Curriculum Vitae for the Further Education and Training Programme at Edge Hill University

CV WRITING GUIDELINES

Your CV is your first communication with your potential teaching placement. For this reason, it is essential that you give the setting an excellent first impression. The following advice should help you to create this impression.

Specific Guidelines

Subject specialism – fill in the blank box to the right of this heading with your own specialism. Then, delete the examples which have been provided for you ie ‘Eg1 Psychology’ and ‘Eg 2 Hairdressing’

Placement sought - this is what you would like to teach. For example, if your subject specialism is ‘English’, then you might be looking to teach ‘A Level English Language and Literature’ and/or ‘GCSE English’ and/or ‘A Level English Literature’. Delete the examples.

Address – if you are moving to be nearer to the University but do not yet have accommodation then, for now, complete the ‘Vacation’ box with your home address details.

Qualifications – provide the name of the school where you did your GCSEs or equivalent and the name of the school/college where you did your A levels or equivalent. When listing your GCSE qualifications, you should put the grade for your English Language first, then your Mathematics. Your other GCSEs can then be listed afterwards, in descending order of grade. Your A levels should be listed in descending order of grade.

First degree – do list your degree modules and remember to put in your degree class. If you do not yet know your grade, put ‘not yet known’ in the space provided.

Teaching/Training Experience – the settings will be very interested in any previous teaching experience you may have had. Provide as much detail as possible here. (If you run out of space, you can always elaborate further in the final box of the CV template).

Other Education-Related Experience – again, this is all very relevant information which will be of interest to the placement. Under the heading ‘setting’, give the name and address of the employer if you have trained staff at work. If it is work connected with a school, then give the name and address of the school.

Previous Employment and Other Relevant Experience, Skills and Interests

- this is the last box on the CV and is your last chance to really ‘sell yourself’ to the placement. You may have a lot of work experience which is not education related at all. Do discuss this in detail here, pointing out the skills you feel you have gained from this work experience that you think will be valuable to you in your future teaching career.

If you do not have any other work experience to discuss, other than what you have mentioned previously on the CV, you could use this box to elaborate on, or to summarise, the work experience that you have already mentioned.

Use this box to highlight the qualities that you have which you feel equip you to be an excellent teacher. You could also say why you have chosen teaching as your future career ie what got you interested in teaching in the first place. You could also discuss your interest/passion for your subject specialism here – the placement will be looking for enthusiasm! Do finish off by summarising your hobbies and interests.

Ideally, you should be writing four paragraphs within this last section.

General Guidelines

· Type in lower case with Initial Capitals. Avoid typing in CAPITALS

· Check that your font size is consistent throughout. Arial 10 is the most suitable option.

· Use bold sparingly ie just for your name.

· Ensure that the text you type in is aligned with the headings on the template.

· Double check your spelling, grammar and punctuation.

· Ensure that maximise the space on each page and that your CV does not have large blank spaces between the sections.

8/5/2014

Edge Hill University – CV Writing Guidelines