We often get asked ‘what makes a great teacher training application?’ While the experience and passion will have to come from you, we’ve come up with five simple tips to make sure you can avoid the easy mistakes and submit the best application you can.
1. Think carefully: Teaching is one of the most rewarding careers, but can also be incredibly challenging. We’re looking for people who are really sure this is what they want to do and know this is the right career for them, as well as being sure they support our mission. If you’re invited to an assessment day with us, you’ll need to be ready to talk about this clearly and passionately.
2. Get some hands-on experience: The best way to prepare for a career working with young people is to gain experience of working with young people. Whether that’s securing some experience in your local Ark school, or coaching sport to young people in your community, it’s all useful experience which will help to strengthen your application.
3. Do your homework: There are many ways to train as a teacher so we want to hear why you want to train with Ark Teacher Training in particular. As part of our recruitment process, we’re also looking for evidence that you understand Ark as an organisation and the context which we work in. We recommend taking a look through our website and watching this video to learn more about the work we do.
4. Dot the ‘i’s and cross the ‘t’s: Read our eligibility criteria carefully to ensure you meet our requirements for the programme and be proactive in filling in any missing gaps, particularly if you completed your qualifications outside the UK. You’ll also need to complete a subject knowledge test if you pass our eligibility screening, so be sure to spend some time looking at the curriculum of your chosen subject.
5. Practise and perfect: Alongside the subject knowledge test, you’ll complete a situational judgement assessment, which looks at how you’d react in different school situations. There are some sample questions for this on our website, which you can use to practise. We’d also recommend practising for your interview with us, if you’re invited to an assessment day, so you can answer our questions confidently.
Followed our tips and ready to submit your application? Apply today and join us in transforming lives through education.
