Teacher Resume Australia: 2026 Template and Examples

On this page (10 sections)

What a school panel does with your resume
The two-page structure
Duties vs achievements: rewriting your bullets
Example: graduate teacher resume (extract)
Example: experienced teacher bullets
What to leave out
Formatting that survives online systems
Moving from interstate or overseas
Tailoring your resume for each job
FAQs

The short answer

An Australian teacher resume should be two pages. Put your registration or accreditation status, teaching areas and contact details at the top, then a short profile, teaching experience with measurable results, qualifications, professional learning and referees. Two pages is also the NSW Department's maximum when a principal assesses temporary teachers for a permanent job. Your selection criteria response does the detailed persuading.

Lead with registration (NESA, VIT, QCT and so on), subjects and year levels.
Write 3 to 5 achievement bullets per role, with numbers.
No photo, date of birth or marital status.
Save as PDF. NSW requires PDF attachments; VIC asks for unique file names with the Job ID.

What a school panel does with your resume

Panels read the resume to check three things quickly: are you registered and eligible, do you have the teaching areas and year levels the job needs, and is your experience relevant and recent. They go to your selection criteria response and referees for depth. A resume that makes those three answers obvious in the top third of page one does its job.

Submission rules worth knowing

System	Rule
NSW merit selection	Resume optional; employment history and referees can go in your IworkforNSW profile instead. Attachments must be PDF and don't count toward the criteria page limit
NSW temporary-to-permanent assessment	A one-page cover letter and a resume of no more than two pages
VIC School Jobs Vic	Every attachment needs a unique name; the Department suggests the Job ID, e.g. '1010009-Resume'

The two-page structure

Top to bottom

1

Header

Name, phone, email, suburb and state (not your full address). Registration status and number, e.g. 'VIT full registration' or 'NESA Proficient'. Working with children clearance status if it's separate in your state.
2

Teaching areas

Subjects or phases and year levels: 'Secondary: Mathematics 7-12, Physics 11-12' or 'Primary: F-6, EAL/D'. This matches the subject codes or tags on the job.
3

Profile (3 lines)

Who you are, your strongest evidence and what you want. No clichés.
4

Teaching experience

Reverse chronological. School (or sector and location), role, dates, FTE. 3 to 5 bullets of achievements, not duties.
5

Qualifications

Degree, university, year. Teaching specialisations. Any postgraduate study or certification (HALT, Cert IV).
6

Professional learning

The 4 to 6 most relevant recent items, not every course since 2015.
7

Other contributions

Coaching, camps, clubs, committees, mentoring pre-service teachers.
8

Referees

Two for most teacher jobs (three for leadership). Name, role, school, phone, email. Your current principal or supervisor first.

Duties vs achievements: rewriting your bullets

Turn duties into evidence

Weak (duty)	Strong (achievement)
Responsible for teaching Year 9 English	Taught three Year 9 English classes (78 students); lifted the share at or above standard in persuasive writing from 52% to 68% in one year
Used data to inform teaching	Built a fortnightly maths tracker for the Year 4 team; regrouping from it moved 11 students out of intervention by Term 3
Involved in wellbeing programs	Co-ran a Year 7 transition program for 140 students; first-term attendance rose 3 percentage points on the previous cohort
Mentored pre-service teachers	Supervised 4 pre-service teachers through final placements; all passed their Teaching Performance Assessment
Ran sport	Coached the senior netball team to the regional final; organised transport and risk assessments for 6 away fixtures

Fictional examples showing the pattern. Use your own numbers. If you don't have exact data, use honest approximations ('about 30 students').

Example: graduate teacher resume (extract)

Worked example

Fictional graduate resume, page one (example only)

Header: Sam Example · 04xx xxx xxx · sam@email · Parramatta NSW · NESA: Provisional, approval to teach (Primary)
Teaching areas: Primary K-6; specialisation in mathematics
Profile: Graduate primary teacher with a maths specialisation. On final placement, lifted a Year 3 class's fractions results by 30 percentage points through explicit teaching and weekly regrouping.
Placement: Final placement, Year 3, metropolitan public school, 10 weeks: planned and taught a 4-week fractions unit to 25 students; TPA built from pre/post data
Placement: Kindergarten, regional public school, 4 weeks: ran daily phonics small groups for 6 students
Other experience: Maths tutor, 2 years, Years 3-8 (12 regular students); junior soccer coach
Qualifications: Bachelor of Education (Primary), 2026, with maths specialisation

Fictional person and details. Replace with your own; keep the order.

