Teaching Interview Lesson Observation and Tasks: How to Prepare

This guide covers the practical parts of the day. For the formal panel questions, see our teacher interview questions hub, and for the safeguarding questions every panel asks, our safeguarding interview questions guide.

The observed lesson

The interview lesson is the one part of the day where you do the actual job. You will normally get a brief a few days ahead: a topic or learning objective, a year group, a length and sometimes a class list with notes on pupils with SEND or EAL. Every candidate usually gets the same brief, so the observers are comparing like with like.

What it tests

Observers are not expecting a perfect lesson with a class you have known for five minutes. They are watching whether you can get a room of unfamiliar pupils working, whether the pupils learn something you can show, how you pitch and adapt, how you manage time, and how you speak to children. In practice it is mostly Teachers' Standards 4 (planning and teaching well-structured lessons), 5 (adaptive teaching) and 7 (behaviour), with some 6 (assessment).

How to plan it

• Teach the brief. If the school asked for fractions of amounts, don't teach your favourite fractions lesson that starts somewhere else. Read the brief twice.
• Plan less content than you think. Unfamiliar rooms, a new class and nerves all slow you down. Aim for one clear objective and one main task, and finish properly rather than rush the end.
• Start with a quick check of prior knowledge. Two or three questions on mini whiteboards tell you where to pitch, and show observers you assess before you teach.
• Make the pupils do something visible. Talk partners, whiteboards, a short written task. Observers need to see learning, not just hear you explain.
• Plan the adaptation. If you were told about pupils with SEND or EAL, plan a specific scaffold for them and a stretch for those who finish early.
• End with a check. An exit question or a final whiteboard round gives you evidence for the reflection conversation.
• Learn names fast. Ask for name labels or a seating plan, and use names from the first minute.

Adapting on the day

Things will go differently from your plan. The class may already know the content, the board may not work, or a group may be much weaker than the notes suggested. Observers watch closely how you respond. Moving on early because the pupils clearly know it, or dropping to the easier version of a task, is good teaching, not a failure of planning. Have a back-up for technology: printed copies of anything essential on your slides.

Common mistakes

• Talking for most of the lesson, so the observers never see what the pupils can do.
• Overplanning, then rushing or skipping the final check of learning.
• Ignoring the information about pupils with SEND or EAL that the school gave you.
• Relying on a video, a website or one complicated resource that fails on the day.
• Teaching the observers instead of the class, for example by explaining your choices mid-lesson.

The reflection conversation afterwards

Many schools follow the lesson with a short conversation, either straight away with the observers or as the first question of the formal panel. The opening is almost always some version of "how do you think that went?". It can carry as much weight as the lesson, because it shows whether you can judge your own teaching accurately, which is what the school will rely on once you are in post.

A good reflection has a simple shape:

1. A balanced overall judgement in one sentence.
2. Evidence of learning: what pupils could do by the end and how you know.
3. One thing that worked and why.
4. One thing you would change, specific enough to act on.
5. What you would do next lesson with this class.

Use what you saw: names of pupils, answers on whiteboards, a misconception that came up. Avoid both extremes. "It went really well" with no evidence suggests you didn't notice what the observers noticed. Listing every flaw suggests you can't judge what matters. If the observers raise something you missed, accept it, think about it briefly and say what you would do. That is the conversation you would have with a line manager after a real observation.

Pupil panels

A small group of pupils, often from the school council, asks you their own questions with an adult present. Statutory guidance in England says pupils should be involved in recruitment in a meaningful way, so schools take the feedback seriously. Our AI interview coach guide covers why.

What it tests: how you speak to children when you are not teaching. Pupils notice whether you listen, whether you remember their names and whether you give real answers. How to prepare: have short, honest answers ready for questions such as "why do you want to work here?", "what would you do if someone was being bullied?" and "what do you do for fun?". Common mistakes: talking down to pupils, giving long answers built for adults, and looking at the supervising adult rather than the pupil who asked.

In-tray exercises

You get a set of emails, notes and messages, and a fixed time to put them in order and say what you would do with each. They are most common for posts with responsibility, but some schools use them for classroom roles too.

What it tests: prioritisation, judgement and knowing the limits of your role. There is nearly always a safeguarding item in the pile, sometimes disguised as something routine, such as a pupil's comment mentioned in passing in an email about homework. How to prepare: decide your rule in advance. Safeguarding first, then anything that affects children's safety or learning today, then deadlines, then admin. For each item, write the action and who you would involve, not just a ranking. Common mistakes: missing the safeguarding item, trying to handle everything yourself, and running out of time because you wrote long answers for the first few items.

Data analysis tasks

You are given a spreadsheet or table of assessment results for a class or group and asked what it shows and what you would do. Some schools ask you to present your findings to the panel.

What it tests: whether you can turn numbers into teaching decisions (Standard 6). How to prepare: practise reading a table quickly. Look for the groups that stand out (pupils with SEND, disadvantaged pupils, boys and girls, prior attainment bands), individual pupils who have dropped, and questions or topics where most pupils struggled. Common mistakes: describing every figure instead of picking two or three findings, drawing big conclusions from very small groups, and stopping at analysis without saying what you would do in your classroom.

Marking and written tasks

You might be asked to mark a few pieces of pupil work, write feedback, plan a short sequence of lessons, or write a short response to a question about teaching. Secondary schools often use a piece of work from your subject; primary schools may give a piece of writing or maths.

