English Curriculum Lead Interview Preparation Guide

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.