PGCE Secondary

Interviews
Candidate Guide

Faculty of
Arts, Humanities
and Education
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Introduction
On behalf of Canterbury Christ Church University and the School of Teacher Education, welcome.
Well done for choosing to enter the best, most rewarding career. Your tutors and mentors are all
successful teachers, and we cannot wait to welcome you to the profession.

For us For you

• It forms our selection process for the PGCE • It gives you the opportunity to meet the tutors
• It allows you to reflect upon the role of a teacher
• It gives you the opportunity to work with your peers
• It allows you to ask any follow up questions that are not
answered on our webpages

Please read through this guide carefully so that you know what to expect before, during and after your interview so
you can be well prepared and ready with any questions.

Charlotte Cooper
Secondary Phase Lead
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Interview Preparation
A successful interview is based on good preparation. Being well informed about the course,
the role of a teacher and current issues in education demonstrates to us that you are not only
passionate about the career but can talk confidently about wider issues too.

During the interview process you will complete tasks that will The tasks you will undertake during the interview process
test out different aptitudes and qualities that we believe are will give you an opportunity to demonstrate the following:
key to becoming a successful teacher. creative thinking, enthusiasm for your subject, resilience,
clarity of presentation, ability to resolve conflict, reflective
We do not expect that everyone will have developed all capacity in response to feedback, the aptitude to work
these attributes to a high level at this point in time; rather, we effectively with others and a commitment to a child-centred
are looking for the ability and resourcefulness for successful education system.
candidates to grow professionally over the course of their
teacher education course to develop these talents further. Please be aware that they will all form part of our
assessment criteria of candidates.
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Interview Format
Discussion activity
1 hour You will be sent a Microsoft Teams link for
this group activity.

Fundamental Skills Tasks

1 hour Please allow 60 minutes after your group interview to
complete your numeracy and literacy tasks.

Subject interviews
45 minutes *You will be sent a separate Microsoft
Teams link for a specific time.

Let’s consider how to prepare for the interview and then explore each part in turn...
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Interview Preparation
There are 7 essential steps you must take prior to your interview.

1. Read through this PGCE Secondary Remote Interview

Guide and write down any questions you may have as a
5. Find a picture online that could be used to represent
effective teaching and learning. Have this ready to share
result of this to ask at your interview. and talk about in the discussion activity.

2. Read through your subject briefing and audit sheet from

the Subject Briefing Documents (below) and complete
6. Read the Fundamental Skills Tasks section to prepare
for these tasks.
your subject knowledge audit. This must be sent to the
relevant subject tutor 48 hours before interview. Prepare
any other interview questions or research that your tutor
requested in the briefing.
7. Get your photo ID ready - Ensure you have your
photographic ID ready to check at the start of your
individual interview.

3. Read the lesson plan task proforma which you will

receive from the Admissions team. Plan and record your Subject Briefing Documents
lesson ideas in the space provided on the lesson task
Interview briefings for each subject area are linked below.
sheet. You should spend 30 to 40 minutes on this part These will download as Word documents.
of the task. You should then spend a further 5 to 10
minutes completing the reflection questions. Art and Design History Physical Education

Computing Mathematics Religious Education

4. Email your subject knowledge audit and your lesson

plan proforma to the subject tutor 48 hours prior to your
English Modern Languages Science

Geography Music
interview slot.
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Interview Preparation cont’d

In the interview we’ll be talking to you about the experience you have had to date, particularly if
you have worked with children or in a school environment. We’d like to know how this has developed
your understanding of the role of a teacher. We may also ask you questions about learning, or
children in general.

You can’t plan for every question! SITUATION Which class were you in, what kind of school, working
Our interview process is designed to with which pupils?
be flexible and we respond to what
TASK What were you/the teacher setting out to do?
you say rather than sticking to a
What was the learning objective?
script.
ACTION What did you actually do? How did you/the teacher do
However, if you wanted an idea it? What strategies/methods did you use and which
how you could structure/talk about skills?
something which has influenced your This should form the major part of your answer.
understanding of being a teacher,
or perhaps how children learn, you RESULT How did you measure the success of what you did?
could talk about your examples using E.g. from good verbal feedback from pupils/the
the STARR technique: teacher, better behaviour, or an improvement in
outcomes, etc.
REFLECT What did you learn from this example? Is there
anything you would do differently?
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Issues in Education
You may want to think about changes to the
curriculum, government policy, new national
strategies and current developments/hot topics.
You could do this by speaking with teachers or Technical aspects
reading relevant websites – e.g:
Our interviews are hosted on Microsoft Teams. It is
your responsibility to ensure your webcam, microphone
• The Times Education Section and connection are suitable and working, ahead of
• Education Guardian your interview.

