Quick Answer: DepEd Order No. 007, s. 2023 requires a letter of intent "addressed to the Head of Office, or to the highest human resource officer designated by the Head of Office" as Item 20(a) of the application checklist. It is mandatory, and a folder missing any of Items 20(a) to 20(j) on the deadline is excluded from the pool of official applicants. DepEd prescribes no template and no length, so the letter is judged on whether it routes correctly: right addressee, right position, right grade level and specialisation as advertised. A second, separate use exists under DepEd Order No. 021, s. 2024, where a letter of intent carries an existing assessment score into the next hiring cycle.
The letter of intent is the shortest document in a DepEd application folder and the one applicants agonise over most. That is largely misplaced effort, because DepEd does not prescribe a template for it and no part of the comparative assessment scores your prose. What the letter has to do is arrive, name the right things, and be signed. This guide covers exactly what the issuances require, where divisions add their own layer, and includes an illustrative draft. For the full folder, see our DepEd teacher hiring requirements guide.
What Do the Issuances Actually Require?
Very little, and that is the point. DepEd Order No. 007, s. 2023, the Guidelines on Recruitment, Selection, and Appointment in the Department of Education, opens its documentary requirements list with:
"a. Letter of intent addressed to the Head of Office, or to the highest human resource officer designated by the Head of Office"
That is the entire national specification. There is no prescribed annex for it, unlike the Checklist of Requirements and Omnibus Sworn Statement, which has a mandated form. No word count, no required paragraphs, no salutation rules.
What the order does specify is consequence. Item 21 states that individuals who fail to submit the complete mandatory documents, Items 20(a) to 20(j), on the set deadline "shall not be included in the pool of official applicants," and Item 22 adds that no additional documents shall be accepted after that deadline. The letter of intent is 20(a). It is the first item on a list where absence is fatal.
Who Is the "Head of Office"?
For a Teacher I application, the Head of Office is the Schools Division Superintendent. In practice, divisions issue their calls for applications naming the specific addressee they want, and that is commonly the Schools Division Superintendent or the Assistant Schools Division Superintendent, with the folder itself submitted to a designated school or receiving unit.
This is exactly where practice varies, and it varies by division rather than by region. Some divisions want the letter addressed to the Superintendent but the folder delivered to the school named in the letter. Others centralise receipt at the division office.
Disclaimer: the addressee, the receiving office, the folder labelling and the deadline are all set division by division in the call for applications. Read the memorandum your own schools division office published for the cycle you are applying to and follow it over any general guidance, including this page.
What Should the Letter Contain?
Work backwards from what an HRMO has to do with it. The letter has to let someone sort your folder into the right pile on the first pass. DepEd Order No. 021, s. 2024 tells you what those piles are, because it requires the call for applications and the official publication of vacancies to include:
| Element the vacancy must state | What your letter should mirror |
|---|---|
| Key stage or grade level to be handled | The key stage or grade level you are applying for |
| Subject or learning area specialisation | Your specialisation, in the same wording as the advertisement |
| Specific programme such as Kindergarten or Early Childhood Education, ALS, Special Needs Education, Madrasah, Indigenous Peoples Education | The programme, if you are applying to one |
| Language proficiency requirement | Your relevant proficiency |
| Specialised skills such as Filipino Sign Language proficiency or use of assistive technology | Any of these you hold, with the certificate in the folder |
Mirroring the advertisement's own wording is the single highest-value thing you can do. An applicant who writes "Junior High School Mathematics" against a vacancy published as "JHS, Mathematics" is trivially routable. One who writes "I wish to serve the learners of this division" is not.
An Illustrative Draft
The following is an illustrative sample, not a DepEd-issued template. No such national template exists. Replace every bracketed field, and change the addressee and receiving office to whatever your division's call for applications names.
[Date]
[Name] Schools Division Superintendent Schools Division Office of [Division] [Address]
Dear [Superintendent's surname]:
I am writing to express my intent to apply for the position of Teacher I in the [Junior High School] level, with a specialisation in [Mathematics], as advertised in [Division Memorandum No. ___, s. ____].
I am a graduate of [Bachelor of Secondary Education major in Mathematics] from [University], and I hold a valid Professional Teacher licence issued by the Professional Regulation Commission [licence number]. [One sentence on relevant experience, training, or a specialised skill named in the advertisement, each with a supporting document in the folder.]
Attached is my complete application folder containing the documentary requirements listed in the Checklist of Requirements, including my Personal Data Sheet, credentials, and the Omnibus Sworn Statement.
Thank you for considering my application.
Respectfully yours,
[Signature] [Full name] [Contact number and email address]
Three deliberate choices in that draft are worth naming. It cites the specific memorandum, so the folder can be tied to a cycle. It names the licence, because eligibility is checked at initial evaluation against the Civil Service Commission-approved qualification standards. And it claims nothing that is not evidenced elsewhere in the folder, which matters because the Omnibus Sworn Statement makes you accountable for the whole set.
The Second Use: Carrying a Score Forward
Most applicants never learn about this one. DepEd Order No. 021, s. 2024 provides that remaining applicants in the current registry of qualified applicants who were not appointed in the current school year, including those who did not meet the cut-off score, shall be given an option to carry over their comparative assessment scores and update their credentials "without having to undergo the entire hiring process for the next school year; provided, they submit a Letter of Intent to participate in the succeeding hiring process."
That turns the letter into something more useful than a covering note. If you were assessed but not appointed, a letter of intent filed for the next cycle can preserve the score you already earned rather than starting over. The same order also allows divisions to extend calls to nearby divisions through an applicant sharing system, honouring the score from the originating division, provided the applicant expresses intent to apply and teach outside their own city or municipality.
If you want to know how that carried-over score is built in the first place, our guide to DepEd teacher ranking and promotion covers the assessment side.
Common Mistakes
- Addressing it generically. "To whom it may concern" is a routing problem for the HRMO and reads as a mass-produced folder.
- Omitting the specialisation. With vacancies now published by key stage, learning area and programme, an unspecified letter cannot be matched to a vacancy.
- Claiming experience or training that has no supporting document. The checklist verification column is filled in against your actual folder contents.
- Treating it as a cover letter for a private-sector job. Length and eloquence are not scored; completeness and accuracy are.
- Missing the division deadline. Late folders are not assessed in the current round. Under DepEd Order No. 007, s. 2023, documents submitted after the vacancy's official publication on the CSC website are accepted but accommodated in the next round of assessments.
- Forgetting the rest of the mandatory block. The letter alone is not an application. See our guides to the Omnibus Sworn Statement and the Position Description Form for the two documents that confuse applicants most.
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Sources
- DepEd - DO 007, s. 2023: Guidelines on Recruitment, Selection, and Appointment in the Department of Education
- DepEd - DO 021, s. 2024: Amendments to DepEd Order No. 007, s. 2023
- SDO Dasmarinas City - Call for Application for Teacher I Positions for School Year 2026-2027
- SchoolFinderPH - DepEd Teacher Hiring Requirements
