Teacher interview questions (UK)

A teacher interview is rarely won in the interview room. Most schools now run a day: a lesson or part-lesson, a pupil panel, a tour, then a formal interview against the person specification. The questions below recur, and each has a recognisable strong answer.

"Why this school, and why this post?"

Panels are screening out mass applications. Reference something you could only know by looking — the school's curriculum model, its intake, a recent development, the structure of the department — and say what you would bring to it. Then stop. Length is not evidence.

"Teach us about your subject and how you sequence it"

For secondary and upper primary posts this is the strongest differentiator. Explain how you decide the order of ideas, what you expect pupils to know before a topic, how you check that they do, and what you do when they do not. Name one topic and walk through it concretely.

"How do you know your pupils are making progress?"

Answer with a mix of in-lesson checking and longer-term evidence: questioning, mini-whiteboards, exit tasks, low-stakes retrieval, book looks, then assessment data as the slower confirmation. The weak answer is data only; the weaker answer is enthusiasm only.

"Describe how you would manage a class that has had inconsistent teaching"

Panels want routines before consequences: clear expectations, taught procedures, high rates of positive attention, consistent use of the school's own system, and early contact with home. Mention that you would find out what the school's system is and use it, rather than importing your own.

"A pupil says something that raises a safeguarding concern. What do you do?"

This question is close to compulsory. Listen without promising confidentiality, do not ask leading questions, record what was said in the pupil's words as soon as possible, and report to the designated safeguarding lead that day, following the school's procedure. In England, schools work to the Department for Education's statutory safeguarding guidance for schools and colleges, and every member of staff is expected to know Part 1 of it; the other nations have their own statutory guidance, so name the framework you have worked under.

"How do you adapt teaching for pupils with additional needs?"

Give teaching, not paperwork: prior-knowledge checks, worked examples, dual coding, chunking, pre-teaching vocabulary, scaffolds you plan to remove. Say that the plan in a pupil's support documentation is the starting point and that you would talk to the co-ordinating colleague — the SENCO in England and Northern Ireland, the ALNCo in Wales, the support for learning lead in Scotland.

"What would you contribute beyond your timetable?"

Be specific and sustainable. One club you would genuinely run beats a list you would not.

"Where do you want to be in five years?"

Ambition is fine; disloyalty is not. Tie development to the school — a curriculum responsibility, mentoring, a leadership qualification in due course.

The lesson observation

Schools usually set a topic and a length, often twenty to thirty minutes with an unfamiliar class. Plan for a clear objective, a visible check that pupils have learned something, and a calm finish. Bring a printed plan and a spare set of resources. Do not attempt a set-piece with six activities; the panel is judging whether pupils learned, not whether you can perform.

The pupil panel

Children ask direct questions and report honestly. Speak to them as you would in a lesson, learn a couple of names, and answer briefly.

Questions worth asking

Ask about induction and mentoring, how the department plans together, how behaviour support actually works when a lesson goes wrong, and what the school is working on this year. If you are early in your career, ask specifically how your entitlement to reduced timetable and mentoring is protected in practice.

Two things to do the night before

Reread the person specification and pin one short example to every line of it. Then reread your own application: panels quote it back to you, and the fastest way to lose a strong start is to be vague about a claim you made in writing.

Compare live teaching vacancies to see how local schools word their person specifications — the requirements that repeat are the ones the interview will test.