Top Tips for Teacher Interview

Here we have a look at how to get that teaching job that you really want by nailing the teacher interview in style!

Typically teacher interviews will have a lesson observation as part of the process. In preparation teachers tend to focus solely on the observation, taking the view that if they deliver the lesson well the teaching job will be in the bag.

These tips will help you with you interview technique and help you to secure your perfect teaching job even when your lesson observation doesn’t go as good as you hoped.

8 Teacher Interview Top Tips

Lesson observations rarely go perfect. The class you will be teaching is likely to be unpredictable at the best of times, especially given that you have never seen them before! There are too many aspects outside of your control that could affect how you deliver your well thought out lesson. So how ever confident you are about your lesson observation, it is very important that you are prepared for the interview that follows.

• Do your school research
• Create a good first impression
• Pre-empt questions likely to be asked
• Keep answers succinct
• Show Enthusiasm For Teaching
• Don’t be a know-it-all
• Have success stories ready
• Finish the interview in style

Is it the right school for you?

The first step to interview success is ensuring that the school and the role at the school are the right match for you. You know your strengths, your short and long term goals and what you want from your next career move so you must be certain that the school and role are compatible. Research will help you with ascertaining whether it is the right school for you, a quick read through the website and the Ofsted report will tell you about the school demographic, recent developments, what the school does well and what needs improving.

Once you are confident you are interviewing at the right school,  your motivation towards the role and the school will naturally shine through during the interview. You will also have a good factual knowledge to be able to match your aspirations to the school during the interview.

First Impressions count

Whether it be consciously or sub-consciously the general consensus is that the first impression you convey when meeting people initially will go a long way to how they perceive you moving forward. This couldn’t be more important for when you go for a teacher interview.

So how do you create a good first impression? Ensure you are dressed smart and you are in appropriate ‘school’ attire and plan to arrive early, there are no excuses for arriving late. It’s never a good start to arrive late and you will be playing catch up with the interviewers form the start. Not only will this leave a bad first impression, it will no doubt affect your confidence in the interview. If you are unclear how to get there or which entrance to arrive at, don’t be afraid to inquire with the school. A good rapport with everyone at the school can make you feel more comfortable during the process and leaving a good impression with even reception staff could have some sway on whether you are offered the job.

Remember the process starts as soon as you arrive at the school so you should have positive body language from the moment you arrive. Arriving on time and dressing appropriately will  help you with this.

Pre-empt teacher interview scenario questions and be prepared!

Remember the interviewers will have your CV and your personal statement. You must be thoroughly versed in both documents, be prepared to answer questions that might arise from them. All your answers should be positive, even where you are describing a negative experience or an experience that might be perceived to be negative. Perhaps there is a period on your CV where you have done various short term assignments, had a sudden job change, a gap in your career record or even blip in your academic record. If probed on these then take it as a welcome opportunity to explain the positives from the experience and what you learned. They definitely don’t want to hear excuses or any bad sentiments that you are harbouring about previous schools or how you felt you were wrongly treated. You should also be well prepared in what questions to expect at a teacher interview and ensure you have good answers to anything that might come up.

So how long should your teacher interview answers be?

Certainly you don’t want to be answering any questions with a simple yes or no, the interview is a chance for you to express who you are as a teacher and what you want to achieve so your answers should be sufficiently long to convey this message. You also don’t want to bore you interviewers with overly long answers, waffling will give the impression that you are unsure about your answer.  Good preparation of teacher interview scenario will ensure that you are ready for the questions and can answer swiftly and succinctly.

Show Enthusiasm for Teaching

First and foremost it is of utmost importance that you show enthusiasm for teaching throughout the interview. This might sound obvious but feedback from school interviewers has suggested on many occasions that this does not shine through enough at interview stage.

Remember why you got into teaching in the first place and what you most enjoy about your profession, be confident when answering questions and relate you answers to practical experience you have in the classroom.

Don’t be a Know-it-all

Schools are looking for teachers who want to learn. Yes be confident but certainly don’t come across as a know-it-all. On several occasions we have had feedback from schools expressing that the lesson observation was positive but in the interview the teacher came across as though they perceived themselves as the finished article with nothing else to learn. This will throw up reservations about how you might fit in as a team player within the department. If you are unsure about a question don’t be afraid to be candid, explain that it’s not something you are familiar with but would be keen to learn about it moving forward.

Have Success Stories ready

Having two or three success stories from your teaching career  that you can bring out at the interview is a good idea just in case you are asked about examples or your teaching practice.If you need some time to think about your answer to get it right, this is better than jumping in with response that is not relevant. You will be kicking yourself after the interview when you look back and think about how much better you could have answered the questions. You can complement the interviewer with ‘that’s a very interesting question, give me a minute to think about that’.

Finishing the Teaching Interview

You will be given an opportunity to ask some questions at the end of the interview and should take up this opportunity. The interview is just as much an opportunity for you to confirm that the school is a good fit for you.

The questions you ask shouldn’t come across as though you are obliged to ask them for the sake of it. Have a think about what you really want to know about the school or the role you are taking up and ask the question in an engaged way. You can show your interest by following up on the answers and probing further should you feel the query has not been explained fully.

We would suggest that you have prepared 2 or 3 teacher interview questions to ask at the end of the interview. Certainly you don’t want to ask too many questions as you might find yourself talking yourself out of the job!

Summary

With the right preparation, the teacher interview is a great opportunity to show the school what you are about and secure the job. Often teachers prepare well for the lesson observation and overlook the interview, which can result in missing out on a job opportunity. Consider our 8 teacher interview tips and you will be on your way to smashing your next job interview.