ECT Interview Questions: How to Prepare for Your First Teaching Post

Your first teaching interview is an opportunity to show what you have learnt and how you will keep developing. You do not need a long list of achievements. You do need to explain your decisions, reflect on feedback and understand the responsibilities of the role.

Examples from placements, training and previous relevant work can all be useful. Make clear where each example comes from and what you did yourself.

Why do you want to teach here?

Choose two or three specific reasons connected to the school and the vacancy. These could include the curriculum, the age range or a professional development opportunity described in the recruitment pack.

Explain the connection with your experience. “I enjoyed teaching early reading during my placement, and I would like to deepen that practice within your structured approach” says more than “Your school has an excellent reputation”.

Tell us about a lesson that went well

Select a lesson where you can explain what pupils learnt. Briefly describe the starting point, your teaching choices and the evidence you gathered.

For example, pupils’ final answers may have shown that they could explain a concept they had initially misunderstood. Say what helped, while recognising any pupils who needed further teaching.

Tell us about a lesson you would change

Choose an example you can discuss calmly. Perhaps your explanation included too many steps or an activity took longer than expected.

Explain what you noticed, how you responded and what you changed afterwards. Reflection is most convincing when it leads to a practical adjustment, such as a clearer model or an earlier check of understanding.

How would you establish classroom routines?

Describe how you would learn the school’s behaviour policy, teach routines explicitly and apply expectations consistently. Prepare an example involving an everyday moment: entering the room, gaining attention or moving between activities.

Include how you would seek support. Beginning teachers should not feel they must resolve every difficulty alone.

How would you adapt teaching for different needs?

Start with the learning goal and identify possible barriers. Discuss clear instructions, vocabulary support, modelling and appropriate adjustments, informed by the class teacher, mentor or special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO).

Avoid suggesting that every pupil needs a separate activity. Explain how you would check whether support was helping and adapt it accordingly.

What would you do if a pupil raised a safeguarding concern?

Prepare to explain your immediate actions and reporting route. Read the school’s policy and current statutory guidance, and rehearse a scenario rather than trying to remember a list of terms. Our safeguarding interview article provides 20 practice questions.

If you have not encountered a disclosure, say so. You can still demonstrate that you know how to respond.

How have you used feedback?

Choose a specific piece of mentor feedback. Explain the change you made and what happened next.

For example: “My mentor noticed that I accepted the first correct answer. I began asking follow-up questions and checking responses from more pupils. That helped me identify misunderstandings I had previously missed.” Use your own real example.

What do you want to develop next?

Choose a meaningful, manageable area and explain how you would work on it. This might be subject knowledge in a particular topic, questioning or the pace of explanations.

Avoid offering an artificial weakness. A thoughtful development priority helps a school understand how to support you.

Ask about your induction entitlement

For statutory induction in England, ECTs normally have a two-year induction period. The timetable reduction is 10% in the first year and 5% in the second, relative to the normal timetable, in addition to planning, preparation and assessment time. Confirm your individual arrangements with the school and appropriate body. DfE induction guidance.

Ask who your mentor and induction tutor will be, how meetings are scheduled and how the school organises early career training. For new starters, check the programme linked to the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF).

Choose a school where you can ask questions, receive useful feedback and develop steadily. Find ECT opportunities with Aston Education.