Teacher Interview Questions and Answers (2026)

I would not move on. I would look at which wrong answers appeared and why, plan a short reteach at the start of the next lesson that tackles the misconception directly, and check with a hinge question or mini quiz that it has gone, before building on the topic.

In a Year 8 maths lesson on fractions, my end of lesson quiz showed that ten of thirty pupils added the denominators as well as the numerators. I kept the scripts, sorted them into the three kinds of error, and planned a six minute starter the next day. I put one wrong answer on the board, '1/2 + 1/3 = 2/5', and asked pairs to explain why it could not be right, using a fraction wall. That brought out the idea that denominators describe the size of the parts. I then gave a hinge question with four options, each matching a different mistake, and checked with mini whiteboards, so I could see in seconds who still had it. Seven of the ten were secure, so I pulled the other three into my group while the others worked on the new questions. I repeated a version of the question in the next week's quiz to be sure it had held. I now plan a hinge question into every lesson that builds on a prior idea.

Read the books for patterns instead of writing on each one. I would give whole class feedback on the common errors, give pupils time to act on it in the lesson, and mark in depth only the pieces that matter. I would check whether the feedback changed the next piece of work.

With a Year 9 history class I used to write a paragraph in every book and found the same mistakes returning. I changed. I read all thirty answers in about forty minutes with a page of notes: who needed which comment, the most common errors, and one good example. The next lesson began with a feedback slide showing the three common errors with an anonymised example of each, and a model paragraph. Pupils spent ten minutes redrafting one paragraph in green pen, and I walked around and spoke to the six who needed more. I wrote individual comments only for those six. When I compared the next essay to the last, far more pupils backed up their claim with evidence. It also cut my marking time. A few pupils still did not respond, so I spoke to them individually, found one was copying from the board too slowly, and gave her a printed copy.

Reset rather than crack down. Re-teach my routines, use the school's policy consistently, begin with early and least intrusive responses such as proximity and a quiet word, praise what I want, and follow up with the same two or three pupils. I would ask a colleague to observe and tell me what they see.

My Year 9 class had slipped. Pupils talked while I explained, and I had sometimes warned and sometimes ignored. I wrote down what I wanted at the three points where it was going wrong: entry, instructions and tidying. I taught those routines explicitly for a fortnight, as I would teach content, and practised them. For entry, I stood at the door, greeted each pupil, and had a task on the board. During instructions I used a silent signal and waited until I had everyone. I used the school's behaviour policy in order, always the same, starting with a quiet word and a reminder of the expectation, before any sanction. I thanked pupils for the right behaviour by name. After a week I asked my head of department to observe a lesson, and she spotted that I was talking over noise, so I stopped doing that. Two pupils needed a restorative conversation after school. By the end of the second week I was giving far fewer warnings and the lesson began on time.

Break the task into short written and spoken steps, check he has understood each before the next, and display them so he can look back. I would check the plan with the SENCO, ask the pupil and his parents what helps, and record whether it works so the plan can be reviewed.

A boy on my class list had a plan that said he needed instructions chunked into steps. In a science practical on filtering, I split the method into four steps on a laminated card, with a picture for each, and gave the same card to the whole group so it was not singling him out. I said step one aloud, checked he could repeat it, and then went to the next table. I used a tick-off column, so he could see where he was. Before the lesson I asked the SENCO whether chunking meant fewer words or fewer steps at once, and she told me he did best with no more than two instructions at a time. I asked him at the end what had helped, and he said he liked being able to look back at the card. I told his mother at parents' evening. Because the whole class benefited, I added the cards to the department's resource for that practical and told the SENCO so the plan could record it was working.

Share the lesson outcome and key points beforehand, tell her which pupils to watch and what to do, and agree what to tell me. The TA adds to my teaching and does not replace it, so I also spend time with the pupils who struggle most. Afterwards I ask what she saw and use it.

