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Sample Personal Statement for Education
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the requirement as set in your programme description, that “the
Master’s programme in Education at the University of XX provide
opportunities for experienced teachers and others to study education
at an advanced level”, I am afraid that I might not be qualified,
because I am currently just a senior student. Yet I am a teacher in
the proper sense of the word because I have important teaching
experiences. Another factor that makes me unique is that, as an
undergraduate, my academic career has not happened in the field of
education but in business administration. Yet I am intensely
interested in education and am determined to make it my career.
My motivation toward an advanced programme in education comes as a
result of my unique undergraduate programme at XX College, XX
University. The XX programme is jointly operated by XX and XX
University, U.S.A and more than 20 instructors are all from the U.S.,
Canada and the UK. Teaching activities happen in an all-English
environment and both the educational and administrative systems are
American-styled. Therefore, even though I am in China, I have been
receiving a typical western education and have been trained to follow
western academic practices.
The XX programme has produced two important outcomes for me. It has
first cultivated in me a special interest in learning English
language, not in the way that most average Chinese college students
do. Instead, I have aspired to attain a proficiency in English
comparable to that of native speakers. Due to this special impetus, my
mastery of English language has reached a level much beyond average
Chinese students, which has qualified me as a teacher of English on
and off campus. The second outcome is derived from the essence of
business administration which I specialize in—as an applied academic
discipline, business administration teaches students to exploit
knowledge to practical purposes. Among countless extracurricular
activities, I am most proud of my English teaching career and my
management of various English training programmes.
My English teaching career started in 2002 when, together with a group
of American teachers, I taught in a specialized children’s oral
English summer training camp. So far, three camps have been run and I
have much experience in children education. Early this year, I
launched the Elite Language Training Center off campus, offering
practical training programmes in oral English and test-oriented
English to 400 students. Another 600 students received training in
other languages. As programmes administrator, I was responsible for
programme planning, organization as well as implementation. On campus,
I have been appointed as class councilor to the first-year students in
our College since 2003 while concomitantly teaching them College
English. This year, I have also been appointed chief curriculum
supervisor at our University’s International Language Training and
Translation Center, where I concomitantly teach courses in American
Oral English, English Vocabulary, and English Learning Methodology for
Teenagers. My teaching experiences in fields other than English
include teaching as lecturer at three local cosmetics companies,
addressing such topics as market analysis, customer relationship, and
consumer psychology.
Having developed those unique teaching experiences, I find myself
irresistibly drawn to a career in teaching because it has allowed me
to see important human values in it. By devising original teaching
plans, careful selection of teaching materials, creative manipulation
of classroom activities, appropriate choice effective teaching
strategies, I can see how my ideas and innovative talents are
transmuted into desired results. On the other hand, teaching is the
most human-oriented profession for me because the teach-student
interactivity is one of the most direct form of human communication.
In helping my students improve their knowledge, I also undergo
constant maturation in terms of my own teaching concepts and
methodology. This reciprocity is what I value most and wish to study
further as an important issue in the science of education.
An important way in which my study of business administration can
contribute to my prospective programme in education is that I have
learned quite a few courses in psychology and organizational behavior.
Though they do not strictly belong to educational psychology, the
underlying principles of human psychology are essentially the
same—that human behavior is ultimately governed by their goals and
motivation. This psychological knowledge would give me an important
point of entry into the effective organization of teaching and
learning activities for optimal pedagogical results. As a matter of
fact, I have written two working papers related to psychology—one on
the psychology of business negotiation and one on student management.
In particular, the latter examines how students’ learning activities
are related to their value orientations, student community life and
campus events and how a proper management of student campus activities
can contribute to the final scholastic performance of the students.
My important experience in English teaching and in managing English
teaching programmes has led me to become concerned China’s educational
industry. As a matter of fact, the concept of education as an industry
is only a recent development in China. As China switches to the market
economy, important changes in education have been taking place.
Education at the college level is no longer financed by the
government, more and more privately-funded institutions are being set
up while numerous European educational institutions are either
attracting a large number of Chinese students to go abroad or simply
operating joint ventures in China. Education is no longer monopolized
by the state or the government. Therefore, how to standardize the
educational market and how to compete against their western
counterparts will become a vital issues for Chinese educational
institutions. As I enter my final year, I have chosen to discuss this
issue in my thesis Commercial Operations in Chinese Educational
Market, a thesis project that fuses my interest in education with my
background in business administration.
China’s future educational enterprise will follow the paths of western
education in at least two important aspects — internationalization and
diversification. Educational internationalization currently happens
only in a limited number of leading universities and major cities
across China where students either pursue education abroad or receive
western education through programmes operated by international
education agencies. On the other hand, the social and economic
development of the country call for the application of knowledge in
all fields and on all levels. Public, private and international
education has been made accessible to students through diverse
channels. Education in present-day China is experiencing an
unprecedented flowering and this makes it all the more necessary for
me to do in-depth study in it.
I believe that such a study is possible only at XX. Your programme is
flexible enough for participants to devise a course of study
appropriate for their needs and interests. In addition to attendance
at course sessions, participants are provided with a high level of
personal supervision and guidance by experienced staff. Under your
programme, I am most interested in studying two
concentrations—Research in Second Language Education and Psychology &
Education, both of which bear high relevance to my past background and
experiences.
Apart from being a student of business administration, a teacher of
English and administrator of various training programmes, I have
assumed many other roles as an undergraduate—chairman of student union
and a singer on a contract basis with a local television station. I
believe I will continue to play many important roles in the future.
But your programme will help me fulfill the role I am most interested
in—a well-trained education specialist who makes unique contributions
in the ever-expanding education industry of my home country.
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