- Why Do You Want to Be a Teacher? …
- What Attracted You to This Particular PGCE Training Course? …
- What Have You Learnt from Your Work Experience in Schools? …
- Which of Your Qualities Will Make You a Great Teacher? …
- What Qualities Do Pupils Look for in a Teacher?
PGCE Interview Questions that will get you that first teaching job can be a nerve-wracking experience. Interviewing for a job as a teacher is quite similar in lots of ways to interviewing for any other job.
Top 5 Teacher Training PGCE Interview Questions and Answers
21 standard BEd, PGCE Teacher Training (PGCE) Interview Questions (Answers down the page)
Teacher training interview questions & PGCE general questions and answers
1 ” Tell us about your personal statement “ .
2. Why do you wish to become a teacher, How do you know you want to teach? Past as a school student yourself where you admired what a teacher does/achieves, maybe state a past teacher that helped to positively impact my life.
3. Why choose to teach this age group? (Example Secondary PGCE) Get on with older children, experience, certain skills and subject knowledge you have.
4, Why have you chosen this university? Could be for the reputation of training and support, local to you and wish to teach in the area after training.
5. I see you teach business studies/economics are you aware that as a full time secondary school teacher that subject area does not have a full time teaching schedule, are you prepared to teach an additional subject?
Yes, I can offer English and mathematics as additional subjects to complete a full teaching timetable. Or other subjects you can offer. (One subject area only while training).
6. What do you understand/opinion what makes a good teacher? Effective teaching combines personal qualities of a teacher, subject knowledge and how they clearly communicate and transfer knowledge to learners of different learning styles and ability levels. Engage pupils in different learning environments. A teacher is well prepared, adaptive; develop positive relationship with teachers and children, set clear rules/guidelines, patient, firm but fair, positive and others.
7. PGCE courses demand full attention for 11 months study and training that will also involve travel. Can you set aside the time for a demanding schedule?
8. What do you understand about safeguarding? and provide an example from your school experience.
(Many examples) This is fairly obvious to answer. Wellbeing of children in you’re care; ie classroom and lessons.
Teachers have a position of responsibility where they are also responsible for the welfare & safety of children, watch for something out of the ordinary and report any issue that they see, hear or are told.
Safeguarding also extends to the rights of a pupil in the classroom and at the school.
– Coats and bags are stored correctly in the classroom so other pupils do not trip in your class when moving around.
– Prevention from injury (Avoid crowded corridors/doorways & stairs)
– Blunt sizzlers only in class for younger pupils.
– Watch for pupils trying to be assertive or bully another pupil.
Classroom safety, inside school buildings and the playground ground are all covered where a school and teachers are all jointly responsible.
A teacher watches for any sudden changes in a pupils behaviour, attendance, dress and school work.
Could be an issue at home or a child is getting attention from an adult that should not happen and to they tell you.
Follow school procedure and report the issue to the school appointed “child protection ” person that deals with pupils welfare, usually they’re an assistant head teacher or at that level in every school.
Safeguarding/Child protection and rights of pupils is a big area in schools. Get ready for this question.
9. What did you learn from your school experience?
(This is the time observing or helping out at a primary, secondary or nursery school to gain some experience working with children). Time I spent at ………. re-enforced the desire to teach and at this level. I found that I have the soft skills to work effectively alone and with other team members, although lack specialist knowledge at this time.
Also I found myself reflecting on how I could improve on what I did for the next time I completed that certain task.
Key part, you reflect on the task you have completed and on how well it went or could you improve something. As a teacher when you write a lesson plan you aim to deliver a lesson on a certain part of a topic area such as fractions with the aim of each child being able by the end of the lesson to complete most or all of the set questions after instruction.
After the lesson a teacher reflects on how a lesson went, pace, learning objectives achieved, student attainment level and expectations, how can I improve, many others. A teacher is informed for the next lesson by how a previous lesson went and the reflection they’ve done afterwards.
Did it go to plan? Has sufficient learning taken place enabling the teacher to extend learning on the fractions topic or move on to the next topic? or do you require to go over some more fractions in class from the previous lesson you have given as the questions you set in class were not answered to a level of your expectations.
10. Do you envisage any conflict with your personal or social life with the requirements of a professional person, such as a teacher? Issues could be model career, band member using certain lyrics, leisure activities and beliefs.
