Teacher Interview Questions and Answers: 18 Questions UK Panels Ask

Questions by role

This page is written for classroom teacher posts, especially experienced teachers moving school. If you are applying for something else, the panel's focus shifts, so use the guide for your role:

• ECT interview questions: your first teaching post after QTS, including trainees applying in their training year.
• PGCE and teacher training interview questions: getting a place on a training course.
• Teaching assistant interview questions: TA, HLTA and learning support roles.
• Head of department interview questions: subject leadership and middle leadership.
• Assistant and deputy head interview questions: senior leadership posts.
• Safeguarding interview questions: the scenarios every panel asks about, in depth.
• Teacher interview tasks: the observed lesson, in-tray and data tasks, and the pupil panel.

How to structure your answers

Teaching panels agree their questions in advance and usually score each answer against criteria, so an answer only earns credit for what you actually say. The simplest reliable shape is situation, action, impact (a version of the STAR method):

• Situation: one or two sentences on the class, the pupils and the problem. Year group, subject or set, what you noticed.
• Action: what you did, in enough detail that the panel could picture it. Say "I", not "we".
• Impact: what changed for pupils and how you know. Work in books, an assessment, attendance, behaviour points, a conversation with a parent.
• Reflection (optional but valuable): one sentence on what you would do differently, or how it shaped your practice since.

For hypothetical questions ("What would you do if...?"), answer with the process you would follow, then anchor it with "and when this happened to me last year..." if you can. Real classroom examples beat descriptions of what good teachers do in general.

It also helps to know which of the eight Teachers' Standards each question is really testing. You don't need to quote standard numbers, but your answer should give the panel something to write against: high expectations, progress, subject knowledge, planning, adaptive teaching, assessment, behaviour and wider professional responsibilities.

Motivation and why you're moving

Expect these first. Keeping Children Safe in Education asks panels to explore what attracted you to the post, so a motivation question is close to guaranteed.

1. Why do you want to work at this school?

What the panel is listening for: Evidence that you have done your homework and that this is a choice, not a mass application. The panel wants two or three specifics that are only true of this school: something you saw on the tour, a priority in the development plan or Ofsted report, the curriculum model, the community it serves. Then a link from those specifics to what you would bring.

2. Why are you leaving your current school?

What the panel is listening for: A forward-looking reason, told calmly and briefly. Panels are checking for professional conduct and for anything that might follow you, so criticism of a current head or colleagues is a red flag even when it is deserved. Moving towards something (a subject specialism, a phase, a shorter commute, a new kind of school) lands far better than escaping something.

3. Tell us about yourself and your teaching so far.

What the panel is listening for: A two-minute professional summary, not a life story. Phase and subject, the schools and contexts you have taught in, one or two things you are proud of with evidence, and why that experience fits this post. It is often the first question, so it sets the tone; a rambling answer here costs time you need later.

Teaching and learning

These are the core of a classroom post. They often link back to the lesson you taught earlier in the day, so be ready to use it as an example.

4. Describe a lesson that went really well. How did you know it was successful?

What the panel is listening for: The second half of the question matters most. Panels want to hear how you checked learning during the lesson (questioning, mini whiteboards, hinge questions, pupils' written work) rather than how much fun it was. A good answer names the class, the objective, what pupils could do by the end that they couldn't at the start, and how you know.

5. How do you make sure all pupils are challenged in your lessons?

What the panel is listening for: High expectations for everyone, not a top-table extension sheet. Panels respond well to answers about a single ambitious goal for the whole class with support to reach it, careful questioning that pushes thinking, and tasks that open up rather than three separate worksheets. This maps directly to Teachers' Standard 1.

6. What is a common misconception in your subject, and how do you address it?

What the panel is listening for: Subject knowledge and how you teach it, which is Teachers' Standard 3. Pick a real misconception you meet every year, explain why pupils hold it, and say how you plan to prevent it or surface it early. Secondary panels will often have a subject specialist listening for depth; primary panels want to see that you think carefully about every subject you teach, not only your specialism.

Behaviour

Panels want consistency with the school's own policy. Read it before the day and use its language.

7. Tell us about a time you managed challenging behaviour.

What the panel is listening for: Calm, consistent, policy-led practice. The panel wants a real incident: what happened, what you did in the moment, how you followed it up (restorative conversation, contact home, use of the school's system) and what changed afterwards. Showing that you understand the behaviour behind the behaviour, without excusing it, signals maturity.

8. How would you establish routines with a new class in September?

What the panel is listening for: Specific routines, taught explicitly and rehearsed: entry, the start task, getting attention, handing out equipment, transitions and leaving. Panels like candidates who say they would use the school's own language and systems from the first lesson rather than inventing their own. If you read the behaviour policy before the interview, refer to it.

Assessment and data

For an experienced teacher, panels expect more than marking. They want to hear how evidence of learning changes your teaching.

