How to write a statement of claims for a WA public school teaching job

What a statement of claims is in WA

'Statement of claims' is the term WA teachers and the State School Teachers' Union of WA (SSTUWA) use for the written part of a job application. Department of Education guides have also called it a 'statement addressing the domains of teaching'. It sits alongside your resume, referees and documents, and it's how a principal or panel decides who to interview.

There's no single fixed template. WA public school jobs come through two routes: employment registers (the Teacher employment register, the Graduate teacher register, casual and Flying Squad registers) and individual vacancies or school-based pools advertised on JobsWA. Each advertisement sets out what you must write. If you're a graduate, start with our guide to the WA graduate teacher pool, because the graduate route has its own two-stage process.

The three domains of teaching

Most WA teaching ads are built around the three domains of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST). The Department says all domains are assessed at some stage of the process, even if your written statement covers only some of them. The interview and referee checks pick up the rest.

Length and format: what we've seen in WA ads

Length rules vary by ad, so treat these as patterns to check against yours, not rules. One WA Department teacher application form we reviewed asked for responses against Domain 1 (Professional Knowledge) and Domain 3 (Professional Engagement), each capped at about 400 words. School-based pool ads often ask for a short written statement uploaded as a document. Leadership ads usually want longer, criteria-based statements.

Where the ad gives a page limit rather than a word count, assume a reader with 40 applications and 10 minutes. Use plain headings that copy the domain or criterion name, 11-point font, and white space between examples.

How to structure each claim

This is the STAR pattern (situation, task, action, result) adapted for writing. Our STAR method examples for teachers show it across eight common scenarios, and the national selection criteria guide has four longer worked responses.

Fictional example: Professional Practice

FICTIONAL EXAMPLE (about 330 words). I use assessment to decide what I teach next, and I build routines that keep every student working. In Term 2 last year I took over a Year 5 class of 27 at a regional primary school midway through the term. Eight students were reading two or more years below level, three had individual education plans, and the class had had four relief teachers in five weeks. Low-level disruption during literacy was taking around 15 minutes of each session. In my first week I set up a consistent start to the literacy block: a two-minute entry task on the board, assigned seating I changed fortnightly, and a visual timetable. I taught and practised three expectations explicitly and acknowledged students who met them. I then ran a running-record check with every student and grouped them for guided reading, with the eight students below level meeting me four times a week instead of twice. For the students on education plans, I worked with our education assistant to adapt texts and used a checklist so we tracked the same goals. I shared weekly progress with families through the school app. By the end of Term 3, six of the eight students below level had moved up at least two reading levels, and the class's average writing moderation score had risen from 2.1 to 2.8 on our school rubric. My deputy principal observed a guided reading session in Week 8 and asked me to show the grouping tracker at a staff meeting, and two Year 4 colleagues now use it. This work reflects Standards 3.2, 4.2 and 5.4: planning from data, managing classroom activities and interpreting student data to change my teaching.— Fictional example for illustration only

• First line answers the domain. The panel knows what the paragraph will prove before it reads the story.
• Context is specific but anonymous. Year level, class size, the problem.
• Actions are things a referee could confirm. Entry task, seating, running records, grouping tracker.
• Results are measured. Reading levels and a moderation score, not 'students were more engaged'.
• Impact beyond the class. Colleagues adopting your tool is evidence of Professional Engagement too.

Graduates: what counts as evidence

If you haven't had your own class, use your final placement. Name the school type (not the school), the year level and how many weeks you taught. Your placement report is evidence a principal can read, so draw your example from a lesson or unit your supervisor commented on. Tutoring, coaching, camp leadership and education assistant work count as context, but the strongest claims come from teaching you were assessed on.

What happens after you submit

For register and graduate applications, the Department first checks eligibility: identity, work rights, qualifications and TRBWA registration (current, or able to be held when you start). Then principals assess suitability for vacancies that match the schools, teaching areas and work fraction you selected. They may phone you, interview you and call your referees. For a single vacancy, a panel shortlists from the written applications, then interviews and checks referees.

Before your first day you need a WA Working with Children Check and a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check. Teaching jobs in WA public schools also need TRBWA registration; the application fee is $140 for provisional or $178 for full registration. If your claim is good but you keep missing out, look at your preferences: country schools fill through the Country Teaching Program and Remote Teaching Service with extra pay and a path to permanency. See WA rural teaching incentives and how to get a permanent teaching job.

Mistakes that sink WA applications

• Ignoring the ad's instructions. Addressing all three domains when the ad asked for one (or the reverse), or blowing the word cap on an online form.
• Restating the Standards. 'I know my students and how they learn' is the heading, not the evidence.
• No result. Every example needs an outcome, even a modest one.
• The same example in every claim. Use a different class or situation for each domain.
• Missing documents. Older Department guidance warned that applications without their supporting documents are returned. Upload transcripts, registration evidence and ID as the ad lists them.
• Wrong preferences. On registers, principals only see you if you selected their school, your teaching area and a matching work fraction.