Today I had my first interview for these jobs. I received an email yesterday telling me what would be involved in the process. I would firstly have a formal interview with a 3 person panel, the head teacher, deputy head and a parent governor. In this interview I was asked about my faith (it is a Catholic school and RE is seen as a core subject), how I assess progress (apparently need to say the word progress more frequently) and my understanding of what makes a good teacher (keep it child centred and adapt to their learning styles). I was also asked about child protection (make note of what child says, no leading questions, report to DLP). The final thing I was asked about was my experiences of teaching so far and I could only give a very honest response for that. I think the head was taken aback by my honesty and when he rang me this evening thanked me for my honesty about the difficulties I had had in my first London class and apologised that that had been my first experience of London teaching. This section wasn't too bad (no ceisteanna as gaeilge to panic about) and over all they were very positive in their feedback to me regarding this.
Part 2 of the interview was conducted by the Head Boys and Girls. I have never been interviewed by 4 10 years in my life and it was a strange experience. The children asked me why I choose to apply to that school, what was the most innovative lesson I have taught, what children I have taught in the past would say about me as a teacher and what extra curricular activities I could bring to the school. They also gave me the chance to ask them a question so I asked what they liked the most about being a student at the school, which gave me an insight into their opinion of the school.
Part 3 was the lesson observation. I definitely drew the short straw for this as I got Year 3 at 2.30. I would be teaching them for their final 30 minutes of school. I was told it was to be about 'What's in the news?'. After searching for ideas I settled on a 'newsround' segment about Polar Bears and whether or not they should be kept in captivity. I decided to do a lesson that would include a short debate and wondered to myself if I was being ambitious at planning 30 minute lesson with a debate. However the children were wonderfully behaved and really embraced the idea and the different aspects of the debate. I was really pleased with this and the lesson went really well and even ran to time.
Overall I enjoyed the interview and felt it was a great experience. The head teacher said that it was very close but he could not guarantee that he would be able to give me the support I needed in the school as an NQT who trained in a different country and was still becoming familiar with the various aspects of the British curriculum. I am happy with that. I would rather be in a school that knows they can support me in my NQT training.
2 more interviews this week, again both in Catholic schools, and each with a different interview process. I will keep you updated about these during the week.