How To Write an Objective for a Teaching Resume

Updated 26 January 2023

The Indeed Editorial Team comprises a diverse and talented team of writers, researchers and subject matter experts equipped with Indeed's data and insights to deliver useful tips to help guide your career journey.

Teachers help students learn new concepts and prepare them for life with valuable skills and knowledge. Since these professionals work so closely with children, many schools like to understand what makes a candidate a good match for a teaching role before hiring them. It is important to understand how to use the sections of your resume to display your ability to perform well as a teacher. In this article, we discuss how to write a successful objective for a teaching resume, including what makes an objective stand out and some example teacher resume objectives to inspire you.

What is a resume objective?

A resume objective is a section near the beginning of your resume that details your career goals. This section introduces you to employers and describes for them your goals with starting a new job, your passion for your industry and any relevant experiences that may show them your skill. The resume objective is often a useful summary of your resume that employers can quickly reference to determine your fit with their school as they examine your resume.

What is a good objective for a teaching resume?

There are many ways you can craft a good objective for your teaching resume. It is important to use professional language for your objective to prove your competence to employers and begin your relationship with them on good terms. Other elements you can include in your teaching resume objective are:

Career goals in education: mention your career goals in your objective to help potential employers understand what you want to gain from a job at their school and how your career may change in the next few years. This can help them plan future classes better and hire teachers who have similar aims and goal timelines as the school.
Teaching style or method: it is useful to describe your teaching style or any experience you have with different teaching methods that may impress potential employers when they read your resume. Some examples of teaching styles you might use include interactive learning, having a focus on student mental health or allowing students to learn at their own pace.
Level of experience: you can include your level of experience in your resume objective to give schools an idea of how long you have been in the classroom and whether you learned traditional teaching methods or newer ones. When you mention your experience level with teaching, employers can understand you better and ask you more directed questions about your background.
Relevant skills: although you can list most of your skills in the skills section of your resume, consider describing yourself with one or two relevant skill words to show employers what is most important to you. You might describe yourself as confident or creative to demonstrate what you think is the most useful skill for a teacher to have and how you might act in the classroom.

Example objectives of the teaching profession

Review this list of teaching objective examples to inspire you to create your own objective for your resume:

Objectives for teachers with different experience levels

Here are examples of resume objectives for teachers with different experience levels:

Example 1: Entry-level teacher with experience in large classrooms hoping to learn more about classroom management techniques from a co-teacher and use my knowledge of pre-k education to help children thrive.

Example 2: Teacher with ten years of experience in different subject areas looking to secure a role that can advance my skills with technology in the classroom and allow me to use my mathematics expertise to teach older students challenging concepts in calculus.

Objectives for teachers of different grade levels

Here are some examples of resume objectives for teachers with different grade levels:

Example 1: To secure a position as an elementary teacher for grades 1-3 and develop creative, interactive lessons that engage young children and improve their motor and socialisation skills as they learn general education concepts.

Example 2: High school teacher with experience in academic English wanting to promote good reading habits and use my vast literature knowledge to develop a reading curriculum with writers of more diverse backgrounds.

Objectives for teachers with different specialisations

Use these sample resume objectives for teachers with different specialisations as inspiration when crafting your own:

Example 1: Qualified and confident secondary school music teacher hoping to use digital instruments to teach children about different cultures and musical history while saving money in the school budget.

Example 2: To obtain a position teaching special education classes to students using new research on learning styles and integrating collaboration, art and games into lessons to improve my students' critical thinking and coordination skills.

How to write a teaching objective

Follow these steps to help you write your own successful teaching resume objective and impress employers with your abilities:

1. Think about your goals

Use your career goals in teaching to establish a basis for your teaching objective on your resume. Think about what you want to achieve by applying for and getting a job with a specific school and allow this information to guide your objective. For example, if your goal is to encourage students to use math more in daily life, you can use this to determine what other details to include in your objective, like your experience with teaching or your understanding of learning styles.

2. Mention your experience

You can mention your experience as a teacher in your objective to show credibility and prove to employers that you are knowledgeable about teaching students. If you do not have any teaching experience yet, you can still mention that you are a recent graduate or completed student teaching with specific age groups. This information allows employers to understand you are a qualified candidate and to get to know you better, which helps them ask questions to you during an interview to learn if you are fit for a role at their school.

3. Describe any special knowledge

Special knowledge in the teaching profession can be useful in your resume objective as it helps you distinguish yourself from other candidates and may give schools a chance to consider how you can apply that knowledge in the classroom. Examples of special knowledge may include having experience with different types of classrooms, like specific subject areas, or certificates in specific teaching techniques for which you have had training. Mentioning special knowledge is especially useful for positions with many applicants to help your resume seem more relevant to employers.

4. Detail your technological abilities

Many classrooms are integrating various technologies into their lessons, so consider detailing your technological abilities in your teaching objective. While you do not have to get specific, it is useful to mention how you may use different technologies like projectors, computers or tablets to help students learn and to reach your career goals. If you want to learn more about technology in the classroom, mentioning this in your objective alongside other information that shows your qualifications may encourage schools to provide you with training on the technologies they use.

5. Consider the age group of students

You may teach differently depending on which age group of students with which you are most familiar, so it is important to consider the age group of the position for which you are applying in your resume objective. If your experience is with older students, think about how you can use your background knowledge when teaching younger students. Adapt your goals and lessons to make them age-appropriate and proper for the developmental level of the students you want to teach.

6. Know your priorities

As you craft your resume objective, consider what about teaching is the most important thing to you and decide how it relates to your teaching career goal. For example, you may appreciate seeing students excitedly learn challenging concepts, or you may enjoy motivating them to try new things as they explore the world. Use this passion in your resume objective for employers to understand your reasons for being a teacher and what kind of positive learning experiences you may bring to their school.

7. Be clear and concise

While there is a lot of information you can put into your teaching resume objective, try to keep it clear and concise so potential employers can easily glance at it and get a summary of who you are. Most resume objectives are short paragraphs with one or two sentences that briefly describe who you are and what you want from a new job. To ensure your objective stays short, include only the most important information about your background, goals and skills and use your cover letter to expand on any details you had to exclude.