English Curriculum Lead Interview Questions And Answers

Would they say he or she is enthusiastic and really committed to a students' success? This helps to get a sense of their own self awareness and how important they are to their pupils.

I'm looking for a sense that applicants are restless in their professional quest for excellence and that they care about the people they teach and value their success and happiness.

This question would be asked in a management role interview and I'd be looking for an understanding of school policy, an ability to handle difficult situations sensitively and someone who can formulate a plan - bringing a resolution to the problem.

I get a sense of an interviewee's personal style and their ability to deal with the unexpected by asking them this. With classroom teachers, I have used the following animals: swan; tiger; owl; sheepdog. For leadership positions I use beaver, hawk, lion and bear. You also see whether the candidate can get off the fence and decide what their dominant style is. You can do this with favourite drinks, biscuits, holiday destinations etc. It's surprisingly effective.

The purpose of this question is to find out if the style is congruent with the organizational culture. The perceptive leader is able to adapt his or her style to fit the follower's, employee's and organizational needs.

Candidates who can't think of a mistake or learning experience don't impress. This question establishes whether the interviewee is self critical and has the willingness - and humility - to keep learning. Don't say nothing because this makes you look arrogant and lacking in imagination. Don't say that your biggest mistake is being a perfectionist - this appears contrived or insincere. It's good to give examples that show you can accept failure and admit your mistakes. Name a situation that didn't work out well or a task in which your team fell short.

A number of factors can fall outside a leader's control such as the available skill pool in the organization, time constraints, the economic climate. If employees are lethargic and negatively orientated it can create a situation ripe for failure. In answering leadership interview questions that explore how you deal with difficult challenges focus on how you were able to analyze the setback and seek honest feedback to learn from failure. How you used the difficult situation to encourage constructive questioning of policies and practices.

Show your ability to be resilient in the face of failure and to constantly work towards improvement.

I ask this to get a sense of their character and find out how their own education developed. It also shows their interests, passions and how they were inspired. I like to see how much they appreciated their own teachers when they were in school.

Innovation and creativity are key competencies explored in leadership interview questions. Effective leaders promote change and innovation. Finding solutions to unique problems are facilitated by encouraging a constant information flow in all directions and emphasizing responsiveness to changing demands.

I ask this question because it's important to know that a candidate has continued developing their subject knowledge after their degree. I recently interviewed an economics teacher. We started talking about the French economist Thomas Piketty, and I said I was finding it difficult to read him in big chunks. He recommended a text which he said was less well known but more revealing, and he explained why. I bought the book, and he was right.

Leaders gain commitment by influencing and persuading the team to set objectives and buy into the process.

This helps gauge whether the candidate has looked at the school website. A candidate told me he would like to set up a debating club. When I said we had debating already and regularly win competitions, he looked crushed, rather than turning the conversation round and saying 'that's great I'd love to be involved'. It also focuses on their contribution to extra-curricular activities, something that is vital to the school.

Leaders build a sense of common purpose by promoting the organizational vision both internally and externally. They develop and implement effective communication strategies within the organization. They remove barriers to collaboration and provide clear direction on priorities. They give clear and honest feedback to inspire trust.

The candidate needs to have an understanding of pastoral and academic reasons why a child might find a subject difficult. They also need an understanding of a range of interventions that might be used - and how they can be monitored.

► What is the difference between a leader and a manager?
► How would you deal with a NQT who was not coping very well...(short term, long term)
► Strategies for raising achievement at KS 3/4
► How will you disseminate good practice?
► What role does History have in the support of ICT, Numeracy, Literacy?
► The role of he HoD is the management of staff, curriculum and learning. Which is the most important and why?
► How can the department contribute to a 'whole school' education?
► How would I justify History to the parent of a child who wants to take the subject into KS4, but the parent thinks the subject is irrelevant?

► Welcome and introduction of panel members
► What do you do in order to address the specific needs of individual children in order to help them fulfil their potential?
► How would you promote and monitor educational inclusion?
► As new technology is developed how do you see the role of the teacher changing?
► What would you expect to see now in a successful teaching and learning environment?
► As you may have realised from your tour around the school, we have limitations with regard to space available. How would you develop and further improve the aspects of our curriculum that will be affected by this lack of space?
► You may have read in regular items in the press that children today do not often know where their food comes from, believing, for example, that potatoes grow on trees? If you found that to be an issue here, tell us what you might do to give our children, who come from a suburban environment, the knowledge and appreciation of our agricultural past, present and future.
► Can you tell us the benefits and disadvantages of the current regime of testing children on entry to school and at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2.
► Tell us about a recent curriculum initiative that has had an impact on your school and how you have dealt with it. This could be an external initiative or one that you have developed and chosen to lead.
► Describe to us how you would motivate Key Stage 2 boys who begin to become demotivated from and disaffected by education.

