Interview Feedback

Hi,

This year I applied for a PGCE Secondary History. I have a 2.1 degree (BA Joint Hons English and History) and about six weeks classroom experience to date. I have been invited to three interviews so far, however, I have been unsuccessful in all three. After the interviews, I received feedback (which I attached below in italics). I have another interview coming up this Wednesday,

The first interview I had was with the IOE (I had to do a 5 minute presentation, group discussion and written task), in which their feedback was:

·" Improve your verbal communication skills at interview.

· Work on improving your written English.

· Demonstrate your ability to reflect creatively and critically at interview. You could prepare for future interviews by considering your work experience in detail.

· Further demonstrate a positive attitude towards young people and the importance of establishing constructive relationships with them.

· Communicate fully why you are suitable for a career which can often be both pressurised and demanding. You may find it is useful to gain further experience with young people. "

The second interview's feedback which was with a School Direct course (where I had to do a 30 minute lesson with pupils, 10 minute presentation and panel interview) suggested:

"a) Key Strengths: Well prepared for the interview and presentation. The lesson was well organised and the candidate used reward and praise. He has a clear passion for his subject and spoke well about the theory of learning .

b) Key Areas for Development: The candidate does not come across as a confident person and although committed to teaching he did not convince us of his empathy towards our learners. The candidate's presentation, although well-rehearsed, lacked enthusiasm and any humour. During the interview, the candidate gave some very polished answers but these answers were not backed up during his presentation or lesson, for example being creative. Overall we were not convinced at this stage that the candidate had shown enough potential compared to the benchmark we set at Montsaye Academy and in line with our partner Leicester University."

The most recent and third interview I went to was a SCITT course (I had to do a presentation, written task and panel interview), and the feedback that I received was:

"We are very lucky in that you were part of a strong field but unfortunately I must advise you that, on this occasion, we are not able to offer you a place on our course.

It was agreed that you do lack experience of schools and that you did not do enough on the day to convince the interviewers that you would be an effective presence in the classroom. Although you do have some experience in the classroom, we would suggest that you endeavour to increase that time so you can increase your confidence in that environment. We would also recommend that you think about strategies to enable you to better translate subject knowledge into successful classroom history."

As you can see from this, the feedback from all three interviews is varied. Having looked at the feedback, I was wondering, if anyone could please provide me with some advice as to how I could go about improving my performance, especially for the next interview this week (e.g. with confidence, enthusiasm, humour, learning techniques etc.)? For example, although things like getting more experience is relatively straightforward, and something which I am currently pursuing, things like confidence, empathy, enthusiasm, humour etc are less straightforward and I'm not sure of ways to go about this. I know that PGCE History is incredibly competitive to get onto, and I am very eager to get onto a course, but I am worried that despite doing well academically, my personal characteristics seems to be the thing holding me back in terms of getting on a course and/or being the main thing considered at interviews.

I would be very grateful if someone could please provide me with some advice on how to turn these things around.

Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

ST10

Original post by mjfisher17

...

One thing I would say is to get as much experience in a school as possible, you will gain so much confidence from doing that, and it will make a huge difference all round I think.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 2

billy bilo

Were you as prepared as you could have been for these interviews? This feedback suggests not. Work on your confidence and 'selling' yourself and your passion to teach.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 3

emmamme

Original post by ST10

One thing I would say is to get as much experience in a school as possible, you will gain so much confidence from doing that, and it will make a huge difference all round I think.

I agree. I think the other things they are looking for would all develop from more experience. The only thing is, there's not much time to get more experience at this stage. Maybe it would be worth considering waiting a year and working in schools to gain more experience?

Otherwise try reading up on current issues within schools? Develop your own views towards them? How prepared were you for the interviews? To me the comment about polished answers implied you had prepared, but were maybe giving answers you thought they wanted to hear rather than your own words? Just try to be yourself, and demonstrate the most positive attributes you'd bring to teaching..