clear format to follow, it will make it so much easier to write your teaching cover letter and to ensure that you cover all the key points.
These are the main elements you should have in your cover letter:
- The header (including contact details)
- The greeting (how you address the recipient)
- The introduction (leading the recipient into your story
- The main part of the cover letter (body of the letter)
- The conclusion with a call to action
You can take a look at the comprehensive cover letter guide which will provide you with more help and advice on writing your cover letter and ensuring you get the most out of each paragraph.
The teacher cover letter example is a useful springboard to start with to help you build your application.
Dear Principal Wilson,
In a subject where forces and momentum are key to some of the greatest scientific discoveries, I hope to bring a new sense of wonder to the scientific minds of tomorrow. Two decades of seeing 500+ science students graduate from Ivy League universities informs the teaching force that I would bring to Jepperson High School.
As the subject lead, I facilitated the creation of learning materials and improved graduation rates by 15% across the district over a four-year period. In my school, graduation rates averaged 99%. Innovation in the classroom leads to curious minds wondering what might come next.
I have been active in creating online lessons for my students and believe that blended learning is the future of education. When someone is still curious when they get home, they need the option of further study materials. In such a way, we can still be there as virtual educators for them. Brains click into gear when they have the opportunity to process information in the comfort and peace of home.
The Jepperson HS values are close to my heart. It was actually one of your current faculty who suggested that I apply for the role. I look forward to the chance to meet your staff and students and hope that I might be able to contribute to success. In the school experiment, every curious mind matters.
Yours sincerely,
Sophie Wright
Cover letter header
Every cover letter should have a cover letter header. Take a look at our cover letter examples to find out how to write this. Your header will contain key information on how the hiring manager should reach you, including phone and email. Make sure you use the contact details that you check daily so that you don’t miss a call or email. If you never look at your emails, don’t list this as they will expect you to be checking – and may think you’re not interested when you don’t reply!
The header should contain your town of residence, but not your full home address. That can come at the offer stage. Also, don't waste space by including the inside address of the employer. This is an outdated convention - make the most of the page for your career story.
Recheck your header details before submitting
We all know our details off the top of our heads, right? It can be extremely easy to make a mistake with something you’re so used to writing. When you proofread your cover letter after completion, don’t forget to check your details. Make sure the digits are correct on your telephone number and that there are no spelling errors in your email address. The last thing you want is to miss out on a great opportunity because of a silly mistake on your cover letter. If your email bounces, for instance, the hiring manager is not going to spend time trying to figure out what went wrong. They will move onto the next candidate if they can’t reach you elsewhere.
The goal of your cover letter header: There is nothing complicated to be achieved with your cover letter header. You simply want to inform the reader of your contact details and how best to reach you.
Cover letter greeting
Teachers are very familiar with the formal greeting of ‘Good morning Miss/Sir’, especially primary school teachers. There is one reason for using this greeting, and that is to show respect to the teacher, something which is vital for learning. The same applies when you write your cover letter. You should never write an informal greeting, such as ‘hi or hello’, like you would on a less formal means of communication, such as an email. If the job is advertised with someone’s contact details, you should address the cover letter to them. For example, ‘Dear Mr. Jenkins.’ Make sure the spelling is correct too.
If you are unable to find the specific details of the recipient, you can just put ‘Dear Recruitment Team’ or ‘Dear Hiring Manager.’ As you are working in a professional institution, it is even more important to be formal in your greeting.
The goal of the cover letter greeting: Start on the right foot with a good strong greeting that is personable to the person who will be reading it.
For more inspiration, check out our related cover letter examples:
Cover letter introduction
Start the cover letter strong with an introduction to what makes you a great candidate for the job. You only have a few sentences to grab the reader’s attention, so make them count. Think about it from the hiring manager’s perspective. What would they expect from candidates and how can you show that you are going to be worth taking to interview? Inspire them as quickly as possible with your introduction. See how to do this in our teacher cover letter sample below.
The goal of the cover letter intro: Quickly tell the hiring manager why you are the right person for the job, base it on the job description and what is important to them.
Dear Principal Wilson,
In a subject where forces and momentum are key to some of the greatest scientific discoveries, I hope to bring a new sense of wonder to the scientific minds of tomorrow. Two decades of seeing 500+ science students graduate from Ivy League universities informs the teaching force that I would bring to Jepperson High School.
As you can see, this makes a strong impact in just two sentences. It tells the reader that this person can turn results around and that they are an individual who likes to challenge themselves.
Cover letter middle part (body)
You can finally transition to the main part of the teacher cover letter, which is the body of it. We always suggest using quantifiable data when talking about your experience and achievements, as it makes it seem much more valuable. You can use bullet points to illustrate these, or you may wish to write in sentences; it is completely up to you. Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through in the body of your cover letter. It is your story, and you should tell it in your own words.
