Practice conducting interviews

Practice makes perfect, so take time to brush up on your interviewing skills before you start meeting with candidates. With one of your staff members playing the role of the interviewee, practice the following:

• Greeting candidates
• Setting the tone for an interview
• Asking appropriate interview questions
• Explaining the essential functions of the job
• Describing your school’s educational philosophy

Seek input from your current staff

Teachers have to collaborate with administrators, librarians, guidance counselors and other staff members. That makes it important to include other employees in the interview process. They won’t make the final hiring decision, but they can give you valuable feedback about which candidates are likely to succeed.

If you decide to conduct panel interviews, make sure the interview panel has people with different skills or points of view. For example, you might want to include a department head, an instructional aide and a member of your school’s support staff.

Choosing employees with varied backgrounds makes it easier to gather feedback related to a teacher’s content knowledge and soft skills. For example, the head of your math department is well-positioned to assess a candidate’s knowledge of math teaching strategies. An instructional aide may be able to provide valuable feedback about a candidate’s ability to collaborate with others.

Before each interview with a teacher, remind panel members that they shouldn’t ask any questions related to age, ethnicity or other protected characteristics. Interviews should focus solely on a candidate’s ability to perform the essential functions of the job.

Develop a standardized set of questions

Before you start interviewing teachers, develop a standardized set of teacher interview questions. The questions should be highly relevant to the job opening. For example, if you’re searching for someone to teach algebra classes in your middle school, it’s appropriate to ask about each candidate’s experience with linear equations, algebraic expressions, exponents and logarithms.

Asking the same questions during every interview makes it easier to compare candidates based on job-related characteristics. If you ask one person about their approach to phonics instruction and the next person about differentiating instruction based on different reading abilities, it’s tough to determine which one has the most knowledge and experience. The second candidate could have a decade of experience teaching phonics, but you wouldn’t know about it if you didn’t ask.

Use a scoring rubric for each interview

When you’re interviewing teachers, it’s also helpful to use a scoring rubric for each candidate. Also known as a scorecard, a rubric helps you evaluate candidates in an objective way. Each rubric should list the criteria you’re assessing, along with a scale indicating the quality of each response.

For example, if you’re assessing someone on their ability to set appropriate learning objectives, you may want to use the following scale to score their response:

• 0-2: No evidence of skill
• 3-5: Demonstrates basic knowledge of the concept without providing any examples
• 6-8: Demonstrates intermediate knowledge of the concept with at least one practical example
• 9-10: Demonstrates advanced knowledge of the concept and offers two or more relevant examples to support their claims

After an interview, calculate the candidate’s total score by adding up the scores in each section of the rubric. You may want to use these scores to determine who to invite for a second interview or a demo lesson.

Create a comfortable interview environment

If you’re a school administrator, you may not be able to eliminate interruptions entirely, but you should take steps to minimize them. Having a student or staff member walk in during an interview may cause a candidate to lose their train of thought, making it more difficult to get detailed answers to your questions.

Before you start an interview, ask your administrative assistant to hold your calls. If possible, have another administrator—such as the assistant principal or dean of students—handle urgent issues while you’re meeting with candidates. Let everyone know that you should only be interrupted if it’s absolutely necessary.

Once you take steps to prevent disruptions, make sure the interview room is as comfortable as possible. If you’re doing a panel interview, make sure there’s enough room for each person to move around. Keep the chairs several feet apart to ensure that candidates have enough room to demonstrate their skills or show you their teaching portfolios.

If you plan to perform a skills assessment as part of the interview process, make sure all computers, projectors and speakers work properly. Candidates shouldn’t have to troubleshoot equipment before they deliver their presentations.

Set aside plenty of time

If a candidate makes the effort to prepare for an interview and travel to your school, it’s only fair to give them enough time to explain their qualifications. You don’t need to interview each person for three hours, but you should give candidates a chance to tell you about their teaching philosophies, describe their previous work experience and ask questions about your school and its students.

Try behavioral interviewing

Behavioral interviewing uses a candidate’s past behavior as a way to predict their future behavior. If you want to know if a teacher is likely to succeed, try behavioral interviewing instead of asking questions that require one-word answers. Here are some sample questions:

• Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult parent. How did you address their concerns without breaking school policies?
• Think about the last time you received negative feedback. How did you respond?
• Give me an example of a time you had to cooperate with a colleague who doesn’t share your teaching philosophy. What did you do to make it work?
• Tell me about a time you had to modify a lesson to meet a student’s needs. What modifications did you make? Why?

Notice how these questions require detailed answers rather than a simple “yes” or “no.” The more detail a candidate provides, the more information you have to make a hiring decision.

Listen carefully

During interviews, candidates are assessing you and your school just as much as you’re assessing them. Make a good impression by engaging in active listening. Maintaining appropriate eye contact and observing nonverbal cues may help you better understand a teacher’s point of view. It’s also important to stay focused and give candidates plenty of time to speak.

Interviewing teachers FAQs

What are some good questions to ask teachers?

Here are some common examples of questions used during teacher interviews:

• What is your teaching philosophy?
• Give me some examples of how you motivate students to complete difficult assignments.
• How do you differentiate instruction for students with different reading levels?
• Describe your experience providing the accommodations outlined in individualized education plans.
• Tell me about your approach to classroom management.
• How do you assess academic achievement in your classroom?

How do you start a teacher interview?

When you’re interviewing teachers, start each interview session with a warm welcome to your school. If you’re doing a panel interview, introduce the panel members and explain their roles. Set realistic expectations by telling the candidate approximately how long you want the interview to last. 

What are the qualities of a good teacher?

A successful teacher has in-depth content knowledge, excellent communication skills and the ability to adjust their teaching methods based on the needs of each student. Teaching also requires excellent classroom management, so educators must be able to keep students on task and make sure they’re motivated to learn.