► What will your priorities be in your new post?
► How will you develop the scope of history in the school? (think x-curricular)
► How can you build on dept strengths?
► How will you monitor the progress of pupils? (very big at the minute on target setting and monitoring of info)
► Uptake of GCSE and A level
► What else do you bring to the school ie extra curricular?
► How do you see the dept under your management?
► Development of teaching styles, thinking skills, use of ICT, 3 part lessons etc
► How will you measure your success?

► How would you move existing staff forward?
► How would you deal with an incompetent member of your department (think very carefully about that one!)
► What are the current strengths and weaknesses of the department?
► What new ideas do you bring to the job?
► What is your vision? What would be your targets to move towards this vision in your first year?
► Where will the department be in 3 years of your leadership?
► What are your views on the Foundation National Strategy?
► How flexible are you regarding integrated humanities?
► What are your ambitions after this job? Do you have a career plan?

A typical interview question is "What Was it Like Working for Your Supervisor?" The reason it's asked it to find out how you got along with your boss. Be careful how your answer. Interviewers don't like to hear too much (or much at all) about bad bosses because it could be someone from their company that you're talking about next time around.

I once had a job applicant who spent 10 minutes responding to this question.

She told me how awful her boss was and how her company was a terrible place to work. It so happened that her boss was a good friend and golfing buddy of my boss - our company's CEO - and the company was one of our biggest clients. Of course, she didn't get the job.

Integrity- being truthful and trustworthy and having conviction - is an essential leadership competency. The effective leader demonstrates values and ethics in personal behavior and integrates these values and ethics into organizational practices and activities.

A good leader acts with the courage of his/her convictions. While leaders are open with their employees and model honesty, transparency and fairness, they do not violate confidences or divulge potentially harmful information.

Be careful answering this question. You don't want to imply that you are criticized consistently on the job, but you also don't want to imply that you're perfect.

It makes sense to mention things that are not specifically related to the job for which you're applying. You want to emphasize that the criticism or weakness does not affect your ability to perform the job well.

You might also choose to mention a "weakness" that might actually be considered a strength on the job. For example, you might say that some people have said you are very critical of your work, but you can explain that you have a keen attention to detail, and you bring that detail-oriented nature to the workplace.

The leader's role is to communicate the strategic vision with clarity. To translate the vision into concrete direction and plans. To identify and communicate priorities, short term objectives, timelines, performance measures, clear responsibilities and performance agreements. To provide quality judgment and advice.

I was responsible for several projects where I directed development teams and implemented repeatable processes. The teams achieved 100% on-time delivery of software products. I was motivated both by the challenge of finishing the projects ahead of schedule and by managing the teams that achieved our goals.

I have always wanted to ensure that my company's clients get the best customer service I can provide. I've always felt that it's important, both to me personally, and for the company and the clients, to provide a positive customer experience. My drive to constantly develop my customer service skills is the reason I earned top sales at my company two quarters in a row.

I have always been motivated by the desire to meet a deadline. Setting and reaching deadlines gives me such a sense of accomplishment. I love creating an organized schedule for completing a task, and achieving my deadlines. For example, when I ran a fundraising event last year, I set multiple deadlines for a variety of tasks leading up to the event. Achieving each deadline motivated me to keep working, and made the event run smoothly.

A good answer to this question will speak specifically about what you are going to accomplish and how you are going to accomplish it. Examples of good responses include:

☷ I plan on gaining additional skills by taking related classes and continuing my involvement with a variety of professional associations.
☷ I noticed that XYZ company (the company you are interviewing with) provides in-house training for employees and I would certainly be interested in taking classes that would be relevant.
☷ I will continue my professional development my participating in conferences, attending seminars, and continuing my education.

When answering these questions, give one or two concrete examples of difficult situations you have actually faced at work. Then discuss what decisions you had to make to remedy the situations.

You want to come across as confident and capable of making big decisions. Avoid examples that make you seem indecisive or uncertain.

Also keep your answers positive ("Even though it was a difficult decision to lay off that particular employee, I did so in an extremely professional manner, and this decision ultimately led to improvements in efficiency and productivity throughout our department").