Graduates: placements count as teaching experience. List them like jobs, with the year level, length and one or two results. Add tutoring, coaching, youth work and casual relief teaching. Our graduate teacher first-year guide covers what comes after you're hired.

Example: experienced teacher bullets

Worked example

Fictional experienced secondary teacher, one role (example only)

Role: Teacher, Mathematics and Science, regional secondary college, 2021-present, 1.0 FTE
Bullet 1: Taught Years 7-12 maths including VCE Methods; Methods study score average rose from 27 to 31 over three cohorts
Bullet 2: Led the Year 9 numeracy PLC of 5 teachers; introduced hinge questions and a shared tracker now used in Years 7-10
Bullet 3: Year 9 coordinator (2024): reduced repeat behaviour referrals by a third using a restorative check-in process
Bullet 4: Mentored 2 graduate teachers to full VIT registration

Fictional. Note the pattern: verb, what, scale, result.

What to leave out

Photo, date of birth, marital status, religion (unless a faith-based school asks about faith commitment).
Full street address. Suburb and state are enough.
Every PD course. Choose the recent and relevant.
Student names or identifying details, even in achievements.
Unexplained jargon for non-education roles. If you're leaving teaching, see jobs for ex-teachers.
Salary history. Government pay is set by the scale anyway, and your step is worked out from your recognised service.

Formatting that survives online systems

Two pages, A4, 10 to 12-point font (NSW's minimum for criteria documents is 10-point)
Simple headings and bullets. No text boxes, columns or graphics, which can break in online systems
Save as PDF and check the PDF, not the Word file
File name with your name and the Job ID (e.g. '1010009-Resume' in VIC)
Dates as month and year; explain gaps briefly (parental leave, travel, study)
Consistent tense: past for previous roles, present for your current role

Free calculator

AI Selection Criteria Coach

Draft your criteria responses alongside your resume, so your best examples appear in both and match.

Open the calculator

Moving from interstate or overseas

Explain your system in a few words: 'Key Stage 3-5 (Years 7-13, UK)' or 'Grade 9-12 (Ontario)'. Put your Australian registration status, or 'registration application lodged with VIT, [month]', in the header. Recognised overseas and interstate service often counts toward your starting step, so list full-time equivalent dates clearly. See overseas teacher registration by state and UK teacher moving to Australia.

Tailoring your resume for each job

1

Keep a master resume

A longer version with every role, result and course. Cut it down for each application rather than starting again.
2

Match the subject codes

Put the teaching areas the ad asks for first in your header, and make sure your experience shows them.
3

Reorder your bullets

Lead each role with the achievement closest to the job's selection criteria or the school's priorities.
4

Swap professional learning

Show the 4 to 6 courses most relevant to this school, such as trauma-informed practice for a wellbeing focus or a literacy program for a K-2 role.
5

Check consistency

Every example in your criteria response should appear, briefly, in your resume. Panels cross-check.

Frequently asked questions

How long should a teacher resume be in Australia?

Two pages. The NSW Department sets a two-page maximum for resumes when principals assess temporary teachers for permanent jobs. That's a good standard for any school application, since the selection criteria response carries the detail.

Should I include a photo on my teacher resume?

No. Australian schools assess on merit, and a photo, date of birth or marital status adds nothing and can invite bias. Keep to registration, teaching areas, experience, qualifications and referees.

What should a graduate teacher put on their resume?

Your registration or approval to teach, teaching areas, placements (listed like jobs, with year levels and results), your TPA focus, tutoring or coaching, relevant professional learning and two referees, ideally a placement supervisor and a university mentor.

How many referees do I need for a teaching job?

Two for most classroom teacher jobs. NSW public schools ask for two for teachers and three for executive and principal roles. Your current principal or supervisor is usually expected to be first.

Do I need a resume if I'm applying through IworkforNSW?

Not always. The NSW Department says you can enter employment history and referees directly in your IworkforNSW profile instead. A resume attachment is allowed and doesn't count toward the criteria page limit.

Should I include my teacher registration number?

Yes, or at least your registration status and the authority (NESA, VIT, QCT, TRBWA, TRB SA, TRB Tasmania, TQI or TRB NT). It's the first eligibility check a panel makes.

What file format should a teacher resume be in?

PDF. NSW requires all attachments to be PDF, and PDF keeps your formatting intact in other systems too. In Victoria, give each file a unique name such as the Job ID plus 'Resume'.

Sources we checked · last verified 2026-10-16

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