Questions to Ask a Principal in an Interview
Questions for reading the principal rather than the school. Aimed at a candidate deciding whether to work for this person, they ask how decisions get made, how staff are treated when things go wrong, and what the job holds them accountable for.
The questions
Open any question for the note
How do you spend your mornings?
Why ask it
A plain question that separates a principal who is in corridors and classrooms from one who is in an office with the door shut. Either can be effective, but you should know which you are joining.
How often are you in classrooms, and what are you looking for when you're there?
Why ask it
The second half is the important one. "Checking the learning objective is on the board" and "seeing which students are doing the talking" describe two different kinds of supervision to work under.
How would the teachers here describe your leadership?
Why ask it
Everyone has an answer ready. The useful follow-up is what the teachers who find them difficult would say, and whether they can name that group without irritation.
How do you prefer to hear bad news?
Why ask it
You will need this within your first month. An answer with a route in it, straight away and directly to them, beats a general statement about an open door, which usually means bad news travels sideways instead.
Which parts of the job do you delegate, and which do you keep?
Why ask it
Shows you who actually decides things and where you will be able to act. A principal who keeps everything creates queues, and one who delegates timetabling and budgets is telling you whom to build a relationship with.
Who do you take advice from?
Why ask it
Listen for whether the names include anyone who would disagree with them. A principal advised only by their deputy and the district office is likely to be surprised by their own staff.
What are you accountable for this year, and to whom?
Why ask it
Their targets become your priorities, whether or not anyone says so. Knowing that reading scores or an inspection outcome sits on their desk explains a great deal about how the year will feel.
What have you said no to from the district or the board?
Why ask it
Tests whether they buffer their staff or pass everything down. A concrete example of pushing back, even a small one, is the best predictor of whether new initiatives will land on you unfiltered.
How do you decide who teaches the most difficult class?
Why ask it
Every school has one, and the allocation reveals the fairness of the place. Rotating it, or giving it to the strongest teacher with extra support, differs sharply from quietly handing it to whoever is newest.
How do you handle a teacher who is struggling in the classroom?
Why ask it
Ask for the sequence and the timescale. Coaching, a mentor, and a second observation is one culture, and a documented improvement plan within a fortnight is another.
What happens here when two teachers can't work together?
Why ask it
Principals either mediate or reorganize around the problem. The answer tells you whether conflict gets addressed or turns into a permanent feature of the timetable.
What do you do in the first ten minutes when a parent calls angry about a teacher?
Why ask it
The most predictive question here about what it will feel like to work for them. Listen for whether they gather the teacher's account before responding, or apologize first and ask afterwards.
When do you overrule a teacher's judgement?
Why ask it
There are legitimate answers involving safety, law, and equity. The concern is a principal who cannot think of a limit, or who reverses grades and consequences whenever a family complains.
What's a decision you made that staff disliked, and how did you handle the reaction?
Why ask it
Requires a real example, which is why it works. Note whether they explained the reasoning to staff, adjusted anything, or simply waited for the complaints to fade.
What do you do when you get something wrong in front of staff?
Why ask it
A principal who can describe a specific correction they made publicly is one you can safely disagree with. An abstract answer about growth suggests the opposite.
What was the hardest conversation you had last term?
Why ask it
Without asking for names, this shows whether they take on difficulty or route around it. Vagueness here from someone otherwise fluent is worth noticing.
What's changed in how you lead since your first year in the role?
Why ask it
Reveals whether experience has produced learning or just routine. Common honest answers involve talking less in meetings and moving faster on staffing decisions.
Where does the school's money go that would surprise people?
Why ask it
Tests both their command of the budget and their willingness to be candid about constraints. It also tells you which requests are realistic before you make one.
What do you want to be true about this school in three years that isn't true now?
Why ask it
A better version of the question about vision, because it forces an admission of a current gap. If the answer contains no gap, you are hearing a prepared statement.
What kind of teacher struggles under your leadership?
Why ask it
The most useful closing question, and one few candidates ask. A self-aware principal will describe a real mismatch, and you will know within a sentence whether it describes you.
Judging the Person You Would Report To
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
How to Read the Answers
Ask for a recent example, then for the date
Any claim about leadership can be made in the abstract. "When did that last happen?" is the follow-up that separates practice from intention, and it is polite enough to ask twice in an interview.
Listen for whether the answer is about people or systems
A principal who explains problems entirely through individuals will explain you that way too. One who describes structures, timetables, and processes tends to be easier to work for when something goes wrong.
Check one claim with a teacher
Pick a single answer, such as how struggling teachers are supported, and ask a classroom teacher the same question before you leave. One point of comparison is worth more than a general impression.
Notice how they speak about their predecessor and about staff who left
Contempt for the person before them is a reliable signal about how they will discuss colleagues in your hearing, including you once you are elsewhere.
Keep your own questions few and specific
Two well-chosen questions land harder than eight general ones, and they leave you time to hear the answers properly rather than working down a list.
Where Candidates Go Wrong
Asking about philosophy rather than behaviour
"What is your leadership style" produces a rehearsed paragraph. "What do you do in the first ten minutes when a parent calls angry" produces something you can act on.
Mistaking charm for support
Warm, funny principals can still leave teachers unbacked in front of parents. Judge on described actions, not on how the room felt.
Skipping the accountability question
If you do not know what the principal is being measured on this year, you cannot predict what will be demanded of you in the spring. Ask directly, and ask who is doing the measuring.
Not asking anything pointed at all
Candidates worry that a sharp question costs them the offer. In practice principals expect experienced staff to interrogate the working conditions, and asking nothing reads as indifference.
Three Sequences
Will they back me?
- 1"What do you do in the first ten minutes when a parent calls angry about a teacher?"
- 2"When do you overrule a teacher's judgement?"
- 3"How do you handle a teacher who is struggling in the classroom?"
How does this place actually run?
- 1"Which parts of the job do you delegate, and which do you keep?"
- 2"What are you accountable for this year, and to whom?"
- 3"Where does the school's money go that would surprise people?"
Would I fit here?
- 1"How would teachers here describe your leadership?"
- 2"What's a decision you made that staff disliked?"
- 3"What kind of teacher struggles under your leadership?"