What it tests: subject knowledge, accuracy and the quality of your feedback, plus your own written English (Standard 3 expects high standards of literacy from every teacher). How to prepare: know your exam specification or the national curriculum expectations for the year group, and practise writing feedback that names one strength and one next step. Common mistakes: marking generously, writing long comments a pupil wouldn't read, missing a factual error in the work, and spelling or grammar errors in your own feedback.

Parent email scenarios

A common short task is a complaint or worried email from a parent, and you are asked to draft a reply or say how you would respond. Typical examples are a parent unhappy with a detention, a concern about friendship problems or a complaint that their child is not being stretched.

What it tests: tone, professionalism and judgement. How to prepare: use a simple structure: thank them, acknowledge the concern, state the facts you know, explain the school's approach, offer a call or meeting. Common mistakes: getting defensive, criticising a colleague, mentioning another pupil by name, promising an outcome you can't guarantee, and missing a welfare concern in the email. If the parent mentions something that suggests a child may be at risk, the right response is to pass it to the designated safeguarding lead, not to deal with it only by email.

Presentations

More common for posts with responsibility, but some classroom interviews include one. You might be asked to talk for five to ten minutes on a question such as "what makes outstanding teaching in your subject?" or "how would you support pupils with low reading ages?".

What it tests: clarity, knowledge of current practice and whether you answer the question asked. How to prepare: keep to time, use few slides, give a real example from your own teaching and end with what you would do in this school. Common mistakes: overrunning, reading from slides, and a generic talk that could be given at any school. For leadership presentations, see our head of department and deputy head interview guides.

Reflection and task questions to practise

These are the questions you are most likely to hear after the lesson or about your tasks. They are the same questions loaded into the coach at the top of this page.

1. How do you think your lesson went, and what would you change if you taught it again?

Lesson reflection. What the panel is listening for: An honest, evidence-based judgement, not a performance review of yourself. Name what the pupils could do by the end and how you know (a mini whiteboard check, the exit question, what you saw in books). Then name one specific thing you would change and why. Candidates who say it went perfectly, or who pull the whole lesson apart, both worry a panel.

2. What would you do next lesson with this class?

Lesson reflection. What the panel is listening for: Proof that you were assessing while you taught. A strong answer starts from something you noticed, such as a misconception or a group that finished early, and turns it into a next step: what you would reteach, who you would stretch, and how you would open the next lesson. It shows you see a lesson as part of a sequence.

3. Which pupils made the most progress in your lesson, and which made the least? How do you know?

Lesson reflection. What the panel is listening for: Whether you noticed individuals. Mention pupils by name or seat if you can, and say what evidence you had for each. If you are honest that you could not check everyone, say how you would build that check in next time. The panel is listening for Standard 6 thinking: accurate, usable assessment.

4. You were given information about pupils with SEND and EAL in the class. How did you adapt for them?

Lesson reflection. What the panel is listening for: Specific adaptations you actually made, not a list of strategies you could use. Name the scaffold, the seating decision or the vocabulary support and say whether it worked. If you did not get it right, say what you would do differently. Panels value candidates who read the class information and used it.

5. Something didn't go to plan in your lesson. Talk us through how you responded.

Lesson reflection. What the panel is listening for: Calm, in-the-moment judgement. A task that ran long, a resource that failed or a pupil who disengaged are all normal. The panel wants to hear what you noticed, what you decided and why, and what you would plan differently. Pretending nothing went wrong when the observers saw it is the weak answer.

6. How did you manage behaviour with a class you had never met?

Lesson reflection. What the panel is listening for: Routines and expectations set early, names learned quickly, and use of the school's own behaviour approach where you knew it. Mention a specific moment, such as how you got silence for instructions or how you handled a pupil talking over you, rather than general statements about relationships.

7. Talk us through how you prioritised your in-tray.

In-tray. What the panel is listening for: A clear rule for ordering, with safeguarding first every time. Anything that suggests a child may be at risk goes to the designated safeguarding lead straight away, ahead of deadlines and data. Then urgent and important items, then things you can delegate or schedule. Say what you would do with each item, not just its rank.

8. Which item in the in-tray would you pass to someone else, and who would you pass it to?

In-tray. What the panel is listening for: Knowing the limits of your role. A strong answer names the right person: the DSL for a welfare concern, the SENCo for a request about provision, the head of year or line manager for a complaint outside your remit. It shows you won't sit on something that isn't yours, or try to solve it alone.

9. What did the data tell you, and what would you do about it?

Data task. What the panel is listening for: Two or three clear findings rather than a description of every column. Name the groups or pupils who stand out, offer a cautious reason, and say what action you would take in your classroom. Panels want to hear you link numbers to teaching, and admit what the data can't tell you on its own.

10. Walk us through the reply you drafted to the parent's email.

Parent email. What the panel is listening for: Tone and judgement. Acknowledge the concern, stick to facts, avoid blaming colleagues or other pupils, never share information about another child, and offer a next step such as a call or meeting. If anything in the email raised a welfare concern, the panel will want to hear that you would pass it to the DSL, not just reply.

11. You had to mark three pieces of pupil work. What feedback did you give, and why?

Marking task. What the panel is listening for: Feedback a pupil could act on. Pick out what the piece shows the pupil can do, the single most important thing to improve, and how you would get them to respond. Mention accuracy against the mark scheme if one was given, and whether you would follow the school's feedback policy.

Practise any of these in the coach above. You get 5 scored answers a day free, with feedback on what was strong and what was missing. Write the answer as you would say it, then try again after reading the feedback.