Teaching Interviews

1. Teaching Interviews All you ever wanted to know ......…

2. Before the interview • Do your homework - science - education - the school - typical questions - check lists • Re-read your application to check where you have been particularly economical with the truth • Sort out your portfolio for this specific interview. • Check the route • Hairdressers/manicure and clothes/bags?

3. The day of the interview • Have a wash • Smart clothes - remember first impressions • Try not to zip willy in fly through nervousness/panic • Check that skirt is not tucked in knickers • Ensure you’ve got all the bits and pieces you might need for the day neatly organized in your bag

4. School Interviews • Stage 1 - Arrival • Stage 2 - The Morning • Stage 3 - The Formal Interview • Stage 4 - The Decision

5. Stage 1 • Arrive at an appropriate time (not late!) • If you are brave you might plan to arrive early to watch the pupils arrive • Don’t park in the head’s/deputy head’s/head of science’s/caretaker’s space

6. Stage 1 • Remember the interview starts the minute you hit the school premises • If you don’t know where you are going ask a pupil for the way to the school office - don’t wander around like a wally and end up with the smokers at the back of the bike sheds

7. Stage 1 • When you are introduced shake hands (not too firm/ not too limp wristed!) • You are there to impress the school not the other candidates so interact primarily with the people from the school

8. Stage 2 Possible Elements • School tour • Meet the science staff • Meet the children / mini lesson? • ‘Informal’ individual meetings with key members of staff e.g.... Head of Science, Staff Development Deputy Head ......... • Coffee/lager/vodka in the staff room and meeting other staff

9. Stage 2 School Tour • Turn up your powers of observation - uniform - display - labs - books - prep room - equipment - guns - knives .............. • Taking notice helps you to arrive at a decision about the school and also to frame questions/comments that show you are picking up on key features • Watch your position as you are shown around - keep up with the leader, don’t keep opening doors for everybody

10. Stage 2 Meet the Science Staff • Try to appear confident and show an interest in what is said to you without going completely over the top and trying to ‘trump’ everything that is said • Try not to get depressed at how tired/sad/dishevelled/ odd/alien/mean/ psychotic/evil they look

11. Stage 2 - Mini Lesson • Produce a very detailed lesson plan • Be creative but not too adventurous • Have differentiated worksheets • Plan for a short ‘practical’ activity • Have as many different activities as you can sensibly fit into the allotted time slot • Don’t forget some teacher input - Q/A session?

12. Stage 2 ‘Informal’ Meetings • You need to strike a balance between quietly confident and ‘machine gun’ questioning • You want to leave each individual with a feeling of the enthusiasm you have for the job and how indispensable you are to the school • Be wary if they ask to take a photograph of you in your swimsuit

13. Stage 2 The Staff Room • Take the chance to meet other staff but be sensitive (don’t slag the school off ) • You might pick up local useful information - e.g... the Head spends all spare money on school productions or decorations or nurse’s uniforms …. • Don’t be a know all (even if you think someone is talking out of their .......… National Curriculum) • Do not step into controversial areas in chit-chat until you are sure who it is you are talking to (they might be bugged)

14. Dinner-Time • Be on your guard for what you say and what you spill! • Do not let the super confident ‘this is my 5th interview in five letters’ candidate put you off. (Why are they still looking for a job if they are such a whizz?) • Try not to belch too loudly

15. Stage 3 The Formal Interview • The formal interview is the ‘confirming’ stage of the process • Notes will have been made from your applications and references which will have created ‘favourites’ (the £25 cheque that you included with yours may have given you a slight lead) • The morning will have provided extra information which may have confirmed or established different favourites.

16. Stage 3 • Remember, jobs are lost and won on the quality of your ‘performance’ in the formal interview

17. Stage 3 • Be confident on entry • Shake hands if a hand is offered and this feels appropriate (be careful if anything else is offered for you to shake) • Wait to be asked to sit down • Don’t slump in your chair/put your feet up on the desk/do a Sharon Stone • Leaning forward a little is the unconscious body language of someone who is interested - be careful with this if you have a bald patch

18. Stage 3 • Fold your hands and put them in your lap - you can wave them about later but try not to come over like a demented Patrick Moore • Speak in an animated way. You need to interest the panel. • Speak to everyone on the panel. Make eye contact.

19. Stage 3 • Don’t feel that you have to start an answer to each question immediately. A pause for consideration is acceptable or ‘That’s an interesting/good question I will have to carefully consider this one.’ - might stall long enough for you to think of an effective response. • However, don’t pause for every answer it will seem too pedestrian. • Humour can be effective - but don’t over do it (e.g. your amazing tea towel routine or parrot joke)

20. Stage 3 • Another technique that can earn you a little reprise is to ask the interviewer if what they meant is X,Y or Z and whilst they reframe the question you can be thinking of an effective response • Answer in detail but DO NOT RAMBLE ON as good responses can be spoiled by incoherent mutterings to fill an apparent silence • Try to show examples from your portfolio

21. Stage 3 • Try to save a good question to ask at the end (not something like ‘Can staff push to the front of the dinner queue?’) • If you have already used it up and you really feel blank, a compliment can then provide a strong finish • If you haven’t been able to utilize your portfolio, does it seem appropriate to offer it now for the panel to consider?

22. Stage 4 • Do you want it the job if they offer it? • If you are not successful take up the school on any debrief offered. Try to get some specifics about the types of answers they had expected and any other pointers that can be offered on your performance, rather than a bland ‘you were a very close second’.

23. Stage 4+ • If you are not successful be as philosophical as you can about it - the school didn’t deserve you anyway • The right job in the right school is waiting somewhere if you try hard enough • Best not to stick two fingers up at the head as you leave however

24. Good Luck! • And may the force (and other substances) be with you