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■
Parent governor: 
‘Can I see this person teaching my child?’
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Good teachers understand how interviews work
 
■
Head: 
‘Is this person a good and committed enough 
teacher to support my drive for overall 
improvement?’
 
■
Department head:
‘How will this person fit in with my carefully 
built team?’ 
 
■
Educational consultant, adviser or inspector: 
‘Is this someone who can help address some of 
our concerns about this school?’ 
 
■
Long-serving governor: 
‘Is this someone who will understand our 
community and be welcomed by the local 
people?’
That’s a simplification, of course. Experienced interviewers 
try hard to take a broad view of their responsibilities. And 
here’s what one head said: ‘I always sit through an 
interview thinking, “Would I want this person to teach my 
children?” I imagine most heads with children would 
think this. The other thing I think is, “Will this person fit 
in with the school ethos and the rest of the school team?” ’
An interview panel is made up of a diverse collection of
people, with ideas that sometimes go off in unexpected 
directions, and candidates need to be alert for curve-ball 
questions. Some questions, indeed, betray differences of
philosophy within the panel – for example, about 
much-debated subjects such as how best to teach reading 
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Good ideas for good teachers who want good jobs
and whether or not to set by ability. You need to be good 
at framing diplomatic, tightrope-walking answers to much 
of what you’re asked. 
KEY POINTS
■
Keep in mind that the interview is where the 
final decision is made.
■
The structure is likely to be formal and well 
prepared.
■
The panel may include ‘lay’ people with different 
kinds of experience. 
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GOOD TEACHERS PREPARE 
WELL FOR INTERVIEWS
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GOOD TEACHERS PREPARE
WELL FOR INTERVIEWS
If you’re called for interview, it shows that you’re a viable 
candidate. Interviewing candidates is a serious and time-
consuming business for a school and they are not interested 
in including people just to make up numbers. 
It follows that you will take the invitation in the same spirit 
of professionalism by responding properly to it and 
preparing meticulously. Any sign that you are 
underprepared or lacking in commitment can destroy 
your chances. 
PRELIMINARY HOUSEKEEPING
First, make sure that you have the 
correct, double-checked date 
and time
firmly fixed in your mind, in your diary, and 
maybe on a pin board in your home. If there is any 
apparent ambiguity in the invitation (the date is on a 
Sunday, or the given time seems to be in the late evening) 
then check with the school. Mistakes do happen, and you 
don’t need any nagging uncertainties.
Similarly, 
be sure you know where the interview will take place
. 
You’re assuming it’s at the school, but read the letter 
carefully in case you find, in a sentence right at the bottom, 
‘All interviews will take place at the county education 
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offices, 22 High Street’. (In that case, as we’ve already 
established, you really need to be sure that you see the 
school before you’re interviewed.)
Check, too,