Shine Bright in Teaching Interviews: Mastering the 3-Step and STAR Methods

Are you an ECT approaching your last placement and beginning to look for your first permanent teaching role, or an experienced teacher looking for a new challenge and filling out applications for new jobs?

We may be only entering April but schools HR teams and hiring head teachers will have September firmly in their sights when it comes to recruitment and ensuring they have all September teaching vacancies filled.

There will always be resignations in May that schools will recruit for as teachers accept new roles, but schools will know right now if they need to recruit for an increased cohort of students or for vacancies currently being filled by supply staff.

This week’s blog is a guide to nailing that interview and the preparation you should be doing to ensure you’ve every chance of getting that teaching position you want. Here we cover 2 methods you can use to ensure you answer each question in as much detail as possible.

What methods are there to answering interview questions?

We would recommend using either the STAR method or the 3-step formula to structure your answers.

What are these we hear you ask?

3-step formula

Much like a story this formula takes the same approach. A story has a beginning, middle and an end and this is how you should approach answering the interview questions you are given.

The beginning – the scenario. Outline the challenge you faced, the situation that you are using as your example. Keep this part brief, the main objective here is to begin your answer setting the scene.

The middle – the solution. Here is when you get to the meat and bones of how you dealt with/executed your plan to get your solution. Go into detail, provide examples of what, where and why. Talk about the challenges you faced whilst doing so and describe how you overcame them.

The end – the resolution. This is where you wrap up your results. Be factual and if you have figures use them. Use the ending to emphasize your achievements and impact of the actions you took.

By structuring your response in this way, you effectively engage the interviewer by guiding them through your experience, solution implementation, and results achieved. This approach can highlight your ability to communicate effectively, think critically, and achieve tangible outcomes.

STAR method

Much like the 3-step formula follows the structure of a story the STAR method guides your interview response ensuring you keep on track. Following the structure of Situation, Task, Action, and Result you ensure your answers are clear, concise, and give an impactful account of your abilities and achievements.

Situation - Describe the background of the situation or challenge you encountered. This is where you set the stage for your response. You want to make sure that your interviewer really understands the scenario you faced and how it came about.

Task - This is where you can go into detail about the problem that you faced. What responsibility did you have? Were you set objectives that you needed to meet? This is where you give that detail.

Action - Here is your opportunity to highlight what you did and how you contributed to solve the problem or challenge. Give specifics here. How did you plan your approach, did you have to engage with other teams? Follow a specific timeline?

Result - Much like an essay here is where you give your conclusion. What was the result of the actions you took? What did you learn during this and what outcomes did you get.

Whether you choose the 3-step formula or the STAR method, the key is to tailor your responses to the specific questions asked, it may be that each of these methods are used in your teaching interview to allow you to provide relevant examples to your interviewer demonstrating your suitability for the role.

Whichever method you use always remember to keep your answers concise and be sure to finish on a positive note.

Where applicable personalise your answers to the school. To do this you will need to ensure you do some research and where possible always we would always urge you visit them in person. This shows the school of your intent and desire for the role.

We hope this blog helps you. Be yourself, keep calm and talk about your real-life experiences. The interviewer will be seeking to understand how and why you are the best person for the role and fit for the school.

produced by Kim Shellock - Director of Go2 teaching