Junior School Teacher

► What skills should a teacher have?

► What makes you think you would be a good teacher?

► Why should we take you rather than the other candidates who have applied?

► What qualities do you have that will make you a good teacher?

► What skills do you need to work on to improve?

► What skills could you bring to a school?

► Describe a situation when have you had to use your initiative.

► Why will you be able to handle the pressures? What is it about you that will enable you to cope with the stress and demands of this profession which has a high turnover?

► On the scheme you will always be under pressure. How will you organise/cope? What experiences have you had to prepare you for this?

► Explain why you think it is important to show enthusiasm and interest when working with young people?

► Explain how you think your most recent working experience will prove useful in your teaching career.

► Can you tell me about a time when you went to someone for advice, and how you reacted to this advice.

► Other than [Primark and your time in schools] what other experience do you have working with young people?

► What skills do you think you have that make you particularly good at handling people?

► How would you like to be described by the pupils you teach?

► Choose any topic and say how you would go about teaching it

► What are your particular strengths and weaknesses as a teacher?

► Describe the worst or best lesson you have given. What would you do differently? Say why it was successful or unsuccessful.

► How do you judge the achievement of pupils in your subject?

► If we visited your classroom in October, what could we expect to see?

► What is the role of target setting?

► How would you ensure that you respond effectively to the differing needs and abilities of pupils?

► How would you foster equal opportunities in the classroom/school?

► How would you accommodate children who have English as an additional language?

► How would you raise a child's self-esteem and aspirations?

► How far do children in your classroom direct their own learning?

► What are your views on the value of homework?

► Which is more important, teaching or learning, and why?

► How do you feel your degree is relevant to the curriculum?

► Do you think that the National Curriculum was a good idea?

► Be aware of the current National Curriculum.

► There was lots of stress on the specific qualities/skills of teachers: it helps to be up-to-date on educational issues, especially the National Curriculum.

► Try to have an awareness of the syllabus but you won't need to know it in detail.

► What do you know about the curriculum? Read up on anything they specifically ask you to like 5-14 curriculum. Relate answers to your experience as much as possible.

► What educational issues have interested you in the news recently, and why?

► Which current educational issues are concerning you?

► They ask about 'issues' which have been in the news and media concerning schools and education.

► What are the most important issues facing schools at the moment?

► What improvements could be made to schools?

► What are the challenges and opportunities facing secondary teaching?

► Why is subject knowledge so important when teaching pupils?

► Read up on current educational issues. Although I was not questioned on any of these I know they do sometimes come up as a friend was questioned on her knowledge

► Make sure you do your research on current issues in education as you will be expected to talk in depth on something.

► What hobbies do you have that could be applied to extra-curricular activities?

► What interests have you got that could help the school and how (e.g. music, sport)?

► Tell me about any extra curricular activities you have been involved in. He referred to things I had written in my Personal Statement, so the more diverse and varied you can make it, the better - if you have a talent (i.e. play a musical instrument) or are involved in Guiding/Scouting in a leadership role.

► What do you think about after-school clubs?

► Apart from your time observing in a school, what other experiences do you have that are relevant to teaching? What have you learnt from these?

Is there an element of your degree that enthused you to go into teaching?

Were there any teachers that inspired you? Why?

Were there any teachers that inspired you and what did they do than made them good?

► What aspect of teaching concerns/worries you?

► Why do you want to specialise in Maths?

► What other subjects would you be good at/enjoy (Exeter)

► Which subjects would you enjoy teaching?

► Which subjects would you least enjoy teaching?

► What subject do you think you are strongest at?

► What subject do you think you are weakest at?

► How do children learn?

► 'What have you learned from your own learning experience in the past year?'

► Had to previously read an extract on 'Children and Creativity' and research it in preparation for the interview.

► What books have you read recently for pleasure?

► Who is your favourite children's author and why?

► What book would you choose to teach a mixed sex year 8 class?

► What teaching methods are most effective?

► How would you decorate a classroom? Which colours would you use? Why? Advantages of colour vs black & white

► How in your opinion could you tell if it is a good school by walking in through the door? What would you look for?

► What would you think about in preparing the classroom for the first day of a new school year with a new class?

► How would you go about trying to include different methods of teaching for a very uninteresting subject?

► A 'high achiever' in the class has not been working to his/her potential over the last two weeks or so. What would you do?

► Relevance of your degree subject

► How does your degree apply to Primary teaching?

► What is the relevance of your degree subject to primary teaching?

► Why do you want to teach this age group?

► Do you prefer Key Stage One or Key Stage Two, and why?

► What key stage are you most interested in and why?

► The lecturer asked more educational based questions such as what qualities and qualifications you have

► I wasn't asked any questions specifically related to the PGCE, because in the test that I had to do, I covered all the questions that the interviewer was going to ask - he read my responses in the test just before my interview, then called me into the room for a chat, more than an interview. "Why do you want to be a teacher?". The questions I was asked helped the interviewer do more of a character analysis on me, rather than ask specific PGCE/Teaching orientated questions.

► Why do we teach (your subject) in schools?

► How would you motivate year 9 pupils who have lost interest in the subject?

► What would you say to a student considering taking your subject at A-level?

► What are your views on cross-curricular teaching?

► What are your views on streaming/sets/mixed-ability teaching?

► How would you address the underachievement of boys/girls in your subject area?

► Have you had any experience of vocational education?

► What bearing do you think future developments (in your subject) will have on your teaching?

► How would you teach (an area relevant to your subject) to a year 8 mixed-ability group?

► How would you introduce Excel spreadsheets to a class of year 7?

► What are the options available for students to take in Key Stage 4 ICT?

► Do you support group working in computing?

► What is your understanding of normalisation with regards to databases?

► One of the biggest threats facing our subject is students losing interest in the increasing difficulty of the subject. Computer science is now estimated to be as difficult as a Physics GCSE. How would you actively work to ensure uptake numbers increased and students enjoyed the course but still achieved good grades?

► How are you going to approach the ever expanding problem of students abilities gap being very broad in this subject?

► How are you going to approach teaching programming (of any language) to younger students?

► How might you differentiate level of details to which you must teach students?

► What specifically do you enjoy most about computing?

► Do you think there is enough emphasis on e-safety in the curriculum?

► Do you think its possible to overuse ICT and multimedia in lessons?