11. What will be the most challenging for you as a teacher? Behaviour of students at first.
12. Our course is very popular, why should we choose you and not another candidate?
13. What knowledge, skills and abilities do you have to offer that will help you to become a successful teacher?
Subject knowledge, degree in the subject, calm under pressure, problem solver, time management, analytical and others. I can work independently or as part of a team.
14. What personal qualities as a person can you offer to the children and a school? Understanding, abundance of patience, empathy, others.
15. What experience do you have working with children? Tell me about one challenging situation and how you solved the issue, if any. Get some experience if you can from a school attended or ask to observe at a local school.
16. How do you deal with anger, disappointment, stress and frustration personally?
17. Are you ready to receive constructive criticism about the teaching you conduct as part of the training and learning process. How would you react to it?
18. In a future teaching career how would a child you teach describe you and why?
This is how you hope they describe you as a person in a classroom and around the school. Answer: Helpful, knowledgeable, confident, firm but fair.
19. Give an example of when you overcome a difficult situation.
20. How are your qualifications, specially the degree you have relate to the subject area and age group you wish to teach? Specify relevant subjects to what you would teach. How they match, state specialised in the subject area.
21. How would you make your subject interesting ensuring an effective learning experience? Variety in class questions, exercises, use of everyday experience/examples, implement training I will receive.
22. Equal opportunities are very important in schools. How would you ensure your classroom provides every pupil with an equal chance to learn to the best of their ability? Give time, work space, consideration, and involvement in class, participation, question and answering equally between pupils.
23. How could you improve classroom and school experiences for children? Fun interactive lessons, using a variety of teaching aids, extra curricular activities, practical interactive lessons that follow or combine with theory and explanation. (Not just talking about a topic and answering questions).
24. Inner city or rural, what type of school would you like to teach in. Why? You may wish to teach at a school with less students on roll, school with less challenging issues.
25. What are teaching assistants and what is your view on they’re role in a classroom?
Important role in a primary classroom to further guide, explain one to one/groups to support learning in class. Helping a child’s social development at school. Good resource in a secondary school to reinforce learning to less academic ability students.
26. What is learning support in a school and what do you know about the role it plays in learning? School learning support is a separate department at each school that provides assistance to certain school pupils. Each student that has been identified as requiring additional support with learning will have a statement. A school child will have a leaning support assistant that follows them from class to class providing assistance in lessons. Help could be repeating teacher instructions, further explanation of set questions or answering general questions.
27. Educational issues in schools. Name 2: Poverty impacting some children’s progress, behaviour, family issues, bulling, ever increased targets for all pupils to achieve, no child left behind.
28. Working with and teaching children can be difficult at times? Why? Develop issues at school or in life that impacts learning, all children are different. Happy child one week and the next week unhappy for any number of personal reasons.
29. Working as part of a team is important, give an example of your work or personal life. The interviewer wants to find out if you can work with other to complete tasks and how effectively. Early years and primary teachers work with leaning support and teaching assistants. Secondary school teachers and college lecturers work together to plan and coordinate courses and resources.
30. What is your understanding of the role of a school teacher? A person what facilitates learning, transfers knowledge, provides feedback, answers question and many more. Search on line yourself the role of a school teacher for the age level.
As well as the example questions below, you can find further help in our University Interviews Guide.
Your interviewers want to get a sense of you as a teaching professional. This could be where you mention good working relationships with parents and careers, school policies, working together as a staff team, or your behaviour management strategies. Be prepared with a good example of where you have made a difference and any successful results.
PGCE Interview Questions that will get you that first teaching job can be a nerve-wracking experience. Interviewing for a job as a teacher is quite similar in lots of ways to interviewing for any other job.
FAQ
What questions will I be asked in a PGCE interview?
- Give us an example of when you worked as part of a team. …
- Why have you picked a university-based route? …
- What have you learnt from your work experience in schools? …
- Why do you want to be a teacher? …
- Tell me about a time you’ve given a successful lesson.
How do I ace my PGCE interview?
- Tailor your preparation. …
- Think of the qualities you’ll bring to teaching but don’t second-guess the questions. …
- Read about the education sector. …
- Show passion for your subject. …
- Don’t forget about your other life experiences. …
- Be prepared for more than just the formal interview.
What happens in a PGCE interview?
Be prepared to talk about any relevant experiences or transferable skills that would be good for teaching. The interviewer may also ask about your application (including your personal statement), particularly if there’s areas that need clarifying or might affect your ability to accept an offer.
What questions should I ask at the end of a PGCE interview?
