[Hedgehog648]

Hi everyone,

So I have my interview on Tuesday 12th June, and was wondering if anyone else is going in that day?

This is my third application this year - Nott Trent rejected me out of hand, and although I got to interview at Northampton, I found I wasn't as prepared as I thought, so trying to make sure I do everything I can for this one!

Having trouble with one thing though - part of the day involves a debate on 6 different topics, all of which we need to be ready to lead on - I've got a decent idea of what I need to do for most of them, but I'm having trouble thinking of what to talk about for the topic of "Discuss a particular element of your academic studies (undergraduate or postgrad) that will have a particular relevance to your primary practice."

The thing is I did a maths degree, and so whenever potential employers have asked me what I took away from it I usually reference organisational things like working to a deadline, time management and planning etc - but none of that is really relevant for this - I was wondering what other people are considering putting with reference to their own degrees, hopefully it'll give me an idea or two for my own!

[myrtille]

Hey,

I had my interview at Leicester a couple of months ago, and got in. But my interview was for Secondary MFL, so the process was quite different to how yours sounds - we didn't have to do that debate thing.

I'm really not sure about the question you're struggling with, since I don't know a lot about maths (or primary teaching!). I suppose you could talk about an aspect of your degree that you found particularly difficult, and how you would relate that to helping pupils when they find something hard. Or some advanced maths that gave you a new insight into the quite basic stuff you'll be teaching?

Just to reassure you, the interview day at Leicester was really friendly. There was plenty of time for chatting with other candidates, which made it a lot easier when it came to the group discussion tasks. It meant we were all comfortable using a bit of humour too, which I think went down very well. Our group had to present 6 top qualities that a teacher should have, and we did it using short silly roleplays rather than just standing up and talking about it.

I also got rejected by Nottingham Trent, and had an awkward interview somewhere else too. So hopefully it'll be 3rd time lucky for you as well!

[Hedgehog648]

Thanks! The Northampton one was quite relaxed too, I suppose universities generally want you to be relaxed so they can see what you're really like as a person during the day.

And congrats on your place btw

[Daftdonkey]

Hi Hedgehog,
I had an interview at Leicester back in December. for that question everyone pretty much talked about transferable skills, like time management, communication, team work, using ICT, organisation, research skills etc. so I would say talk about these types of things, and try to link them to how they are relevant to the PGCE - ie the huge workload so you need good time management etc.

Hope that helps

[Hedgehog648]

Thanks Daftdonkey, thats quite a relief lol - did you get in?