NQT

OK, you’ve filled in your application form, and sent it winging on its way. You’ve made sure it’s neatly presented, with all the relevant information, and your meets all the criteria in the person spec. So now what happens? You receive a letter or the email inviting you in for an interview. How do you prepare?

Firstly, it helps if you’ve had a chance to visit the school. Ideally, you’ll have done that before writing your application, so you can use ‘school specific’ information in your application(you know the one – ‘I was really impressed by the displays on the walls / the way the children held the door open for me / the way you’ve leapt up the league tables’ etc). It can be difficult to visit the school between the closing date and the interview, because of equality of opportunity – they can’t be seen to be giving one candidate an advantage.

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If you’ve not already been to the school, one thing I’d recommend, if feasible, is to try the journey, maybe the Sunday before. Interview days are stressful enough, you don’t want to add to the stress by getting lost, or arriving late. If that’s not possible either, at least have a good look at one of the websites like Google Maps and make sure you know where you’re going and how long it’s going to take to get there. If you’re going to use SatNav make sure it’s going to take you to the right place and you know roughly what route it should be taking you.

Also, do your best to familiarise yourself with the school’s situation beforehand. It helps to know what issues they might have, so that you don’t say the wrong thing. The Ofsted website can provide information, as can the school’s own website. There might be something in the local press, too. Tap into any sources you can.

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School Visits & Demonstrating a lesson

TeacherRecruitment

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NQT Recruitment Newsletter

Have your certificates to hand. When you get to the end of the interview it’s useful to have your certificates and identity documents in a neat folder so they can take them away to photocopy. This looks good and gives a better impression than a candidate who spends half an hour rummaging through the contents of the bag they’ve had to tip out across the interview table. And first visual impressions count for a lot. You don’t want to intimidate them with your power dressing, but jeans and trainers are not acceptable. Jacket and tie, chaps, and smart casual, ladies. Suits are probably the best option.

On the day the school should have outlined the programme for the day in their letter, and if not, I’d ring up and ask. They often start with a tour, which is often led by pupils. Don’t drop your guard! It isn’t uncommon for a head teacher to nip round to the classroom after your tour and ask your guides what they thought of you or a

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back to me that they are getting a bit circle timed-out by interview candidates.

An original idea for a lesson stands a better chance of getting credit from the observation panel! Remember, yours might be sixth one they’ve sat through that day.

One other thing to check is the equipment available. If you want to use an interactive whiteboard, ring and check they’ve got one beforehand, and if you’re relying on technology of any kind my advice would be to have a back-up plan in case it breaks down. I’ve seen all too many lessons where people were using the IWB, just to show off, when really it didn’t add anything to the lesson. Don’t use technology for the sake of it. It needs to be enhancing the learning. If in doubt, keep it simple.

And, just to repeat, the key element of the lesson is, did you advance the learning? If you did, onwards and upwards, and my next email will take you through the joys of the interview itself. If you didn’t, then it doesn’t matter how many bits of technical wizardry you fitted in to your PowerPoint slides, or how glossy your handouts were. You’ve got to continue to perfect your performance in the selection process to secure that all important first teaching post.

Best Wishes

member of the school office staff. So be on your best behaviour from the moment you arrive at the school.

The demo lesson is becoming more and more common. In the case of our pool, it’s 30 minutes of a speaking and listening activity with a whole class, but this varies from place to place. Sometimes it’s whole class, sometimes it’s just part of a group. If the school only gives you a very sketchy idea of what’s expected, ring up and ask if there’s any more they can tell you (e.g., if it’s something like Literacy or Numeracy, what topics they’re on at the moment and how far they’ve got. Come to think of it, knowing what year group you’re going to be teaching might help). It might not be a bad idea to check whether you’ll have any TA or other support in there, and whether there will be any interesting characters (he said euphemistically) in the class, though often they’ll have removed little Jason before he can sink your career at the first hurdle. Plan to deliver a mini-version of a complete lesson, even if you’re only given a short period (e.g. 30 minutes); so, include a starter, main activity and plenary. Sometimes people get the children to write their names on sticky labels so you can use their names; it’s an individual thing, whether you want to do it or not, but some of you might find it helps. You’ll probably have a couple of observers sitting in on your lesson; for the pool, it’s two heads or deputies. And the bottom line of what they’ll be looking for is, what did the children get from that lesson? So make sure you’ve got clear LOs (or LIs, depending on whether you prefer Objectives, Outcomes or Intentions), and Success Criteria (or WALT and WILF, which some schools use instead). By the way, don’t forget to take a couple of copies of your lesson plan with you for the observers.

And also, be creative. Speaking and listening does not have to be circle time and PSHE, and some of my headteachers have been feeding

School Visits & Demonstrating a lessoncontinued .........

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