Looking for interview questions for teachers? Congratulations if you've already written a strong cover letter and secured your interview! Now's the time to think about what to expect in your teaching interview and the questions you might face. Good preparation will help you feel confident and ready to showcase your skills.
Remember, the school already likes what they've seen in your application - the interview is your chance to bring your experience to life and show how you'll fit into their community. If you want to know more about what schools look for, check out our guide on what to expect in teaching interviews.
Below, we've gathered common interview questions across key areas, along with helpful example answers. While every school is different, these will give you a solid foundation for your preparation.
Contents
- Common interview questions for teachers — by category
- Questions to ask in your teaching interview
- Key takeaways
- Tips for answering teaching interview questions
Common interview questions for teachers — by category
Suitability
1. Why did you apply for this particular role at our school?
Possible responses: Think about how your skills would fit into the department and the wider life of the school. What drew you to applying for this position? Try to bring in your understanding of the school’s vision and values, the goals and objectives that the school is focusing on, or professional development opportunities that you feel may be appropriate for you.
2. What are your strengths as a teacher?
Possible responses: You could link this to an inspirational teacher you may have had at school - what did they do that made them stand out and encourage students? You can discuss your communication skills, subject knowledge, classroom management styles and your ability to work as a team member.
Remember, you want to help students become independent learners - can you provide examples of how you have done this in the past?
3. Which areas of your teaching could be developed further?
Possible responses: Try to be as honest and specific as possible about one developmental area. This could be time management, workload organisation, or data analysis. Whatever aspect you pick, try to give a targeted response that shows how you want to address this and improve your performance.
4. In your opinion, what can you bring to the role that others may not?
Possible responses: This may seem a hard question to answer, but focusing on your skills will help. Pick out an example from your previous experience that shows how you handled a tricky situation that may happen in all schools. This way, you’re showing the school that you can manage challenge effectively and support others to do the same.
Teaching and learning
1. Describe a good lesson you taught that shows high-quality teaching and learning.
Possible responses: Talk through a lesson you recently taught where the lesson objectives were achieved by students. Focus on a few key aspects, such as how you differentiated for a variety of learners, the learning that developed during the lesson and the challenging outcomes you felt the students were able to reach.
2. How would you organise a lesson for a mixed-ability class?
Possible responses: Planning, preparation and liaison with any SEND teaching assistants are all useful here. Try to talk about how you support learners of all abilities, with scaffolded tasks for some students and open-ended activities that stretch more able learners.
3. What would I see if I came into your classroom?
Possible responses: You can talk about your calm control of the classroom, how you gain students’ attention, ensure they rapidly begin the work and what strategies you use to keep them engaged throughout the lesson.
You may want to discuss the variety of different activities you weave into the lesson to suit different learning styles, and what scaffolding and challenges you include to support all students.
4. Tell us about a time when a lesson didn’t go as planned. Looking back, what changes would you make?
Possible responses: Here, it’s helpful to be specific about one lesson, give the context of the types of students, what topic you were teaching and any activities you completed during the lesson. Again, honesty about the trajectory of the lesson is important, pick one thing that didn’t go as planned and give a firm alternative that would have improved the situation to show you know how to develop your practice.
Behaviour management
1. Which behaviour management policies do you think are the most effective and why?
Possible responses: You can answer in two ways. Pick a behaviour management policy, such as a praise point system, that you feel works with students. Or, you can research the behaviour management policies the interview school uses and talk about one, in particular, you feel would have the most impact and why.
2. How would you deal with low-level disruption?
Possible responses: Most schools have to navigate low-level disruption. There are lots of points you could bring into your response: using positive reinforcement, moving around the classroom and talking to students, preparing with targeted activities, following up on classroom incidents and changing seating plans.
3. What strategies would you use with a student that is not cooperating?
Possible responses: During your interview, the interviewers want to gain an understanding of your classroom management skills and how you interact with students.
You could refer to your ability to implement whole school behaviour strategies, talking to parents or carers, and working with other members of staff to encourage positive behaviour from the student.
Try and give an example of a time when this has happened and what actions you took to improve the situation.
4. What do you think is the best way to motivate students?
Possible responses: This is a very personal question and it’s entirely up to you how you answer. Linking your own motivational tactics with the school’s behaviour management policies is generally a good idea, but it can also be helpful to talk about how you develop good relationships with students to showcase your strengths as a teacher.
SEND and inclusion
1. How do you ensure SEND students can fully access your lesson?
Possible responses: This is a great time in your interview to discuss how you work with the SEND department to access information, resources and support for the SEND students you teach.