• BBC Education
Download TEAMS
We will ask you about the big challenges in
education now, so do come with opinions in Once you have downloaded Teams, do some test calls
with friends/family to ensure it is working and also
your interview.
carry out a Teams test call to ensure everything works.

Also, you could use this link to make sure If you have a technical issue on the day of the
that you familiarise yourself with the National interview itself, then please contact our interview team
Curriculum for Secondary Education. It’s a very by emailing [email protected]
long document, but you may want to look and who will be able to reschedule.
pick something you find interesting in it. Perhaps
think of a subject you found interesting at school
and check what the expectations are for that.
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Discussion Activity
The purpose is to give you the opportunity to demonstrate:

• That you have the potential to develop the CCCU core skills (See Next Steps on slide 11 - Train to Teach video)
• That you are committed to and enthusiastic about a career in teaching

You will be asked to:

• Engage in a ‘getting to know you’ activity

• In 1 minute, introduce us to your lesson plan and be ready to discuss it with other candidates
• Discuss what is effective teaching and learning using the image you have found online
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Fundamental Skills Tasks

The outcome of your interview is not dependent on how you do in these tasks – they are to help
us prepare for when you join us. These tasks are diagnostic and will allow us to support you to
prepare yourself for the course.
At the end of your group interview you will be given a link. Remember that the quality of your submission is
more important than the length of your response.
• Answer the numeracy questions
• Please do not use a calculator.
• Write a response answering the question using the
• Please note that you need to submit the task
data provided.
within 60 minutes of clicking the link.

More about preparing for the tasks

Basic numeracy Written response
Task one is designed to reflect some fundamental aspects of Task two is designed to reflect the fundamental need for
mathematics subject knowledge needed as a teacher. The task teachers to be able to interpret data and information and to
will be used to help us to select applicants for our ITE courses. be able to write clearly and accurately. The task will be used
to help us to select applicants for our ITE courses. If your
If you answer some of the questions incorrectly, you may still interpretation and written response contains some mistakes and
be accepted on the course but could be asked to work on your errors you may still be accepted on the course but could be
arithmetic before you join us. In this case you will be offered asked to engage with some further work with data (analysis and
some guidance for your self-study. You can undertake maths interpretation) and/or aspects of your written communication
revision by downloading the document below. before you join us. In this case you will be offered some
guidance for your self-study.
Maths Revision Document In this task, we are looking at how you communicate your
understanding of the data and information provided. Please write
in full sentences, with care and attention paid to your spelling,
punctuation and grammar.
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The Subject Interview

You will be interviewed by a university tutor who is an expert in your field. You may also
be joined by a colleague from one of our partner schools.

Your interview will last 45 minutes.

Topics that will be covered in the interview include:

• you and the subject that you are applying to teach

• your understanding of and thoughts about how your subject is taught
• the lesson plan you have prepared, including reflection on the group discussion
• other aspects of the professional work of a teacher including wellbeing and safeguarding.
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Interview Outcomes Subject Contacts

Art and Design
After the interview process, you will be informed of our decision by the [email protected]

admissions team. This usually happens within 5-7 working days, so don’t Computing
[email protected]
worry if you don’t hear back immediately after the interview itself. English
[email protected]
If you have any questions about any aspect of the interview process, Geography
please contact: [email protected] [email protected]
History
[email protected]
Mathematics
[email protected]

Next Steps Modern Languages

[email protected]

Watch - Our Secondary Lead, Charlotte Cooper, will tell you a little more about what Music
[email protected]
you can expect from CCCU during your teacher training – and what we expect from
Physical Education
you. [email protected]
Religious Education
Train to Teach with CCCU [email protected]
Science
If you would like further information about your subject training, please refer to the [email protected]
subject briefing documents or contact the subject lead (contacts opposite).