Good Questions to Ask When Interviewing for a Teaching Job

The persistent and widely reported teacher shortages (see also: Edweek, NPR, the United Nations, NBC News among other) makes it increasingly likely those looking for a teaching position this summer will be able to choose among multiple job offers. Teachers can focus on choosing a school that is a good fit for their teaching approach. In a previous article, I discussed some aspects of a school that may be overlooked when deciding if a school is the right school for you.

There are multiple avenues to determine if a school is a correct school for you. I recommend looking at their website and school improvement plan (this will tell you the areas of focus for the school for the upcoming few years). Also, look at the school's social media accounts, as these can provide insights into what is celebrated publicly at the school. Another important way to determine if a school is a good fit for you is during the portion of an interview where you get to ask questions of the principal and any other faculty on a hiring committee. In this article, I provide some questions you can ask the during an interview and how this information will help you decide if the school is right for you.

Question 1: What does good teaching in [subject] look like to you?

This question gets at the heart of your role at the school--to be a good teacher. You want a principal and colleagues who have a similar philosophy on what good teaching in your subject looks like. For example, if you are a math teacher who wants to structure their lessons following Peter Liljedahl's Thinking Classrooms approach but your principal and/or colleagues believe in an "I do, We Do, You Do" approach, that is not a good fit. Either you will adopt the preferred approach (and be unhappy in your teaching) or you will quickly lose support of the principal and colleagues because you do not follow their preferred instructional approach.

Question 2: What other things do you look for during a classroom observation?

This question will give you further insight into how the principal views effective teaching. Some principals might focus on frequent formative assessments and plenty of opportunities for students to make their thinking visible. Other principals will focus on whom students are interacting with during the observation (e.g. working individually, having small group discussions, etc.). Some principals may focus on classroom management and the whiteboard configuration (full disclosure, I think the obsession with whiteboard configuration is not helpful). The answer you get for this question will shed light on what the principal thinks is important and if their priorities match yours.

Question 3: How do you support the continual growth of teachers?

Many schools and districts claim to foster continuous improvement--and all of us have areas for growth in our work. How a school or district fosters continuous improvement is important. Do they differentiate between the needs of novice teachers and those with five or more years of experience? Do they differentiate between the needs of teachers in different subjects? Or, do they utilize one-sized fits all workshops? The needs of a first year science teacher are very different from a social studies teacher who has 10 years of experience. Some schools and districts want to and are able to provide more targeted professional learning support and others either do not want to or cannot.

Question 4: What are the expectations for teachers outside of their assigned teaching periods?

Some schools require teachers perform duties (e.g. lunch duty or bus duty) while others do not. Some schools require teachers to sponsor after school activities or coach a sport. Other schools do not. Some schools expect teachers to be responsive to parent emails until well after the school day ends (a teacher I know worked at a school where they were "strongly encouraged" to respond to parent emails up till 9PM at night). To be clear, all schools will have expectations surrounding how your non-teaching time is spent. The question is what are those expectations and are they a good fit for you.

Question 5: How does the school foster collaboration between teachers?

Most schools will provide opportunities for teachers to collaborate with each other. Some schools prioritize subject or even course-level collaboration. For example, the principal might require a common planning time for all math teachers or even all algebra teachers. Other schools may prioritize grade-level collaboration, where all the 7th grade teachers have a common off period. Still other schools may have small learning communities where teachers of multiple subjects are organized into a "school within a school." You want collaborative opportunities that meet your experience and priorities as a teacher. If you like cross-curricular projects, look for a school that provides collaborative opportunities with teachers from multiple subjects. If you are looking to learn from a more experienced colleague, you might prioritize subject and course level collaboration. And, if a school does not foster collaborative opportunities, that tells you something important as well.

Question 6: What is the biggest challenge facing your school?

All schools have challenges, and the question is designed to make sure the challenges you will face are those you want to work to overcome. At the elementary level, some schools might have students who struggle to read. Other schools might have students who struggle with numeracy. Another school might have student attendance as a challenge. Another school might struggle with helicopter parenting. You can also reframe this question as "what is the main school-wide goal for the upcoming school year?" This will give you some insights into what the principal and other school leaders are prioritizing.

Question 7: How many different teaching assignments do teachers typically have and do those assignments change each year?

Some principals will work to ensure that teachers have 2 assignments at most (e.g. 9th grade biology and an anatomy elective). Other principals put less emphasis on the number of assignments because other priorities necessitate teachers having several assignments (this is likely in a small learning community). It is important to understand which of these approaches is used to structure the master teaching schedule. It is also important to understand if the principal treats an honors class as a different assignment than its on-level counterpart (e.g. is honors 9th grade biology a different teaching assignment from on-level 9th grade biology). Finally, you want to understand if the teaching assignments will remain relatively stable each year. There are some schools that prioritize teaching the same students for multiple years in a row. In this case, you might teach 6th grade social studies one year and then 7th grade social studies the next.

Which Questions to Ask

You will likely not have time to ask all of these questions during the interview. However, answers to these and other questions you may have can be addressed earlier in the interview. For example, the principal may ask a question where they say "our school prioritizes integrated, cross-curricular learning experiences for students." In that case, you have some idea about how the school fosters collaboration, and it makes asking that question less important. Also, in the course of your conversation, feel free to weave in the questions where they fit naturally.

I suggest you decide which questions are most important to ask and rank them. Include any of your own questions in the rankings. Bring the questions with space to write down notes that pertain to each of these questions (I advise against typing notes. The sound is distracting and you are likely to focus on the screen at the expense of the interviewers if in person). When you are asked what questions you have, ask the highest ranked question that you feel has not been sufficiently answered previously during the interview.

Closing

Remember, the goal of the interview for a person interviewing for the teaching job is to both get an offer and to make sure the teaching position is the right one for you. While there is no school that is perfect, there is a school that is a good fit on a few key characteristics. Good questions can help you determine if the school will help you become a successful teacher--and ultimately, if your students will be successful as well.