22+ Sample Teacher Resignation Letters

According to Quartz, “in 2015 a bit more than 1 million teachers left for a different job, in education or another industry. Less encouragingly, that same year, 1.8 million teachers became ‘persistently nonemployed’—Census lingo for teachers who didn’t find a job elsewhere after leaving their position.”

According to the National Center of Educational Statistics, “among public school teacher movers, 59 percent moved from one public school to another public school in the same district, 38 percent moved from one public school district to another public school district, and 3 percent moved from a public school to a private school between 2011–12 and 2012–13.”

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What Is a Teacher Resignation Letter?

A teacher resignation letter is a document that is written to announce its author’s intention to leave his or her present teaching position. From there, it will take legal effect to terminate the employment status of its author. Some various contractual employments or appointments are rendered terminal through a unilateral printable notice or even advance notice of a particular time period, with or without any further conditions. Like in any other industry, the recipient of teacher resignation letters would be the appropriate superior or supervisor.

The Types of Teacher Resignation Letters

There are a few existing variations as far as resignation letters are concerned. The differences between them tend to be minute, and they all serve the same purpose anyway, but it still pays to learn about them. Especially if you need one particular variant over the others for whatever reason. Check the list below to learn the details of the different resignation letter types.

Three-Day Notice Period: Due to the nature of the teaching profession, this is a rarely employed resignation letter variant. This can be appropriately used for temporary workers, such as tutors or substitute teachers since their absence will not affect any curriculum too much in the long run.Two-week Notice Period: Those who are in a rush may decide to give only two weeks of notice concerning their resignation. There are many valid reasons why this happens, such as if a new job has already been secured and is meant to be started as soon as possible. Although this is still an appropriate resignation letter, it is known to be less convenient on the employer’s part and may result in a less than smooth transition period. A closer-related variant happens to be the one-week notice resignation letter.Thirty Days Notice Period: This is the type of resignation letter that is most common across all industries and professions. Many find this to be the most appropriate as well because of the lengthy notice period that it provides the company or educational institution, ensuring a much smoother transition as a professional leaves behind his or her post and lends a hand in preparing a successor to take over the role.Immediate Resignation Letter: On rarer occasions, teachers may submit an immediate resignation letter, which will allow them the chance to terminate their employment with a particular school on the spot. However, even the submission of this variant will not guarantee that a teacher will be immediately let go. In light of the transitional period, it is also entirely possible that the teacher may remain in order to speak to the appropriate superiors, sign legal forms, and deal with any fallout that may happen due to the immediate resignation.

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How to Write a Resignation Letter

When it is finally time for you to move on, knowing how to actually come up with a resignation letter is something that will come in handy. Follow the steps detailed below and make the overall creation process much easier and faster for yourself.

Step 1: Start With a Friendly Opening.

For your opening statement, you need to balance it out between something that is friendly yet formal all at once. Your goal is to ensure that your relationship with your soon-to-be former company remains an amicable one. Address your employer or HR officer directly. There is no need to include any official titles unless that company culture dictates a need for you to do so.

Step 2: Make Your Resignation Intentions Clear

Be direct and clear with your intentions to resign. There are a few reasons for this. One is to make it absolutely certain to your employer that you intend on leaving your post and that this is not an attempt to gain a higher salary or any other post. Two, this is also to show how confident you are with your decision so that your employer won’t be faced with any misconceptions that you can still be coaxed into staying.

Step 3: Give Them a Proper Notice

As a professional courtesy, you need to send in your resignation letter sometime before you actually intend on leaving. Most would provide a thirty-day grace period in order to ensure that everything is taken care of before the last day of work arrives. Others may give a notice of two weeks minimum. Doing so will also give your employer time to find an appropriate replacement for you. State the date which you intend your last day to fall on in your letter.

Step 4: Write Down Your Reasons for Resigning

This is a step that does not require you to be too thorough with the details. However, it is still a nice gesture and one that your employer is guaranteed to appreciate from you. Write down the exact reason why you intend to resign, even if it is over negative reasons. If you intend to switch careers or leave for another institution, for example, then say so. Doing this will give your employer a better sense of your situation and can help keep things amicable between the two of you.

Step 5: Express Willingness to Help With the Transition Period

Every employee is going to be different even though the same role will be occupied. As the departing professional, you can include in your resignation letter that you intend to offer your aid during the transitional period that is to occur from the moment you send your resignation letter to the required last day that you are going to render. There is a lot that can be done during that time, including helping out in the search for your replacement and training the said replacement as well once one has been found.

Step 6: Express Gratitude for the Experience

Towards the end of your letter, it can serve as a professional courtesy for you to thank your employer for all that you’ve learned and experienced during your time spent with them. This is a sentiment that is guaranteed to be greatly appreciated and will help further build up a positive post-employment relationship with your former employer going forward. It may even help you in the event that you ever decide to come back.

Step 7: End the Letter On a Graceful Note and Print It

Conclude the letter and check for any potential errors that you may have left. This may be your last chance to leave a lasting impression on your employer so it helps to not have any grammatical errors or typos on it. Once everything has been taken care of, print out the document and personally affix your signature on it. With this last step finally completed, all that is left for you to do is to actually submit it to your employer.

