How to Add Student Teaching to Resume

For a lot of people, applying for a new job can be an uphill battle. The first step of this battle is to ensure that your job application is a standout among the hundreds of others that will inevitably find their way onto the employers’ desks. And the most important aspect of such an application is your CV.

To write a good resume, you should be a good writer and organizer. Not everyone is confident in their writing and that’s okay. The good news is that there are writing services to help you out in such situations. If you’re looking for some companies that write resumes, we have a dedicated article on the topic you should read. It will help you figure out which service to use and where you can get the best results.

It can be very difficult to figure out what to include on CVs and what to leave out. This is even truer when it comes to experiences that you have gained during your studies. One such experience is that of being a Student Teacher, or a Teaching Assistant. This is a very rewarding role to have during one’s studies as it helps them not only make some money but also develop certain skills for use later in life.

The question to be answered, though, is how to add student teaching experience to a resume and whether to include it in the first place or not.

Should I List Student Teaching On a Resume?

Before talking about what to write about student teaching on a resume, you should know if you should include it on your CV or not. The short answer is that it depends on the role you’re applying for and your experience level in your industry.

Having experience as a TA can teach you a whole lot about the field you’re in. In the words of Phil Collins, “in learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.”. That is just one of the reasons why it is important to have such experiences during your academic life. Another reason is that the world needs teacher assistants a little more now. However, when it comes to highlighting such an experience on your CVs, it gets a little tricky. It is sometimes crucial to know when to remove student teaching from a resume.

Add TA Experience If:

• You are very new in your career and don’t have other professional roles yet.
• You are applying for a research role or a teaching/training job.
• Your TA role has given you a certain skill or knowledge that is paramount for the job you’re applying for.
• Your TA experience turned into a paid teaching job after you graduated.

Don’t Add TA Experience if:

• You have around 5 years of professional experience gained after your role as a TA.
• Your TA role does not have any relevance with the job you’re applying for.

How to Put Student Teaching on a Resume

Knowing how and where to add student teaching on a resume can often make the difference between it looking like a strong part of your journey or an afterthought on CVs.

Note that this experience can be enhanced a lot more if you are a certified teacher in some respect. If you want to know how to list teacher certification on a resume, read our dedicated article on the topic. For now, let’s talk about the best way how to list student teaching on a resume.

For Teaching/Research Roles:

For such jobs, the answer to ‘how to explain student teaching on a resume’ is easy. Add a separate listing for each TA role you’ve had in the past and then shortly describe each one like you would do for any other professional role.

For Non-Teaching Roles:

The first thing to assess here is whether your work is relevant to the job or not. If you’re trying to figure out how to write a kickass resume, for example, then such experience may not be required.

If your work is relevant to the new job, then you may include it under Work Experience. If it is not very relevant but you still wish to showcase it due to a lack of other professional roles, it is advised to do so under a separate section titled something like Technical Skills.

Career expert and founder of Resume Strategists, Alyssa Gelbard, says, “Past work experience that might not appear to be directly relevant to the job at hand might show another dimension, depth, ability, or skill that actually is relevant or applicable.”

So, your role as a TA might showcase some other abilities that the employer is looking for.

If your TA experience was done after you graduated, then it should be included in the Jobs section to let your employer know what you were doing in the gap period between your graduation and your current role. It is also important to know how to explain medical leave on a resume if you’ve ever had to stop working after graduation for a while because employers should know the reasons for every ‘gap’ in your career. Luckily, we have an article explaining this in detail too.

Example:

In either case, this is how to put student teaching on a resume:

Teaching Assistant

ABC College, XYZ (city and country)

2018 – 2020

• Responsibility #1
• Responsibility #2
• Responsibility #3

Do that for each experience you wish to add to your CV and you’ll have a well-structured document that lays out all your TA work clearly. One thing to note when learning how to add student teaching to resume is to be careful not to write very long sentences when explaining your responsibilities. The more concisely you write, the better your overall CVs will look.