We interview EVERY new teacher that works for us. We are trying to discover all about YOU. What makes YOU different? How are YOU better than the next teacher we will meet?
Everyone is unique, likewise every school is UNIQUE. How do we match YOU to the right school and right type of teaching job?
We recently surveyed schools across the East Midlands to find the three most common questions asked at interview are:
- What made you go into teaching in the first place?
- What words would you use to describe yourself as a teacher?
- When planning a lesson, what elements would you make sure are covered within it?
How do you normally answer?
STOP PRESS!! Write down or answer the above three questions NOW!
Rate your answers out of 10? Record your scores.
Get more from your teaching competency based interview questions!
How do we find out more about you and your teaching is simple, we ask you? But what if you do not know how to answer the questions? What if you regurgitate what you THINK you are meant to say. Perhaps you have heard or read it somewhere else?
Our consultants are trained to dig deeper. We ask further questions based on your answers to then understand you in greater detail. This is not easier and is not something that schools will do when questioning you. Fail to give them ALL the required information. Expect to kiss that job goodbye.
The STAR technique – let us help you… become a STAR!
This is a simple method/technique that you can use to answer all of your teaching competency based interview questions. It helps you demonstrate YOUR skills and experiences fully and completely.
Here is how it works. You get asked this question at interview:
Give me an example when you have successfully taught a new topic that you taught in your last employment…
- S is for Situation…. explain what the situation was, in thorough detail. (set a really good scene)
- T is for Target…. explain the goal, this is everything, if the target is weak or not important to the interviewer then you’re not going to come across as well as you could.
- A is for Action… what you did. Step by step by step, Also why you did it in that process. (more on this later)
- R is for Result…. what happened did you do, we would imagine that you will use successful situations to promote your abilities and rightly so. Unless you can describe when a situation that has failed has taught you SO much more.
Most schools will use a competency based interview questioning technique to find your teaching skills in specific situations.
Think STAR!
The situation was…
The target was…
I did this…
The result was this…
We want to broaden your options. Some of your biggest learns in your career are when you FAIL!! Yes you heard it here first!! When you FAIL!! this is where STARR is the answer.
The extra R is for REFLECTION.
Reflection… what would you do differently. How would you improve the situation further next time and why? Be ready to be on a constant road of professional development as a teacher. Sharing best practise is common place in every school now. Starting discussing and developing further and demonstrating this at interview.
We KNOW from experience of scratching the surface, ALL teachers have had HUGE learns and improved on a KEY teaching competency at one time and another in their teaching career. When they have failed or a lesson has gone wrong is probably the BIGGEST time they have actually learned most.
Answering these questions will not be easy. You need GREAT examples of STARR for the specific key competency to really be truly effective.
SO…How about YOU??
Now go back to the top 3 questions asked and develop a STARR answer for the questions. How does your answer change and what impression do you give now? Better or worst?
Does this ring true for you? We are interested to hear your best and worst interview questions. Asked and answered. Remember we all make mistakes, sharing our mistakes and our best answers can help trigger that light bulb moment we are all working towards.
Please comment and make the discussion below.
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