HOW ON EARTH DO I WRITE

MY PERSONAL STATEMENT?

So, there you are, filling in your TA job application form.  You've got to write your personal statement and your brain is HURTING trying to fathom out how to do it!  Well, never fear...

 

THE KEY TO WRITING YOUR PERSONAL STATEMENT IS TO:

 

1.  Start by writing a draft first.  If you have Microsoft word or something similar, type it in there because it will make adding and taking away sections much easier.  It will also alert you to any spelling or grammar mistakes. 

 

2.  Write a short opening paragraph introducing yourself.  How long you've been a TA, your qualifications and the age range of the children you've worked with...that sort of thing.

 

3.  Now look at the job description and choose a statement to write about.  It might be a statement about special educational needs, behaviour, confidentiality, safeguarding. 

Just choose one and write briefly about it to demonstrate your understanding.  A great way to demonstrate this, is to give a brief account of an actual experience at school (choose a positive experience).

4.  Then choose another statement and in a new paragraph, write about that.

 

5.  Continue in this way until you have covered the main areas of the Teaching Assistant role.

 

6.  Then you can start filling in any bits you might have missed.

 

Here's an example to help clarify all this for you. The first sheet is a personal statement. The second and third sheets are that statement again with explanations regarding how they fulfilled the remit of the job description...

 

 

 

PERSONAL STATEMENT 

EXAMPLE 1

WITH EXPLANATIONS

Read the above example 2 or 3 times along with the explanations, in blue, so that you understand the process. 

Your personal statement may well be longer than my example and that's okay, most schools will expect up to 4 sides of A4, but don't make it any longer than that.

It goes without saying that you should follow the instructions of the school concerned because, not doing that, could see your application form going straight to the shredder!

Next we'll move on to the more detailed version of a personal statement...

 

 

PERSONAL STATEMENT 

EXAMPLE 2

WITH EXPLANATIONS

Below, is the job description I used to create the more detailed personal statement above.  To make it easier for you to relate each section of the statement to the job description, I have highlighted the paragraphs in corresponding colours.

All I have done, here, is read each statement on the job description and thought about how that translates to my day-to-day work routines.  Using the job description has created a very detailed personal statement.  If you are sent a Job Specification document in your interview pack, use that to create your personal statement instead, it's the same process.

I have included an example of a Job Specification document below, download it from the button provided.

 

If the above images are difficult to read, you can download the pdf files from the buttons below! Print them out to enable you to easily compare them.

© Copyrights by TA IN CONTROL. All Rights Reserved.