Talking about how you evaluate EHCP plans and implement the suggestions for each student in your class shows how you individualise your teaching so that students are able to access the learning. Try to give an example from your own practice of how you have done this in the past.
2. In what ways do you make sure that your lessons are inclusive?
Possible responses: With this question, you could describe the differentiation you undertake to ensure all learners can access the content and achieve the lesson objectives. This may be down to the variation of resources you create, your seating plans, and your use of TAs and technology in the classroom.
3. How do you liaise with the SEND department?
Possible responses: Describe how you work with other members of staff in school, perhaps this involves attending meetings or briefings about students, producing resources to support different groups of learners or simply talk through the methods of communication you use with SEND staff.
Safeguarding and child protection
1. How do you make sure that you’re aware of the school’s policies on safeguarding and child protection?
Possible responses: In your answer, you could reference any safeguarding training you have attended, any CPD events you took part in and how you keep up to date with safeguarding in your current school.
2. Tell us about a time when you followed safeguarding procedures concerning a student you teach and what you learnt from this process.
Possible responses: Talk through one specific incident and what steps you took to follow the school’s safeguarding policy. This may be contacting the school DSL (designated safeguarding lead), what information you needed to share and if you followed up with any subsequent actions.
Don’t forget to mention what you learnt by this process, such as speedy communication, or the need for additional documentation.
Professional development
1. How would you like to develop your professional skills as a teacher?
Possible responses: You can discuss your aims and ambitions for the future, perhaps you would like to develop your curriculum knowledge or have some experience in a pastoral role. This is very individual, so there’s not just one answer!
2. Can you give us examples of your involvement in effective performance management?
Possible responses: Most teachers will be involved in performance management from an early stage in their careers. You can talk about your discussion with your mentor during training, what targets they gave and how you achieved these with specific actions.
You may have an ongoing goal you would like to continue to work towards, so mentioning this is a great idea.
Curriculum knowledge
1. Which parts of the curriculum are you more interested in and why?
Possible responses: A useful point in the interview to explore your curriculum knowledge and the areas you are passionate about. This may help the school understand if you’re more interested in a certain topic, key stage, or are more of a generalist.
2. Are there any aspects of the curriculum you would like to develop for students? Why is this important?
Possible responses: Here you can look to the future and think about the upcoming changes in your subject area. Which aspects sound engaging to you? This could be good for the interviewing school as they may need someone to take the lead in this area.
Working with others
1. How do you work with others and what parts of team work do you like the most?
Possible responses: It’s fine to like being part of a team and also like working independently. You’ll do both in most teaching positions.
However, the school will most likely want to know how you fit in with others, and what appeals to you about team work, such as collaborating on a scheme of work, or partnering with another teacher to focus on classroom management or an extracurricular activity.
2. How would you support other teachers in your team?
Possible responses: Supporting others is an essential part of the teaching profession. We all need support at one time or another. Here, you can talk about a time you helped another teacher with moderation of work, or creating resources. It’s good to have a specific example to hand so that you can show direct experience.
Questions to ask in your teaching interview
At the end of your interview, there may be time for you to ask questions. Here are a few possible suggestions:
- What is your school culture like? How does the school help teachers and students to develop this culture?
- Does the school have any important priorities that it wants to work towards over the next two years?
- How are students supported in their learning?
- In what ways does the school support the social and emotional wellbeing of students?
- Are there any new technological developments happening in your school that will support the work of teachers and students?
Key takeaways
As we covered in our guide on what to expect in teaching interviews, here are the essential points to remember when preparing:
- Preparation is crucial: Research the school thoroughly and review their policies before the interview
- Use specific examples: Draw from your teaching experience to provide concrete evidence of your skills and impact
- Focus on student outcomes: Demonstrate how your teaching strategies positively affect student learning and development
- Show your collaborative spirit: Highlight your ability to work effectively with colleagues, parents and support staff
- Emphasise professional growth: Display your commitment to continuous development and staying current with educational trends
- Address safeguarding confidently: Be clear about your understanding of child protection procedures and responsibilities
- Demonstrate adaptability: Show how you differentiate lessons and support diverse learning needs
Remember that schools are looking for teachers who can contribute positively to their community whilst maintaining high standards of teaching and learning.
Tips for answering teaching interview questions
Responding to teaching interview questions involves similar aspects to most other job interviews. As outlined in our interview preparation guide, staying calm, listening closely and being positive are all great ways to start. Try to give answers that reflect your practice as a teacher and your personal experience as this tells the school a great deal about the kind of practitioner you are.
And finally, good luck with your teaching interview questions - eye contact and a smile show you're a good communicator and have a positive attitude!