Questions to Ask a Preschool Teacher in an Interview
For preschool and childcare directors and owners interviewing a candidate for a teaching job. The questions follow the order an interview usually takes: background and training, how the candidate runs a day, guiding behavior such as biting and tantrums, safety and supervision, talking with parents, and working with a co-teacher and with you. Each has a note on what a good or a worrying answer sounds like, and where the rules depend on your location it tells you to check your own.
Want questions from the whole vault instead? Try the random question generator.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Background
Why did you choose to teach preschool and not an older grade?
Why ask it
Strong candidates talk about the age itself: how fast a three-year-old changes in a year, or what it is like when a child finally manages a zipper alone. 'I love kids' is where nearly everyone starts, so follow with what a hard week with this age looks like and why they come back after one.
What training and credentials do you have in early childhood education, and what are you working toward?
Why ask it
What a teacher has to hold depends on where you are and the kind of program you run, so check your own licensing rules before the interview and ask to see the documents. Past the paperwork, ask what from the training they still use in a room. A candidate halfway through a qualification who can name the next course is often a better sign than a finished one they cannot describe.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy, in words a parent would understand?
Why ask it
Named approaches such as Montessori, Reggio Emilia or play-based come up here, and a label alone tells you little. Ask what a visitor would see in their room at ten in the morning that shows it. You are checking fit with your program more than correctness, so hold back your own approach until they have finished.
Which ages have you taught, and which are you best with?
Why ask it
A room of two-year-olds and a pre-K room are close to different jobs, and most teachers have one they prefer. Someone who names an age and says why is telling you where to place them. 'All of them equally' usually means nobody has asked before, so describe the room you are hiring for and watch the reaction.
Tell me about the last classroom you worked in: how many children, how many adults, and what was your part?
Why ask it
Job titles mean different things from one center to the next, and a lead in one building did what an assistant does in another. The numbers and the division of work give you the real scope. Ask who wrote the plans and who spoke to parents at pickup.
Is your first aid and CPR training current, and have you ever had to use it?
Why ask it
Start with the second half: a plain account of a choking scare or a bad fall, with what they did in order, shows how they behave when a room goes quiet. Someone who has never needed the training can still tell you what they would do first. Then ask for the card and its date, and look up which staff must hold which certificates where you are, since that is set locally.
What would your last director say you do best, and what would they say you are still working on?
Why ask it
Putting the question in the director's mouth gets a more honest answer than asking about strengths and weaknesses. You can also test it: ask the same thing when you call for a reference. Be wary of a second half that is a strength in disguise, such as caring too much.
Why are you leaving your current center, and what drew you to this one?
Why ask it
Pay, hours and a long drive are ordinary reasons and honest ones, so pay more attention to how they talk about the children and staff they are leaving. Blame spread across every director and coworker is a pattern you would inherit, and several short stays in a row deserve one calm question each. The second half shows whether they read anything about your program or sent the same application to every center in town.
The day
Walk me through a morning in your classroom, from the first arrival to lunch.
Why ask it
You are listening for a rhythm: arrival, free play, a group time, outside, washing hands, food, with a reason for the order. Teachers who have run a room include the small parts, like what the early children do while the late ones trickle in. A list of activities with nothing between them suggests someone else was holding the day together.
How do you plan a week of activities, and where do the ideas come from?
Why ask it
Good planners start from what the children are interested in or struggling with and build toward it, whatever curriculum sits on top. Ask for last week's plan and what had changed by Thursday. If every idea comes from a search the night before, the planning will need your time, so decide whether you have it.
How do you balance play the children choose with activities you lead?
Why ask it
Neither end is wrong, but a teacher who wants long stretches of open play will be unhappy in a tightly scheduled room, and the reverse is just as true. Describe how your day actually splits and ask what they would find hard about it. Ask too what they do during free play: watching from the side and getting down on the floor to join in are two different teachers.
What does circle time look like in your room, and what do you do when half the group stops listening?
Why ask it
The second half is the test. Experienced teachers shorten it, get everyone moving, or end it and try again tomorrow. A candidate who talks about making children sit until it is finished is describing a daily struggle, and with the youngest groups an unrealistic one.
How do you move a group from one part of the day to the next, such as from play to cleanup?