9. How do you use assessment to plan your teaching?

What the panel is listening for: Assessment that changes what happens next. Panels want both day-to-day formative checks and how you use summative results, and above all an example where the evidence changed your plan: reteaching a topic, regrouping, a targeted intervention. This is Teachers' Standard 6. Mention workload-sensible feedback, such as whole-class feedback, if that is how your school works.

10. A group of pupils in your class is not making the expected progress. What would you do?

What the panel is listening for: A diagnostic process rather than a list of interventions. First find out why (gaps in prior knowledge, attendance, SEND, EAL, something at home), then act in class before reaching for withdrawal, involve the right colleagues, and review whether it worked. If you can, use a real group you have taught.

SEND and adaptive teaching

Adaptive teaching is one of the most heavily probed areas in current interviews, in primary and secondary alike.

11. How do you adapt your teaching for pupils with SEND?

What the panel is listening for: Adaptive teaching that keeps ambition high: knowing pupils' needs and plans, working with the SENCo, scaffolds that are removed over time, and quality-first teaching that helps many pupils at once. A specific pupil (anonymised) and what changed for them is far stronger than a list of strategies. This is Teachers' Standard 5.

12. How do you work with teaching assistants and other adults in your classroom?

What the panel is listening for: Clear direction and shared planning, not leaving the TA to manage the lowest-attaining group by default. Panels want to hear how you brief support staff, how you avoid pupils becoming over-reliant on an adult, and how you get feedback from TAs on learning. It is part of Teachers' Standard 8 and often asked in schools with significant SEND provision.

Safeguarding

Every panel will ask at least one. Our full guide to safeguarding interview questions covers scenarios in more depth.

13. A pupil tells you something that worries you about their safety at home. What do you do?

What the panel is listening for: A clear process. Listen calmly, don't ask leading questions or investigate, never promise to keep it secret, report to the designated safeguarding lead (or a deputy) straight away, and record what was said factually in the child's words using the school's system. If you believe a child is at immediate risk, say you would make sure the DSL acts or contact children's social care yourself. Panels will often follow up with a twist, so stay with the process.

14. What would you do if you were concerned about a colleague's behaviour towards pupils?

What the panel is listening for: That you understand concerns about adults go to the headteacher (or to the chair of governors if the concern is about the head), and that you would report even low-level concerns rather than deciding yourself whether they matter. Panels are checking that loyalty to colleagues would never outweigh a child's safety. Mention whistleblowing routes if the school did not act.

The school, parents and your development

These round off most panels and are where candidates often run out of prepared material.

15. What would you contribute to the wider life of the school?

What the panel is listening for: Something real and sustainable, ideally linked to what the school already does or wants. One club you have actually run, a trip you organised, a role in your current department, or a skill that matches a gap you noticed. Over-promising five extracurricular activities is easy to see through.

16. Tell us about your professional development. What are you working on now?

What the panel is listening for: A teacher who keeps learning and can name something specific: a piece of research or a training programme that changed a habit in the classroom, feedback you acted on, an NPQ or subject course. The best answers end with how it changed what pupils experience. It also shows the panel you will respond well to coaching and appraisal.

17. How do you build positive relationships with parents and carers?

What the panel is listening for: Proactive, professional communication: positive contact early, not only when there is a problem; calm handling of a difficult conversation; and knowing when to involve a head of year or senior leader. A short example of turning around a strained relationship with a family is ideal.

18. How do you manage your workload and wellbeing?

What the panel is listening for: Realistic habits rather than claims to never feel the pressure. Panels like candidates who use shared planning, efficient feedback methods and clear priorities, and who know when to ask for help. It also gives you a natural opening to ask what the school does on workload.

Questions to ask the panel

Almost every interview ends with "Do you have any questions for us?". Have two ready, and make at least one specific to something you learned during the day. Good options for an experienced teacher:

• "What would you want the person in this post to have achieved by the end of their first year?"
• "How does the department plan and share the curriculum, and how much freedom do teachers have within it?"
• "What does professional development look like for experienced teachers here?"
• "I noticed [something from the tour or the development plan]. How is that going, and how would this role be involved?"
• "What does the school do to keep workload manageable, for example around marking and data drops?"

Leave pay and conditions questions until an offer is made unless the advert was unclear, for example about TLRs or whether the school follows the national pay scales. It is reasonable to confirm pay before you accept. Our 2026/27 teacher pay scales show where your current point sits. Your new school sets your starting pay under its own pay policy (and academies can set their own scales), so confirm the point in writing before you accept rather than assuming it carries over.

Final preparation

Before the day, re-read the job description and person specification and make sure you have an example for every essential criterion. Read the school's behaviour and safeguarding policies, its latest Ofsted report and anything it publishes about its priorities. Know your employment dates and be ready to explain any gaps calmly, because panels are asked to explore them. If you are resigning from a current post, check the notice dates before you accept; our resignation dates guide explains the 31 October, 28 February and 31 May deadlines.

Then practise out loud. You can practise any of the questions above in the coach at the top of this page: 5 scored answers a day are free, and each one tells you what a panel would credit and what is missing.