Teaching Statement for Lecturer and Faculty Jobs: Sample and Template

When to use this

Lecturer, assistant professor and teaching-focused posts often ask for a "teaching statement" or "statement of teaching philosophy". Some postdoc and fellowship adverts with teaching duties ask for one too. It shows how you teach, why, and what evidence you have that it works.

If the advert gives a length or set questions, follow them. The employer's own instructions are the final word.

What readers look for:

• How you teach, shown through real examples, not general claims
• Evidence: student feedback, results, materials you designed
• How you support students with different backgrounds and preparation
• What you would teach in this department and how
• One page, clearly written

A structure that works

1. Your approach (one paragraph). Two or three principles that guide your teaching.
2. Examples (two paragraphs). For each principle, one thing you actually did in a class and what happened.
3. Inclusion and support (one paragraph). How you help students who struggle or come from different backgrounds.
4. Plans (one paragraph). Courses you could teach at the host and one you would like to develop.

The sample

This sample is fictional. The teacher, the courses and the feedback are invented. Write your own statement in your own words.

Teaching statement: Sana Javed

I believe students learn statistics best when they work with data they care about, and when they can make mistakes early and cheaply. Two principles guide my teaching: start from a real question, and give feedback often.

When I taught Introductory Statistics to 80 second-year students at [University], Multan, I replaced the first week of formulas with a short survey the students designed about their own commute times. Every later topic, from averages to regression, used that dataset first. Attendance in the second half of the course rose from about [x]% to [y]%, and several students used the same approach in their final projects.

To give feedback often, I set weekly ten-minute quizzes that counted for very little and went over the most common mistakes at the start of the next class. In the end-of-term survey, [x]% of students said the quizzes helped them prepare for the final exam.

Many of my students studied mathematics in Urdu at school and found English textbooks hard. I prepared a short bilingual glossary of key terms and held weekly drop-in hours, which I kept even when attendance was low.

At [host university], I could teach introductory and intermediate statistics and research methods. I would also like to develop a course on data analysis for public health students using open datasets.

Template you can fill in

Teaching statement: [Your name]

I believe [your main idea about learning]. [Two or three principles] guide my teaching.

When I taught [course] to [number and level of students] at [institution], I [what you did]. [What happened, with evidence.]

[Second example linked to your second principle, with evidence.]

[How you support students who struggle or come from different backgrounds.]

At [host], I could teach [courses]. I would also like to develop [new course idea].

How to adapt this

• Use real examples, even small ones: a tutorial, a lab section, a workshop you ran.
• Give evidence you can show if asked: survey results, sample materials, a peer observation.
• Check the host's course list on its website before naming courses.
• Keep it to one page unless the advert says otherwise.

Common mistakes

• General statements ("I am passionate about teaching") with no example.
• Describing only lectures, with nothing on how students practise.
• Naming courses the department does not teach.
• Copying a teaching philosophy from the internet. Committees notice.

Related: Research statement and Academic CV template.