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Primary Teaching
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I have an interview for PGCE Primary Teaching at Jordanhill in Glasgow (part of Strathclyde Uni) on 22nd. Am sooooo nervous.
The day consists of a 15min interview in front of a panel, then a 45min debate with 8-10 other people (my topic is 'if teachers are to be considered professionals they must conduct themselves in a professional manner' wtf?!), and then a written assignment.:eek:
Anyone on here done the course at either Jordanhill or another uni? I need some advice on what to say!
The day consists of a 15min interview in front of a panel, then a 45min debate with 8-10 other people (my topic is 'if teachers are to be considered professionals they must conduct themselves in a professional manner' wtf?!), and then a written assignment.:eek:
Anyone on here done the course at either Jordanhill or another uni? I need some advice on what to say!
Post edited by JustV on
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They will most likely ask what experience you have of working in Scottish Primary schools or similar, what you know about the curriculum, why you want to teach and what motivated you to choose that uni. A good answer to the last question is that whilst doing your research of where to go you heard that that was one of the best places for the course. A bit of flattery always helps and with that uni it is not too far wrong either.
The debate will be with other candidates I expect. They will not be looking for encyclopedic topic knowledge during the debate, but more that you can put across your point of view- whatever it may be - with clarity and without getting overly flustered or abusive.
Written assignments for these things are generally just to see that you *can* write and that you can put across a point in a structured manner. They wont be expecting a great work. Probably just take some notes during the debate or something and write them up, or similar.
They will probably also say that places are very competative and that it is an achievement to even get to the interview. Which it kinda is. But it also makes me wonder why, when they are crying out for teachers, they make it *so* hard to get on a course to be one.
yeah, apparently they're so desperate for secondary teachers that they don't even bother offering a perfectly qualified person an interview, because they don't have enough experience :chin:
bastards.
Exactly. The adverts say "Use your head. Teach". They don't say "Use your head. Spend 3 years working for free in a school to get experience and then. Teach".
There's just something wrong with the picture really.
I went through the BEd interview at Moray House which I managed to get through. I managed to get through that and did 3 out of the 4 years there. Recently I had an interview for the PGCE Prim Ed course at Sheffield Hallam and it was a similar process to what yours will be.
We had, firstly, a half hour "discussion" and we were assigned topics on the day. This was straightforward enough and I treated it more like an icebreaker task. However, you will need to know a little bit about the topic. Don't worry about it too much though. However, do try and find a couple of points from TES online or other education journals, just to have a couple of points that you can throw into the discussion.
Then we had a written task. The point of the written task was to show that we could write properly, ie have reasonable grammar and can give 2 sides of an argument effectively.
Then I had my individual interview. This was quite straightforward. They made it as comfortable for us as possible. The main questions they will ask you are:
Why do you want to be a teacher? Talk about the recent experiences you have had in a school. Was the school, in your opinion, an effective one? Why/why not? Was the teacher an effective teacher? Why/why not? How will your degree help you in the classroom? What qualities you have that will make you an effective teacher.
This list isn't one I made up, it is a list of questions lifted from my Uni pack that they told us they would ask. And they stuck to these questions.
I was also asked for a strong reference from someone in a school too.
If you have good, strong answers for these questions then you should be ok. Make sure your enthusiasm for teaching comes through too. This is your chance to show how much you want this.
It is not as scary as it looks, honest. I got through it and got a conditional of a 2:1.
If you wanna know anything else then feel free to PM me.
ah,bugger. have they already sent invites to this interview? that's crap,I applied for that course
great for you though,well done! hope it goes really well for you
Thanks for all the advice guys. I'm still nervous tho!! Have been working so hard in schools (for free!!) and am totally skint all so I can do this course. If I don't get in I'm gonna feel like I've wasted my time.
I totally agree that they seem to make it really difficult to get into teaching despite being really short of teachers. Weird!
As long as you prepare the above questions thoroughly you should be ok. Honestly.
Remember ... all the people interviewing you started at the same position you are in just now. They are all teachers and had to have the interviews they put you through.
You'll be fine