If you're a graduate looking to get into teaching and need to get a feel for the kind of questions employers might ask at interview, then make sure you research these graduate teaching interview questions below. These questions and answers are taken from real graduate interviews, and compiled to give you an idea of what to expect and how to prepare your answers.
Example Teaching Interview Questions:
Do you have any skills, experience or interests that you think relate to being a teacher?
There are many 'transferable skills' which will serve you well as a teacher, particularly the ability to plan and organise your work well, and a confident presentation style. What's most important is for you to have some experience of working with young people and recent experience of life in a state-maintained school.
What do you think are the main differences between education today and in your own school days?
The National Curriculum has probably evolved since you were at school, even if you left relatively recently there have still been more vocational subjects have been introduced into the curriculum. Research specific changes as they will be personal to you depending on when you left school. Schools also employ more technology in a greater range of subjects than it's likely you were used to. Behaviour is unlikely, however, to be a bigger problem than in the past: yes, there are some poorly behaved children and there are always a small number of reported incidents in school. Remember though that classroom management is an important part of teacher training.
Have you ever been in a situation when you've had to make a difficult topic interesting and accessible?
The challenge for teachers of all subjects is to make them interesting and accessible to young people. You shouldn't assume that any topic is too dull or difficult. There are many resources, especially online, available to teachers to help them develop ideas and plans for lessons in a way that is interesting to young people. Some practice in presenting difficult subjects, for example to young people on work experience, or experience of teamwork, perhaps through working with young people in a voluntary situation, will be useful to you.