The goal of the body of your cover letter: If someone walked into your class, what would it be like? How engaged would the class be and what would the atmosphere be like?
As the subject lead, I facilitated the creation of learning materials and improved graduation rates by 15% across the district over a four-year period. In my school, graduation rates averaged 99%. Innovation in the classroom leads to curious minds wondering what might come next.
I have been active in creating online lessons for my students and believe that blended learning is the future of education. When someone is still curious when they get home, they need the option of further study materials. In such a way, we can still be there as virtual educators for them. Brains click into gear when they have the opportunity to process information in the comfort and peace of home.
The reader of this cover letter can instantly get a vision of what it would be like to be in this classroom. They experience the energy of the classroom and envisage a classroom with engaged students. The fact that it is also supported with quantifiable data makes it stand out even more.
How to close a teacher cover letter (conclusion and sign-off)
After the main body of the cover letter, you are now ready to wrap it up with a conclusion and final sign-off. As this is where the lasting impression will be, it is a good idea to reiterate your interest in the role, and perhaps, why you are interested. If you have any golden nuggets that make you particularly unique, you may want to share them here.
Candidates sometimes go a little too far in their conclusion by saying that they ‘can’t wait for their interview’ or similar, and although this is an enthusiastic response, it makes assumptions that might not sit too well with the reader. Don’t assume that you will be invited for an interview, but by all means, let the interviewer know you are excited by the prospect, as seen in our teacher cover letter sample.
The Jepperson HS values are close to my heart. It was actually one of your current faculty who suggested that I apply for the role. I look forward to the chance to meet your staff and students and hope that I might be able to contribute to success. In the school experiment, every curious mind matters.
Yours sincerely,
Sophie Wright
This conclusion finishes with a compliment reiterating the candidate's expertise and their excitement about the role. It is polite, while being short and to the point.
The goal of the conclusion: Sign off by reiterating your interest and give them a thirst for hearing more about you. A final thought that is to the point but makes the reader excited to learn more.
Teacher cover letter with no experience
Writing a cover letter when you have no teaching experience is not as hard as it might seem. It is likely that you have had significant experience of classroom education during your own studies, so you already know what is involved. Show that you have the transferable skills to communicate with students, enthuse them about the subject and get the class working together. Teaching is not only about conveying information - to make the most of the class you need to be s first-class motivator.
There are plenty of jobs where such transferable skills can be learned - make sure that you make the link with what you will be doing in the classroom. Most importantly of all, share your passion for teaching. It is a vocation for life for many people, so use the cover letter to tell the hiring manager why you are making this move. Everyone has to start somewhere.
Writing psychology: how to show that you have a good work ethic in your cover letter
You must convey your work ethic in your teacher cover letter sample, which can be challenging as this is something you usually show, not something you tell people about.
The goals you should be looking to achieve through your teacher cover letter are:
- Share your level of expertise with the reader and the types of students you are familiar with.
- Give the reader a bit of a glimpse of ‘a day in the life’ of your classroom and what they would expect if they paid you a visit
- Make sure your passion for teaching and your love for helping students to thrive are apparent.
- Share anything unique about yourself that might make you stand out from the crowd.
Teaching is as much about other tasks as it is about teaching, so the reader should be left with no doubt that you can spin a few plates at the same time, and not only that but that you thrive on the variable responsibilities.
Short is sweet
One of the worst things you can do in a cover letter is go on and on for pages. Quite honestly, the hiring manager will not bother to read it, and they will probably be so put off that they won’t bother with your CV. Short is always sweet with a teacher cover letter, and it is worth bearing in mind that the average British person only has an attention span of 14 minutes! Keep it short and to the point.
Basic mistakes in a teacher application letter (and how to avoid them)
As a teacher, you are expected to get your cover letter spot on, so make sure you don’t make any silly mistakes. These are some of the most common.
- Spelling and grammar. Of course, a teacher should not be making any spelling or grammatical mistakes. Proofread, and proofread again!
- Too lengthy. As discussed above, it is better to keep your cover letter short and to the point.
- Overly formal. Let your personality shine, don’t be too formal, but follow the structure from our CV examples.
Key takeaways
- Give the reader an insight into how you operate as a teacher and what your classes are like.
- Show that you can help a range of students to achieve good results.
- Let your personality shine through and leave the hiring manager with an urge to learn more.
- Use quantifiable examples where possible.
With Resume.io, we take the stress out of writing your cover letter. Take a look at our ready-made and researched cover letter templates and start getting to work. There are plenty of ideas here to help you make the most of your teacher cover letter.