Why ask it
Transitions are where a lot of a day's trouble starts, and teachers who know that have tools: a warning five minutes ahead, a song, a job for the child who finds stopping hardest. Ask what the children who are ready do while the others are still putting on shoes. Waiting in a line with nothing to do is the answer you do not want.
How do you help a child who is still crying at drop-off after the parent has gone?
Why ask it
Listen for something fitted to the child: a job to do, a spot by the window, a photo from home, staying close without forcing a hug. Distraction alone works for a day or two. Also ask what they tell the parent later, since a short honest message at mid-morning is what makes the next drop-off easier.
How do you run nap time, and what happens with the child who lies awake?
Why ask it
What you want to hear is a calm routine and a quiet alternative for the non-sleeper, such as books on the mat after a set rest. Worry if the plan is to keep that child lying still for the whole period, or if nap is described mainly as the teacher's break. Rest rules, and how sleeping children must be supervised, differ by place and by age group, so finish by telling the candidate yours.
How do you feel about diapers and potty training, and what do you do when a child has an accident?
Why ask it
The matter-of-fact answer is the good one: change the child quickly and privately, no comment in front of the group, a word to the parent later. Any hint of shaming, or of care routines being beneath a teacher, counts for most in the younger rooms, where they fill a good part of the day. Diapering steps, handwashing and who may be with a child in the bathroom come under health and licensing rules that differ by place, so walk them through your procedure.
What do you do to get four-year-olds ready for kindergarten?
Why ask it
The strongest answers put self-care and getting along beside letters and numbers: opening a lunch box, waiting for a turn, following a two-step direction, holding a pencil. Ask how a letter or a number gets taught in their room. If the answer is mostly worksheets, ask how long the children sit for them.
How do you adapt an activity for a child who is well ahead of the group, or well behind it?
Why ask it
Ask for a real child and a real activity. A good answer changes the task and keeps the child in the group: bigger beads, fewer steps, a harder puzzle on the same table. Sending the child off with an assistant every time is a different thing, and worth a follow-up about why.
Tell me about a child with a disability or a developmental delay in your group. What did you change so they could take part?
Why ask it
Experience shows in small adjustments: a picture schedule, a seat near the teacher at story time, a warning before the room gets loud, and regular talks with the family and any therapist who visits. What support a child is entitled to, and who arranges it, depends on where you are and how your program is funded, so say how it works at your center. A candidate who has not had the chance yet can still do well here by saying what they would ask the family first.
How do you keep track of what each child can do, and what do you do with those notes?
Why ask it
Sticky notes, photos, a checklist, an app: the method matters less than whether the notes get used. Listen for the link from an observation to next week's plan or to a conversation with a parent. Tell them what records your program expects, because paperwork that comes as a surprise sours a new job quickly.
Tell me about an activity that fell apart, and what you did next.
Why ask it
Every teacher has had paint on the ceiling or a story nobody would sit for. You are checking two things: that they can drop a plan without getting flustered, and that they asked themselves afterwards why it failed. A candidate who cannot think of one has not taught long, or is not telling you.
Behavior
How would you describe your approach to discipline, and where does time-out fit in it?
Why ask it
The answers that reassure are about teaching: showing a child what to do instead, giving them the words for it, and changing the room so the trouble comes up less often. A reply made only of consequences, such as a chart, lost outdoor time or a chair in the corner, deserves a follow-up about what the child learns from each. What a program may use, time-out included, is often set by licensing rules and by your own policy, so explain yours after they answer and see how they take it.
A child bites another child. What do you do in the first minute, and what do you do afterwards?
Why ask it
Look for an order: comfort and first aid for the child who was bitten, a short calm word to the child who bit, then whatever report and calls to families your center requires. The better candidates go on to why, and mention watching for when it happens: before lunch, in a crowded corner, over one toy. Be concerned by any talk of shaming the biter or showing them how it feels.
How do you handle a full tantrum in the middle of a group activity?
Why ask it
A candidate has to do two things at once here: keep the child safe and keep the other children occupied. Good answers stay near and say little until the storm passes, then talk. Ask where the co-teacher is in their picture, because it shows whether they expect to manage it alone.
Two children are pulling on the same truck and both are yelling. What do you say?
