Education & Teaching Interview Questions & Answers

The interview process came in 2 parts with the initial interview held at a local Explore learning centre. This interview was very relaxed and short, with the aim of gaining a feel for the candidate and whether they would suit the job role. The second interview is held at a group assessment day within the head office in Guildford. The day is split up into different areas including one to one presentations, role play, numerical and literacy tasks and group assessments.

The group task was the most difficult part of the second interview as it requires a concise group of individuals that are confident to work under time constraints. Many candidates struggled with the role play scenario in both interviews.

Be prepared for role play in both interviews as it requires confidence and an understanding of sales and marketing to the general public. If you are successful and get through to the assessment day, make sure you are able to travel for a whole day to the Guildford centre. Some candidates did book a hotel and stay overnight in preparation of this. Do your research!

The assessment centre was a big, bright and open space. The team offered snacks and refreshments throughout the day and were very friendly. The whole day allowed candidates to feel very relaxed and comfortable throughout the process. The only negative being that it is in Guildford and may be difficult for some candidates to get to.

Centre interivew-

I was interviewed by the Centre Director and Assistant Director who sat me down and asking some standard interview questions- 'how would you feel being in charge of a team?', 'which of these duties jump out to you as things you'd excel at?'.
We then did a role play where I had to stop the AD and promote a gym and try to get him booked in for a free trial day. The idea was to ask as many questions and get to know them as well as possible to tailor the gym membership to their likes.

"Give an example of a time you overcame a challenge at work"

Do some prep about the company for the role play- not so much stats or figures but enough to feel confident.

Maybe revisit BBC Bitesize for a little maths refresher if it's been a while.

Show them your personality and passion for the job.

Lovely vibe! A very happy team of about six who introduced themselves.
There were nine candidates who had travelled to Guildford from as far afield as Leicester. We were forewarned that we would have to prepare a presentation about ourselves and do another role play , a numeracy test, a literacy test, another standard interview and a group activity.
Numeracy and literacy tests- After a half an hour welcome presentation from the team, my schedule sent me and one other girl to complete our tests while the others were doing different tasks in different rooms. We weren't supervised and the tests were straightforward. Sort of year 7/8 standard maths- percentages, decimals etc, probability etc. The English was highlighting mistakes on a passage of writing and correcting it. Then a 'where' or 'wear', 'their' or 'they're' selection of questions.

Presentation- referred to as a 'personal compass' : where have you come from; where are you going; what makes you happy; what makes you great. Very straightforward- they just want to see your communication skills in action. I put lots of photos of me mucking around in there as they said they were keen to see some personality! This and the role play were done with just one interviewer present.

Role play- This time you're pretending to stop a mum in a shopping centre and promote Explore Learning as an employee. The idea of this seemed to freak a lot of people out but it's nowhere near as bad as it seems. Just be smiley and friendly and get to know the 'mum'. Also done with just one interviewer present.

I then had a half an hour break while other candidates came and went to their different appointments. We had a chance to chat and have a laugh- it was a relaxed atmosphere where we all agreed it had been a while since we thought about year 8 maths.

I then had another interview with a different member of the Careers team which was your run of the mill interview. I talked about my background, education, what I'd thought of the day so far, what did I think I'd excel at in the job or find difficult, and some scenario questions- whatever it is, customer/families/kids come first!

Lastly the nine of us were split in to two groups and asked to create a presentation together about how to bump membership in an Explore centre. They just want to see how you cooperate as a team and what role you play in a group dynamic.

During the breaks I imagine they continue to assess subtly and keep an eye on what you're like while 'off duty'. As long as you are a confident speaker and enthusiastic- they'll like you.

As a tutor to begin with, my interview process was slightly different. I had a phone interview, where I was asked various scenario questions then after this I was invited straight to the assessment day, where you have 1 to 1 interviews to get to know you, a maths/eng test and finish with a group task.

If you were on a sales event, how would you stay motivated?

Do ensure to prepare and do as much research on the company as possible, especially with the visions and values to show your knowledge of what the company stands for and what they're aiming to achieve!