My TA, who works with me on Thursdays, got a short plan from me on Wednesday: the learning aim, the three key ideas, the questions I would ask, and the three pupils who might need extra help. We spent five minutes at the start of the day going through it. I asked her not to complete any task for a pupil, and to give the least help first. She told me afterwards that one boy had copied from the board without understanding the second step. I would not have noticed it from the front. I changed the next lesson to include that step with a worked example. I also worked with that group myself for part of the lesson, because the evidence says teaching assistants should add to the work of the teacher, and pupils who struggle most should have as much time with the teacher as others. Her notes became part of how I planned.

Reply briefly and kindly, without promising to keep it secret: say I am glad she told me, I will make sure she is safe and I need to tell the person who can help. If she is in immediate danger I call 999. I then tell the DSL that night or first thing and write down exactly what she said.

I received an email at nine from a Year 8 girl who wrote that her stepfather had been hurting her, and 'please don't tell anyone'. I did not reply with a promise. I wrote, 'Thank you for telling me. I am really glad you did. I can't keep this secret, because I need to make sure you are safe, but I will only tell the people whose job it is to help you. I'll see you first thing tomorrow, and you can speak to me.' I checked the school's out of hours procedure, which gives the DSL's number for urgent concerns. Because she did not say she was in danger that night, I sent the DSL an email with the girl's words copied exactly, and phoned her at seven the next morning. If there had been a risk to her that night, I would have rung 999. In school the DSL took over, and I was told what I needed to know. I wrote a record that night, with the date, time and what I said, and I did not reply again by email.

Report it under the school's procedure now, not once it escalates. A concern about a colleague that does not meet the harm threshold is shared under the low-level concerns policy. Describe what I saw as facts, do not confront the colleague, and do not discuss it with others.

I noticed that a colleague had been meeting a Year 11 boy alone in a room with the blinds closed twice a week, and that the boy had begun to bring him presents. I knew of nothing improper, but it looked like a blurring of boundaries. I wrote down the dates and times and what I had seen, in plain words and not my opinions. I took it to the headteacher, because the school's policy said concerns about staff go to her, and I said I was sharing it under the low-level concerns policy. I made it clear that I did not know of any harm, but that I thought it was worth looking at. She thanked me, and said she would look into it in line with the procedure, and that she could not tell me the outcome. I did not mention it to the colleague or the other staff. I would rather be wrong and have raised it than right and silent, and the guidance says that includes concerns that seem small.

Do not argue with him or lecture. Talk to him calmly to understand what he meant, note what he wrote and said, and tell the DSL straight away. Radicalisation is treated as safeguarding, and the DSL decides whether to refer to Prevent. I would not promise him it is private.

A Year 11 pupil's essay on a political topic praised an extremist group and finished 'everyone else is lying to you'. I read it twice. I did not write angry comments in the margin. At the end of the lesson I spoke to him quietly and asked him to tell me more about what he meant. He said he had been watching videos at night and that he felt people at school did not listen to him. I listened, kept calm, and told him I would need to speak to the safeguarding lead because I wanted to make sure he was supported. I photographed the page, wrote down what he said and passed both to the DSL the same day. She spoke to him and his parents, and decided how to proceed under the Prevent duty. I changed nothing about how I treated him in class. My part was to notice a change, listen and pass it on. It is the DSL's role to decide whether a referral is needed.

Act early and keep it small: short extra phonics practice every day, either one to one or in a small group with a well-trained adult, using exactly the school's programme. I would assess which sounds are missing, track progress every week and ask the phonics lead for help if it is not working.

In December, six of my thirty children were behind on the programme's sounds. I used the programme's own assessment to find the gap for each: three had not secured a vowel digraph, two could not blend with more than three sounds, and one had missed lessons. I arranged a ten minute catch-up session after registration every day, with me for the group of three and my teaching assistant, trained on the programme, for the others. I used the same terms and routines as the main lesson, so the children were not meeting two methods. I checked each child every Friday against a short list of sounds, and posted the results in my planning folder. After three weeks four had caught up. For the other two I asked the phonics lead to watch a lesson, and she suggested a smaller group and more blending practice. I also read with each child daily, using books that matched the sounds taught. The Year 1 phonics check at the end of the year was a check of what we were already seeing.