Questions to Ask at School Interview
Questions for a teacher or school staff candidate at interview, focused on what the job would actually involve: the timetable, the classes you would inherit, planning and marking load, support in the room, induction, how you would be observed, and pay.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What would my timetable look like: which classes, which year groups, how many rooms?
Why ask it
The timetable is the job. Three year groups across two subjects means three sets of planning, which is a different workload from one age group, and moving rooms every lesson costs you more than people expect.
Which classes would I inherit, and how have they been taught this year?
Why ask it
Taking a class mid-programme means taking on whatever was or was not covered. Ask what assessment data exists, because the honest answer is sometimes that nobody knows.
Is there a shared scheme of work, and how much of it is already written?
Why ask it
Schools range from a full set of resources ready to use to a syllabus and good luck. This single answer may account for more of your first-year hours than anything else you ask about.
What's the marking policy, and how often is it checked?
Why ask it
Nobody will tell you the workload is unreasonable, so ask about the policy instead. Frequency, format and whether books are audited are concrete facts that are hard to soften.
What time do staff usually arrive and leave, and what's a normal Wednesday evening?
Why ask it
Departure time is a cultural fact you can verify by looking around the car park at five. A pause before the answer usually means the real expectation is longer than they want to say.
How many support staff would I work with, and are they assigned to my room?
Why ask it
Support staffing decides whether a wide-ability class is manageable. An assistant shared across a corridor is a very different proposition from one in the room all lesson.
How many students in these classes have support plans, and who writes and reviews them?
Why ask it
This is where teacher workload quietly expands. If the class teacher writes, reviews and evidences every plan alone, factor that into every other answer about hours.
What actually happens when I send a student out of the room?
Why ask it
A behaviour policy on paper means nothing; what happens to that student in the next ten minutes means everything. Ask for an example from last week.
Who do I go to on a hard day in my first week?
Why ask it
You want a name and a role, not a structure diagram. Schools where nobody can answer this are usually the ones where new staff struggle in silence.
What does induction involve, and would I have a mentor with time set aside?
Why ask it
Induction ranges from a timetabled mentor and a reduced load to a key and a room number. Ask specifically whether the mentor is given protected time, since goodwill alone runs out by October.
How am I observed and evaluated, and how often?
Why ask it
Frequency matters less than purpose. Ask whether observations are developmental or judgemental, who does them, and whether they feed into pay or progression decisions.
What would you want me to have improved by the end of my first term?
Why ask it
This makes expectations concrete and gives you the standard you will really be measured against. A vague answer means the goalposts get set later, by someone who is not in this room.
How is this year's staffing different from last year's?
Why ask it
Staffing changes explain most of what you would be walking into: a department restructured, a leader who left, a cohort that grew. It is a polite way of asking what has been unstable.
Why is this post open?
Why ask it
Growth, retirement, resignation and dismissal are four different situations. Ask about the previous post holder specifically, and notice whether the room goes quiet.
How many teachers left at the end of last year, and where did they go?
Why ask it
Turnover is the most honest available measure of what working here is like. Leaving for promotion elsewhere is very different from leaving teaching altogether.
What's the budget like for my subject, and who signs off a purchase?
Why ask it
Budget answers tell you whether you will be buying your own materials. Ask how long an approval takes, since a term's delay makes a budget theoretical.
How does the school communicate with parents, and am I expected to reply in the evening?
Why ask it
Parent contact expectations rarely appear in a job description and can quietly add an hour to every evening. Ask which platform is used and what the norm on response time is.
What duties come with this role: cover, clubs, trips, break, buses?
Why ask it
Duties are where the extra hours hide. Get the actual list, and ask which of it is timetabled, which is voluntary in name only, and whether any of it is paid.
What's the pay scale for this post, and how is my previous experience counted?
Why ask it
Scale points and recognition of prior experience are negotiable at appointment and much harder to revisit afterwards. Raise it before an offer, not after you have accepted.
What are the next steps, and when will I hear?
Why ask it
Closing on process saves you a week of refreshing your email, and it is the natural moment to mention any other timeline you are working to.
Interviewing at a school
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Look at the building, not the brochure
- Walk a corridor at changeover if you can. How adults and students speak to each other in those four minutes tells you more than any presentation.
- Look at the work on the walls: real student work with real corrections, or printed display packs.
- Ask to see the staff room and the staff toilets. Both are reliable indicators of how staff are regarded.
- Notice how the noisiest student is spoken to, since that is the school's actual behaviour policy.
- Check whether teachers have their own room or move constantly, and where their resources live.
Ask each person what only they can answer
- Head or principal: why the post is open, what has changed recently, what the plan for the next two years asks of teachers.
- Head of department: timetable, schemes of work, resources, which classes you would take.
- A class teacher with no leader present: hours, marking, behaviour, whether support arrives when called.
- Students on a tour: what happens when they are stuck, and who they go to when something is wrong.
- Office staff: how the day runs, and how new staff get set up on the systems.
If you are teaching a sample lesson
Ask in advance about the class: size, prior learning, any support needs, who else will be in the room and whether they will interrupt or join in. Check what technology works and whether you can bring printed material as a fallback. Ask how long you have and whether you will get feedback afterwards, since the answer to that last question is itself a preview of how the school treats professional development.
Which answers to weigh most
Prefer specific examples over policy statements, and take seriously any interviewer who admits a genuine problem: a hard year group, a department rebuilding, a stretched budget. Compare what different people tell you about hours and behaviour, because inconsistency between leaders and classroom teachers is the most useful signal available in a single visit.
Before you accept
- Ask for the timetable, the behaviour policy and the marking policy in writing.
- Confirm the scale point, start date and any probation terms in the offer rather than in conversation.
- Check what duties are contractual and what is expected but unwritten.
- Ask about the last inspection or external review and read the report yourself.
- If anything you were told in interview does not appear in the contract, ask about it before signing rather than after.