Very friendly atmosphere in Explore's head office, all the people, whether they have come from different centres or regional managers, are very lovely and make you feel extremely welcomed. The idea is to show your personality, so the whole day is quite laidback and all the different candidates you meet are absolutely lovely.

The online application was very straightforward. After about 24 hours I received an email inviting me to attend an interview at a centre. I was asked for a list of five centres that would be convenient for me and a list of dates over the following two weeks. About a week later I attended the centre interview. The staff were very welcoming and friendly. They gave me a tour of the centre and then we sat down to have a discussion about the company, the role and my skills/experiences. They asked a number of questions (including scenario-based ones). After this we carried out a role-play task where I was required to initiate and lead a conversation, in which the goal was to sell a gym membership and try to secure a free trial. I was nervous for this, but you are given a chance to repeat it after receiving feedback from one of the interviewers. This was very helpful. It is important to really get to know the customer. At the end of the interview I was given the opportunity to work with some of the children. I loved this!

A couple of days later I received a phone call and an email inviting me to the assessment day in Guildford (4 days later).

The questions were to be expected (leadership, challenges at work, scenario-based questions etc.)

Make sure you research the company, its vision and its values. Try to be concise in your answers/responses. They want to see your personality, so try to be relaxed and just be you! Read through the information that they send you prior to your interviews and make sure you listen to the feedback. They want you to do well!

The day started at 9:30am and was at the company's head office in Guildford. There were ten other candidates who were all lovely and we all received packs with our timetable for the day.

The team kicked off the day with a presentation about Explore and the AD role. This was informative and lasted about 30 minutes. The interviewers all introduced themselves to us.

Prior to the assessment day we were informed that we needed to prepare a five minute presentation about how our skills/experiences would contribute to the company's visions. This was presented to two interviewers. After this, it was the "role-play" task, where I had to try to sell Explore to a customer in a shopping centre. This time I was only asked to carry out the role-play once. I was given a chance to reflect before they gave me feedback. This was all very helpful. Make sure you really get to know the customer.

I had a one-to-one interview with a member of the recruitment team which was very relaxed. There were a number of "normal" interview questions, scenario-based questions and a discussion about logistics.

Next was a basic maths and English test. No preparation was needed.

Finally, we were split in to groups and asked to complete a group task. They are looking to see how well you work in a team.

Overall, it was a great day. Remember you are not "competing" against other candidates as everyone will have different start dates and locations in mind. This made the environment very positive and friendly.

Enjoy it!

I was asked questions about how I would react in different situations within the classroom. I was also asked how I would contribute to the school I would be placed in and what I understood about protecting the children. I had to give an example of a lesson and how I would organise myself and plan for a lesson, ensuring that I included each child of each ability. I also had to deliver a 10 min presentation to a group of children on any topic of my chosen subject (music). Additionally I had to complete some internal numeracy and literacy tests.

How I would ensure that the children had learnt and understood the content of my lesson.

Have confidence and make sure that you are well prepared before hand! Make sure you have gone through your presentation (even just to soft toys) before you have to deliver it to a group of high school children!!

I did not attend an assessment centre.

The panel of three people (Head of School, two subject specialists) each took turns leading the interview. HOS started with general 'why did you apply for this post', 'what can you bring to the role?', 'detail your past teaching experience' questions. The first subject specialist then questioned teaching practices in more detail (style, nature of teaching, students being taught) with a focus on teaching to first years.Finally, the second subject specialist questioned my research background. It should have lasted half an hour but ran to fifty minutes.

The most difficult question asked for details of a 20 minute conference paper that I delivered 5 years ago and couldn't remember much about. Fortunately, whilst talking about current research I managed to be far more engaging and they seemed genuinely excited by my current project.

The campus is a difficult place to navigate (even with google maps) - give yourself a lot of time to find locations. With it being summer, there weren't even that many people around to ask for directions, and independent departments mean lots of people working there won't know where different academic schools are because they don't need to.

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