‘Can you cope with every untrained know-it-all telling you how to teach?’ - 10 alternative interview questions for teachers in 2018

These are tricky times in which to teach – and it’s also difficult to recruit teachers. Maybe we should now take a different tack when interviewing applicants, writes one celebrated school leader
28th March 2018, 5:38pm

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‘Can you cope with every untrained know-it-all telling you how to teach?’ - 10 alternative interview questions for teachers in 2018

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/can-you-cope-every-untrained-know-it-all-telling-you-how-teach-10-alternative-interview
Coronavirus: Teachers' Response To The Coronavirus Pandemic Has Been Amazing, Writes Colin Harris

It’s that time of the year again: the time when schools and their leaders start recruiting teachers to fill their vacancies.

Time to dust down the same old questions, check you’re up to speed on HR law, interview the applicants, watch them teach and then appoint. Job done.

Once upon it really was that simple. But this year, of course, the pool of potential recruits will be smaller than in 2017, which, in turn, was smaller than in 2016, which, in turn, was smaller than… you get the picture.

Alternative interview questions

So perhaps it’s time to revisit those interview questions with a view to reflecting more accurately the trying times in which we live and work.

Try these 10 for size:

  • Can you cope with being in a profession unloved by so many people - especially, seemingly, politicians?
  • Do you have a sense of humour and the ability to laugh even in adversity?
  • Are you extremely well organised? After all, there’s no space left in school for those fly-by-night teachers of yore.
  • Will you be accepting of every one of your pupils, even when they drive you mad - and especially when they’re not getting the support they need from other parts of the state?
  • Can you be creative in your teaching methods, even though the curriculum actively discourages it?
  • Are you even-tempered and resilient with pupils, parents and other staff, even when you’re underpaid, overworked and your stress levels are meteoric?
  • Can you be observant and, therefore, recognise that even the smallest of your pupils’ achievements is important - even if the accountability regime won’t?
  • Are you able to live on a salary not commensurate with the amount of hours you work?
  • Are you always optimistic and dedicated, despite being underrated and undermined by the powers-that-be?
  • Can you cope with what feels like just about every untrained know-it-all telling you how to teach?

 

Now, if you find yourself interviewing a teacher who you think might honestly answer “yes” to even just a few of these questions, don’t waste a second and sign them up: they’re probably a keeper.

Colin Harris led a school in a deprived area of Portsmouth for more than two decades. His last two Ofsted reports were ‘outstanding’ across all categories

To read more of Colin’s articles, visit his back catalogue

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