If you’re a teacher with a job interview on the horizon, preparation is vital to maximise your chances. One way of doing this is to research the common teacher interview questions and sample answers.
Many of these typical teacher interview questions are shown below, along with step by step advice on the key preparations to ensure a satisfactory interview performance that will place you in contention of the job.
Core Teacher Interview Questions
Here is a list of the most common teacher interview questions that are asked in interviews:
- What is your teaching philosophy?
- Why did you decide to become a teacher?
- What classroom management structure would you implement?
- How will you use technology in the classroom?
- Do you have any questions for me?
Additional Teacher Interview Questions That May Be Asked
Some more of the most common teacher interview questions asked of candidates include:
- What interests you about our district?
- How would you deal with a student who is frequently late or absent?
- How would you engage a reluctant student?
- What would you do if a parent accused you of unfairly grading their child’s work?
- If you noticed a child being bullied in your class, how would you deal with the situation?
- Would you be interested in leading any after-school activities?
- What would you do if you suspected neglect or abuse in the home of one of your students?
Tips for Answering Teaching Job Interview Questions
Being forewarned about questions is only half the battle. What you need to do is to ensure that your interview puts you in line for the job. In doing this, it’s vital to ensure that every answer to every questions contains a little bit of you, and that your response is not generic or stock.
The over-arching strategy here is to convince the interviewer that you are the best qualified candidate for the job, and that you have a skill-set and demeanour that will make you a ‘good fit’ for the organisation. Our preparation tips below will help you make the best case as to why you would be the best hire.
Research the School: for starters during preparation, it’s advisable to find out as much as possible about the school, and the school district, where you’ll be working if you get hired.
There’s a number of routes to this information, including websites, and if you know either a teacher on the staff, or parents of students who attend the school, this can often provide really illuminating insights.
This knowledge—including staff matters, curricular and extra-curricular activities, student profile, sports, etc—provides you with a solid footing on which to prepare for your job interview.
Prepare for a Panel Interview: It pays when preparing for a teaching job interview to be prepared for situations beyond the classic solo interviewer/interviewee lineup. You may be interviewed by a panel (which can include the school principal, admin staff, teachers, and possibly parents); or a pre-interview committee assigned to screen applicants. During the interview, you may be asked to deliver a mini-lesson to the interviewer/panel, or a group of students. Be certain you know what lies in store you before you attend for interview.
Make the Links: during preparations, list the requirements in the job description as headlines, and underneath each, bulletpoint the qualifications and skills that match each of these specifications. This list should be used as your key resource for preparing responses to questions about your background and experience.
Use Examples: this is so important, particularly to prepare for the behavioural questions you will undoubtedly be asked. For example, you may well be asked, “Tell me about how you dealt with a behavioural issue with a student.”
The best answers to these kinds of questions are drawn from actual experience, so be prepared to describe what happened and how you dealt with the situation. What was the situation? What did you to to address the situation or solve the problem? What was the outcome.
Drawing on examples is also useful during situational questions, for example, if you are asked how you would deal with a hypothetical situation, for example, how you would deal with a parent who has accused you of unfair grading. It does no harm to illustrate your response with an example drawn from experience.
Personalised Responses: Responses to interview questions should be carefully personalised and customised to your own specific skill set and professional experience, and to ‘tick the boxes’ of the employer’s requirements as set out in the job vacancy advertisement.
You should be ready to talk about your interest in the position, your overall teaching philosophy, as well as specific strategies on management of the classroom and dealing with challenging situations. Above all, be you, and enthusiastically so: foreground your love of teaching and working with students, and provide examples of your teaching method.