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The Dos and Don’ts of a Resignation Letter

Even with the steps provided above, there are always other ways to improve upon any resignation letter you may have created. As such, it is wise to pay attention to the following dos and don’ts. Each one is guaranteed to make the quality of your resignation letter even higher than before.

The Dos

Do keep it strictly professional.

Even though it is your sincere desire to leave your present workplace, take note that this letter is still counted as a professional document and must be treated as such. Everything from its presentation all the way to its written quality and the language used must be work-appropriate. Not only is your soon-to-be former employer going to read through it, he or she is also likely to keep a copy of it for filing purposes. So never present anything less than your professional best, even if this is your resignation letter.

Do express positive feelings about your experience, if applicable.

Even if your experience was a mixture of both good and bad in reality, for your resignation paper it would be advantageous for you to emphasize the positive moments and feelings you have over your work experience. However, this is not a license for you to go overboard or embellish. In the event that you are leaving because of a negative experience, the best you can do is to simply avoid any overt negativity and state your specific reason directly and in as neutral a tone as you possibly can.

Do talk about what you’ve learned from your experience.

Every employer would like to hear about any positive developments that transpired in the tenure of his or her former employees. It pays to include any learning experiences that you are willing to share on your resignation letter. Doing this will show that you have grown either personally or professionally during your time in their employ, which in turn reflects well on the employer, regardless of how or why you have chosen to leave. Anything that can help nurture your post-working relationship is always good to include.

Do keep things short but specific.

This is a resignation letter and not a personal one. Due to its professional nature, it is advisable that you keep the contents short but highly specific. Be clear and direct about whatever it is that you want to say in your letter. Do not litter it with overly long anecdotes or anything else that can be seen as unnecessary. As flattering as your words may end up being, even your employer may find the letter long-winded, which is always something to avoid. In short, do not mince your words with this type of document.

Do ask for a reference.

Since this is a voluntary resignation and not anything that could potentially reflect badly on you, such as a firing, then it could be worth your while to ask your employer for a reference. If your employer says yes, then this can help your career down the line since they can be used to vouch for your character and relevant skillsets. However, it is still worth noting that if you are leaving for negative reasons or if you have had major conflicts with your employer or with colleagues then it may not be a good idea to try your luck.

The Don’ts

Do not be overly critical of your former workplace.

It should be worth mentioning that to maintain a cordial or amicable relationship with your former employer, it is best to avoid criticizing them in your resignation letter. However, there are instances where you might feel justified, especially for those who have not had the best workplace experiences and are leaving as a direct result. Nonetheless, it is still the wiser move to avoid putting too much or any of your grievances and criticisms on writing. Write the reason why you are resigning, provide the appropriate notice, thank them for your time, and be on your way.

Do not include negative comments about your colleagues.

The previous tip focused on your employer and perhaps the organization in general. In this step, it is noted that the same type of advice will also be appropriate, except it is now directed at your colleagues. Not every professional has to be friends or is even required to get along with everybody at work. However, regardless of what personal or professional problems you have encountered with your co-workers, it would be highly unprofessional on your part if you decide to use your own resignation letter as a platform to take one last shot at them. It simply isn’t worth it and will not do you any good in the future. You never know who you will run into or whose help you will need in the future.

Do not explicitly mention a higher salary as your reason for leaving.

Employers will understand that sometimes the reason why their employees leave is because of financial reasons — namely another company has offered them a higher paycheck. However, this is not something that you should explicitly state in your resignation letter, even if it is the truth. There are always going to be ways around this situation, such as citing other legitimate and valid reasons for your resignation. If writing something can cause potential trouble for you and your employment chances in the future, then it is definitely not worth including and this example is clearly among them.

Do not be vague about your overall reasons for resigning.

For reasons pertaining to transparency, you ought to know that it is not advisable to be too vague with your reasons for resignation. of all the people to inform, your employer is definitely the most deserving to know your side of things as much as possible. Although there are unquestionably certain things that you need to avoid explicitly stating, you must do your best to retain your integrity and specify your reasons. If your employer ends up becoming a reference then your honesty may be something that they can praise to your future employers as well.

Do not forget to proofread.

As noted in the first tip written in the dos section, a resignation letter is still a professional document. What you write and how you write it is still going to be a reflection of you as a professional. Therefore, it is absolutely unacceptable for you to submit a resignation letter that is full of spelling errors, inaccurate facts, or grammatical errors. After you have finished the draft, take a few minutes to refresh your mind and then re-read your own letter. Then, after taking note of whatever mistakes you might have made, implement the corrections and edit your work.

As you can evidently see, even a resignation letter has more to it than what initially meets the eye. Its overall importance should neither be understated by anyone nor should its means of creation be anything to scoff at. Those teachers who are looking to leave their present position but are not interested in creating a resignation letter from scratch will definitely be glad to know that online resources are readily available. Each resignation letter template is easily editable and known to be print-ready for anybody’s convenience.