Why ask it
Ask for the actual words. Teachers who are good at this describe out loud what they see, hold the toy if they must, and help the children get to a plan, such as a timer or a second truck. 'I take it away so nobody has it' ends the noise and teaches nothing, and so does a forced 'say sorry'.
What do you do when a child flatly refuses, for example to come inside or to clean up?
Why ask it
Most skilled answers involve a choice between two things the teacher can live with, a reason, and time. Notice whether the candidate treats refusal as normal for the age or as a challenge to their authority. A raised voice, bargaining with treats or counting down to a threat are each worth asking about once more.
Tell me about the most challenging child you have taught, and what worked in the end.
Why ask it
Listen to how the child is described. 'He needed to know what was coming next' is a teacher who studied the child; 'he was just a bad kid' is one who gave up. If nothing worked, that can still be a good answer when they can say what they tried and who they asked for help.
What rules do you set in a classroom, and how do the children learn them?
Why ask it
Three or four rules stated as what to do, such as walking feet and gentle hands, usually signal experience. Ask how a new child in the second month learns them. Rules that live only on a poster, or a long list of don'ts, tend to mean the teacher is the one doing the remembering.
How do you tell behavior that is ordinary for the age from behavior that needs a closer look?
Why ask it
A teacher is not there to diagnose, and the good ones say so. What you want is a habit of writing down what happened, when and how often, and bringing it to you before saying anything to a family. A candidate who is quick to name a condition is as much a concern as one who thinks every child will simply grow out of it.
What do you do when you feel your own patience running out?
Why ask it
Everyone who works with young children reaches that point, so the worrying answer is 'that never happens to me'. Good ones are practical: a look to the co-teacher to swap places, a slow breath, moving the whole group outside. Tell them how stepping out for a minute works in your building, so they know that asking is allowed.
Safety
How do you keep track of every child during outdoor play and on the way back inside?
Why ask it
You want to hear counting, and at set moments: going out, during play, at the door, once inside. Ask where they stand on a playground and why, since a teacher who picks a spot with a view of the far corner has thought about it. Standing in one place chatting with a coworker is the habit this question is meant to find.
You are alone with the group and one child needs the bathroom right now. What do you do?
Why ask it
A sound reply never leaves the group unwatched and never sends a small child off alone: they call for help or take everyone. 'I would just step out for a second' is the answer to worry about. How many adults must be present, and when one may be alone with children, comes from local rules and your own policy, so explain yours once they have answered.
A child falls from the climber and is crying hard. Take me through the next five minutes.
Why ask it
A good sequence: get to the child, check them over before anything else, comfort, decide whether it needs more than a cuddle, then write it up and tell the parent. Listen for the rest of the group in the account, because candidates often forget them. Ask what would make them send for you, or for emergency help.
How do you manage food allergies in a room where children eat together?
Why ask it
Careful teachers know which children, which foods and where the emergency plan and medication are kept, and they check every time food comes in from outside. Who may give medication, and what training that takes, depends on where you are, so say how it works at your center. Be uneasy if the answer rests on memory alone, with nothing posted and no thought for a substitute covering the room.
Someone you have never seen arrives to collect a child and says the parent sent them. What do you do?
Why ask it
The child stays until the person is found on the authorized list and their identity has been checked, however polite or rushed they are. A strong candidate adds that they would call the parent or bring you in, and keep the child busy and unworried meanwhile. Reluctance to upset an adult is the weak spot to probe.
What would you do if something a child said, or a mark you noticed, made you worry about their safety at home?
Why ask it
Duties to report concerns about a child are set by law and differ from place to place, so know yours and train every hire in them. In the interview, look for someone who would write down what they saw and the child's own words, would not press the child with questions or investigate, and would follow the reporting procedure the same day. A plan to ask the parent about it first, or to wait and see, should stop you.
What would you do if you saw a coworker handle a child roughly, or speak to one in a way that frightened them?
Why ask it
This is the hardest question on the page, and a pause before the answer is fine. You are looking for two steps: move in to help the child now, and tell the director the same day, even about a friend. 'I would stay out of it', or a quiet word with the coworker and nothing more, means trouble in your rooms would not reach you.
Where is your phone while you are with the children?
Why ask it
It is a narrow question with a telling answer, since a screen is an easy way for an adult's eyes to leave a group. State your own rule plainly, including how photos of children may be taken and on whose device. Someone who argues the point in an interview will argue it in the classroom.
