Interview questions for teachers tend to seek evidence that you can demonstrate the skills in high demand from schools at the time. As a result, the trends change every few years. For example, one year there may be heavy emphasis on British values, then the next year, it switches to safeguarding.
Interviews for teaching jobs often follow the same format:
- you are asked to teach a lesson and show your ability to reflect upon it afterwards,
- meet a group of students who ask questions,
- panel interview
Tasks are designed to test your skills and abilities for the role.
You may meet students before you give your lesson or afterwards – that’s dictated by the logistics of the day. The panel interview will always be the last formal part of the day.
The panel will usually contain a senior school leader and a School Governor. It should be an odd number of 3 or 5 in total.
Preparation
It’s important that you research the school and find out as much as you can about it before the interview. Inspectorate reports are useful but check when the report was published – schools will review their development plans and key objectives at least annually but the inspection report could be a few years’ old. On the day, you also have the chance to listen and question, so use it to add to your understanding of the role and the school.
The school’s context should affect the interview questions you can expect. For instance, if more able students are not performing well then you can expect questions on that. The performance of more disadvantaged pupils may be an issue. What strategies might improve the performance of boys relative to girls is a question you can expect in many cases.
School Inspection reports
In Wales, the curriculum is changing and you should know about this. Similarly, the teacher professional standards in Wales are different from England. Assessment in both countries is also different. There are no levels at key stage 3 in England, and schools work on their own assessment schedules. You will look at Estyn reports in Wales but Ofsted reports in England.
Schools in England may be a LA school, a stand-alone academy or part of a multi academy trust and you should know which type of school you are applying for.
Still looking? Search the latest live teaching roles in England and Wales now
Panel interview
You are likely to be asked between 5-8 questions in the panel interview. If you have taught a lesson, one of the questions is likely to be about how you thought it went, what went well and what not so well, and what you might do differently next time.
Other questions are meant to give you a chance to show how well you will fit into the school and the department, your practice, knowledge of effective teaching and learning, pastoral issues and your own professional development. Try to answer them as fully as you can and use examples where possible. You should be asked a question on safeguarding, and this may be a straight forward question about child protection process or it could be about wider safeguarding issues.
You may be are asked to illustrate your answer with an example from your own practice. If you are not asked, you should use examples of what you have done anyway. A handy way to frame your answer would be to remember CODE:
Context – what was the situation you were working in?
Objective – what were you trying to achieve?
Do -what did you do?
Evaluation – what impact did you have?
Try to think of 3 or 4 good examples of your teaching; you will be able to use these for more than one type of question.
The questions below are the types of questions you can expect to be asked. You will not be asked them all! But it will be useful to prepare answers for them ahead of the interview and think of the examples you can use to illustrate your answers.
Getting the call you want
The day itself is also an opportunity for you to get to know more and understand the school as best you can. Interviews should be a two-way process and it is important that you are happy to take the job when offered it. The offer will usually be made on the day of the interview – probably by a phone call (keep your mobile charged!).
Good Luck!
Typical teacher interview questions
|
|
Question |
Professional skills and attributes |
What interviewers are looking for |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Why teaching? Why this job? |
Personal and career |
Passion for teaching. Your values as a teacher. Understanding of the values and vision of the school you are applying for. evidence of your research about the school. |
|
2 |
Tell me about a series of lessons that you designed and taught. What went well and what would you change? |
Teaching and learning. Effective planning |
Enthusiasm for subject. Understanding pedagogical reasons for planning lessons in way you have, which may include reference to schemes of learning, curriculum, specifications, content of class, planning based on assessment of knowledge, understanding and subject specific skills, context of class. Evidence of reflection on practice, and a realistic appraisal of own performance and planning. |
|
3 |
How do you make sure that all learners are engaged and learning in your lessons? |
Teaching and learning.
|
Your approach to pedagogy, use of assessment to inform your teaching, strategies you use to ensure that effective teaching and learning takes place. Can also include use of effective questioning, use of group work, use of differentiation |
|
4 |
What strategies do you use to make sure that vulnerable learners make progress and achieve well in your classes |
Teaching and learning. Pastoral. Safeguarding. |
Be able to identify and reflect on strategies that you have used to support named vulnerable groups of learners, such as students eligible for PP/ PDG, LAC, SEND, more able / HAP. Reference to research that you have applied (or conducted within your classroom) also welcomed. |
|
5 |
Tell us about a time that you had to work hard to manage behaviour of a student. What did you do? |
Teaching and learning. Pastoral. Safeguarding. |
This question gives an indication of your approach to behaviour management in the classroom, with reference to using school behaviour policies. Can outline strategies you use, and their impact. It also covers wider safeguarding issues: is there a reason for the child to behave in this way, and how did you refer / work with colleagues if appropriate. |
|
6 |
What would you do if a child made a disclosure to you?
[Can you tell us about a time a child made a disclosure to you] |
Safeguarding. |
Straight forward Child Protection question.
[still a straight forward CP question but be careful not to refer to the child by name]. |
|
7 |
In your opinion, what is the most important aspect of your subject and how do you make sure that you teach this well? |
Teaching and learning. Curriculum. |
Evidence of good subject knowledge, including why you think key concepts or knowledge are important. You can include understanding of common misconceptions and how you teach to overcome these. |
|
8 |
What is good teaching and learning and how do you promote this in your classroom practice? |
Teaching and learning.
|
Understanding of the characteristics of effective teaching and how you use this in your teaching. similar questions could be use of effective assessment. |
|
9 |
What is the importance of working in departmental teams? |
Working with colleagues. Curriculum |
Evidence that you are effective when collaborating. can refer to examples and understanding the characteristics of effective joint planning for example. In Wales, cross curricular teams working together on the Areas of Learning and Experience (AOLEs) may be another question, and also worth referencing in a question such as this. |
|
10 |
What is the role of a form tutor? |
Pastoral, safeguarding |
Academic monitoring, pastoral support and monitoring, preparation for school day / school work, Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development (SMSC), (in England British Values). |
|
11 |
What will students, parents and colleagues say are your strengths and areas for development? |
Personal development Reflection |
Ability to reflect, ability to be objective about practice and development. |
|
12 |
What are your career aspirations? |
Personal development |
Evidence of your ambitions and aspirations. |
About the author
Robin Hughes
Robin has been a school governor for over ten years and is bilingual, Welsh and English. Before becoming a consultant and working with a number of private and public sector educational organisations, Robin had stakeholder management roles in an examination board and was the Wales Secretary for ASCL, a body that represents over 16,000 senior school leaders.
