I was asked recently how best to prepare for an interview at a new school. One thing I shared was this checklist from Ticked Off. As we enter high season for job interviews, I thought it might be helpful to share it here too.
Pause point: Checklists need pause points, the point at which we stop and work through them. This checklist could be used for a last minute check the night before an interview, or it could be worked through, one action at a time, during preparation.
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Does the lesson plan explain what I will be doing at each point in the lesson, and why?
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Do I have all the necessary lesson resources?
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What is the school’s vision, ethos and context?
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Why do I want this role? Why would I be good at it?
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What are my key strengths in my current role? What evidence supports this?
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What would I do in a child protection case?
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(This is a question you are almost certain to be asked, and yet people still get caught out. Hint: tell the designated child protection officer.)
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How will I get to the school early?
The checklist won’t ensure your lesson is well planned, nor will it induce unfamiliar students to respond as you’d hope. It won’t remove the dreaded internal candidate from the pool. It offers two things however:
- It will ensure you’ve prepared for the most important aspects of the interview – particularly useful if you’ve received late notice and are still preparing cover the afternoon beforehand.
- It may settle your nerves – as with any good checklist, if you’ve checked the key points, you can allow yourself to relax and get a decent night’s sleep before the interview.
If preparing for challenges in this way appeals, there are a range of checklists and advice to help you in my new book, Ticked Off. Buy it here.
As a footnote: my advice on applying to a new school is no different to that any school. The one thing I would advise thinking carefully about is the vision and ethos the head seeks, and how you will contribute to that.
As always, thoughts very welcome: do you think this works? What would you add to the checklist? And what would you remove to make space for it?
Reblogged this on The Echo Chamber.
One thing I tell trainees is that you can not, in my experience, ever really be sure exactly what the students already know. Sometimes, even if you’re told that the class will not have studied a subject before, they’ll know something. Often (and whether this is something only history interviews do, I’m not sure) the topic given can be quite vague: “We’d like you to teach a 20 minute segment on Elizabeth I/civil rights/C19 medicine.” So, I always suggest that the first thing to do in an interview lesson is to, somehow, find out what students already know. This also means that you have to know your stuff, of course! Then you can explain later why you deviated from your plan. That not only shows courage, but adaptability and confidence in your subject knowledge.
That’s a great tip/thing to prepare for. When you say ‘somehow’ – what do you recommend doing to establish prior knowledge?
What I’ve often tried is using a key image that either is particularly famous – and thus would very likely have been previously witnesses – or particularly telling. So, for example, if I was asked to teach a lesson on Edward VI I might use the one which shows power being handed over (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Ed_and_pope.png). From that, with a few questions, I could then work out quickly what they already knew and also their ability to analyse a source.
I could also use a key figure from the period. So, if I was teaching civil rights then I might start with MLK, move on to Rosa Parks, and then maybe try Malcolm X or Emmett Till. With the people becoming slightly more obscure – or at least less famous – I can hone my knowledge of theirs.
Another, braver, way might be to give them a thesis style statement that is clearly wrong, or one that is wrong yet has an element of truth, and then ask them what they think. For example, “Peasants in 1381 were angry that their MPs had not listened to their constituents.” Their responses should guide my reading of their understanding.
These tricks needn’t take more than 5 minutes. This might seem like a large chunk of 20 minutes, but if it makes that remaining quarter hour more focussed then I, as an interviewer or observer, would look on very positively.
The top piece of advice I always give to applicants is to read the school’s website and most recent Ofsted report thoroughly. Then tailor your responses to questions to that. Eg ‘I know that literacy is a real strength in your school and I’m looking forward to learning how your approach works so well/I know that maths is a challenge and I think I could contribute x’
The best ‘line’ I heard from an applicant was ‘I don’t want to be an assistant head. I want to be an assistant head *here*.’
That is a brilliant line – really convincing. The idea of picking out strengths and challenges from the website and Ofsted report is a good one…
Good to read, Harry.
I’m often asked for advice by those preparing for leadership roles at different levels, too. One question I’d add to the list is – what does the school seem to be looking for (from the documentation/any info you’ve been able to glean so far) and how am I a good fit?
I think we too often think about what a job/school will offer us. At interview I’d always recommend candidates focus on what they can BRING.
Great advice in blog and comments. To add a little, I often advise ITE students to reread their application to ensure they are ready for any questions around this. I also suggest creating a question that shows they have researched the school and could lead to the applicant demonstrating what he/she could bring. Another question I’ve heard is: “Tell me about a lesson that was significant in helping you to develop your practice for successful learning and teaching”.
When I’m interviewing I always ask what getting better in the subject means to the applicant. It’s surprising how many can’t clearly say.