Parents
How do you keep parents informed about their child's day, and what do you save for a longer conversation?
Why ask it
Most centers decide the channel, whether a daily sheet, an app or a word at the door, so tell them yours. The candidate's part is judging what goes where, and the reassuring answer keeps anything sensitive out of a rushed handover or a typed message. Ask how they make sure the parents of a quiet, easy child hear something specific too.
How do you tell a parent at pickup that their child had a hard day?
Why ask it
Ask them to say it to you as if you were the parent. The good versions are short and factual, include one thing that went well, and end with what the teacher plans to try tomorrow. Notice whether they would say it in front of the child and a hallway of other families, or find a quieter moment.
How would you tell a parent their child was bitten, and what would you say to the family of the child who bit?
Why ask it
These are two conversations, and candidates usually prepare only for the first. Many centers do not name the other child to either family; say whether that is your policy and see how they take it. Good answers stick to what happened and what the staff are doing about it, with no guessing about the other child's home.
A parent is angry about something that happened in your room and confronts you at the door. What do you do?
Why ask it
Look for listening first, no arguing in front of children, and an offer of a proper time to talk that same day. A teacher should also know when to bring you in, so ask where that line is for them. Getting defensive while telling the story is a preview.
How do you raise a concern about a child's development with a family?
Why ask it
Tell them how it works at your center, including whether the teacher or the director leads that meeting. Strong candidates describe what they have observed, with dates and examples, ask what the family sees at home, and leave conclusions to the professionals a family may be referred to. Dropping it into a pickup chat, or avoiding it until the family asks, are both poor signs.
A parent asks for something that goes against how the room runs, such as no nap or no outdoor time. How do you respond?
Why ask it
The answer you hope for begins with asking why, because the reason is often something you can work with. After that, the candidate should know which requests are theirs to grant and which come to you. Either reflex, agreeing to everything or quoting policy at the first sentence, makes for difficult families later.
How do you build trust with a family whose home language or customs are different from yours?
Why ask it
Practical answers are the convincing ones: learning to say the child's name properly, picking up a few words of the home language, asking how meals, sleep and comfort are handled at home. Ask about a family they found hard to reach and what they tried. Be cautious about a candidate who talks of correcting how a family does things when no child's safety is involved.
A family asks you to babysit on weekends, or sends you a friend request. What do you say?
Why ask it
What the question shows is whether the candidate has thought about the line between friendly and friends with the families they serve. Centers handle this differently and some forbid it outright, so there is no single right answer: give yours. Ask how they would turn a parent down without souring things.
Team and fit
How do you and a co-teacher divide the work in a room?
Why ask it
Good pairs split it on purpose: who greets, who sets up lunch, who takes the child who needs a hand, who does the diapers today. Ask how they decided and whether it rotated. A candidate who describes doing it all, or who cannot say what the other adult did, may find sharing a room hard.
Tell me about a time you and a co-teacher disagreed about how to handle a child. What happened?
Why ask it
It happens in every shared room, usually over how firm to be. The reassuring version is a conversation away from the children that ended in one agreed approach. Listen for whether they went to the coworker first or straight to the director, and whether the story still carries a grudge.
Tell me about feedback from a director that was hard to hear.
Why ask it
You will be the one giving it next, so this is a rehearsal of that conversation. A good answer names the feedback, admits the sting and says what changed. If the story ends with the director being wrong, ask for a second example.
A coworker calls in sick and you are asked to spend the day in a different room. How do you take that?
Why ask it
Covering is part of the job in most centers, and the candidate's face often answers before the words do. Useful replies ask practical things: which age, where the allergy list is, what the routine is. Be straight about how often it happens at your center, since a float role sold as a classroom of their own does not last.
What do you need from a director to do your best work?
Why ask it
Planning time, a say in ordering materials, backup with a difficult parent, hearing about changes before the families do: each answer tells you what was missing in their last job. Only promise what you can deliver. A need you cannot meet is better found now than in the third month.
What schedule can you work, and how long do you hope to stay in this role?
Why ask it
A room runs better when the adults in it stay the same, so continuity is a fair thing to care about. Keep it to hours, start date and their plans for the job. Questions about family, pregnancy or health are restricted in many places, so check what you may ask where you are before the interview.
What would you like to ask me?
Why ask it
Candidates who have worked in classrooms ask about group sizes, planning time, who their co-teacher would be and how you handle a hard parent. Questions only about pay and time off are no red flag, since people need to live, but no curiosity at all about the children is. Answer honestly: a teacher who starts with a true picture is likelier to stay.
How to interview a preschool teacher
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the interview
Look up your own rules first
Required qualifications, background checks, adult-to-child ratios, health and safety certificates and reporting duties are set by whoever licenses or regulates programs where you are, and they differ by place and by type of program. Read the current version before you write the job posting, and ask your licensing body when something is unclear. Several notes on this page tell you to share your policy with the candidate, so have it in front of you.
Choose about ten, some from every group
A 45-minute interview has room for about ten questions once follow-ups are counted. Take one or two from each group, and always include the bite under Behavior and the bathroom and worried-about-a-child questions under Safety. Lesson planning can be taught on the job. Judgment in those three moments is much harder to add later.
Write down what would worry you
Next to each question you plan to ask, note the answer that would give you pause. Warm, likable candidates are the norm in this field, and an hour afterwards it is easy to forget that the person you enjoyed talking to said they would step out of the room for a second.
Tell the candidate which room
Say in the invitation which age group and which hours the job covers, and whether it is a lead or an assistant position. Candidates then answer about the right children, and anyone who only wants pre-K can say so before either of you gives up an afternoon.
In the room
Set the scenario in your own building
'A child bites' is abstract. 'It is 11:40, lunch is late, you have nine toddlers and your co-teacher is changing a diaper' is a moment the candidate has either lived or not. Use the real group size and layout of the room you are hiring for, and the questions under Behavior and Safety get much more revealing.
Ask for the words
Whenever an answer is about speaking to a child or a parent, ask the candidate to say it as they would in the moment. Tone, length and word choice come out in a way a description hides, and it separates people who have done it from people who have read about it.
Give your policy after the answer
If you open with 'we never use time-out here', every candidate agrees with you. Ask first and listen. Then explain how your center does it and watch whether they are curious, relieved or resistant.
Stay on the job
Keep to the work, the schedule and the candidate's experience, and ask every candidate the same core questions so you can compare them fairly. What an employer may ask about age, family, health, religion and similar subjects is governed by employment law that differs by place. If you are unsure, check with whoever advises you on hiring before the interview.
Reading the answers
Specific beats warm
Nearly everyone who applies to work with young children is kind and says so. What separates candidates is detail: the name of the song they use for cleanup, where they stand on the playground, what they wrote on the incident form. When an answer stays general, ask for the last time it happened.
Listen for the child's side
In the Behavior answers, notice whether the candidate ever says why the child might have done it: tired, hungry, no words yet for 'that is mine'. A teacher who looks for the reason changes the room so it happens less. One who only describes the consequence will be handing out the same consequence in June.
Notice the other adults in the story
Co-teachers, directors and parents appear in almost every answer on this page. Count how often they are a help and how often they are the problem. A candidate whose stories never include asking another adult for help may not ask you either.
New teachers answer differently
Someone straight out of training has few stories to tell. Let them say what they would do and why, and weigh the reasoning and the willingness to ask. On the Safety questions, 'I would get my co-teacher and tell the director' from a beginner is a better answer than a confident improvisation.
After the interview
Watch them with children, within your rules
An hour in a classroom shows what no answer can: whether they get down to the children's height, which child they notice, how their voice sounds by the end. Whether a candidate may be in a room before their checks are complete, under what supervision, and whether that time has to be paid, depends on the regulations and employment rules where you are, so ask your licensing body and whoever advises you on hiring. Do not leave a visitor alone with children.
Take one question to the references
Ask a former director the same thing you asked the candidate: what they do best and what they were still working on. Then ask whether the director would have them back in a classroom. A long pause before that answer is worth a second call to someone else.
See the documents yourself
Certificates, transcripts, training cards and whatever checks your regulator requires should be looked at in the original or confirmed with whoever issued them, not taken from a resume. Ask your licensing body what must be on file before a first day with children.
Write your notes the same day
Put down what the candidate said to the bite, the bathroom and the stranger-at-pickup questions in their own words while you still remember them. When two candidates are close, those lines decide it more reliably than your memory of who was easier to talk to.