1. What would you consider to be the relationship between teacher and teaching assistant?
2. How aware are you of procedures/policies relating to Child Protection, accidents, confidentiality?
3. What personal attributes do you think you could bring to the role?
4. How would you deal with a disruptive / shy child?
5. Are you familiar with the National Occupational Standards? Where would you find out about them?

Expect the candidate to be interested enough in the job to ask questions when given the opportunity, such as:

1. Do any of the children I will be working with have statements? If yes, ask what they are for.
2. How old are the children I will be working with? (if not in job advert)
3. What other duties would I be expected to perform?
4. What are start /finish times? Most adverts only say total hours per week, so it is important that you establish the exact working day

hope this helps

Thankyou Cottonsocks for providing the questions that she was asked at her recent interview



Interview questions.

Why did you apply for this job?

What would you do if a parent approached you and asked about the learning and or behaviour of a child?

Has this ever happened to you?

How do you see the role of the LSA?

What experience have you had of special needs?

In your present role how do you plan with the teacher you are working with?

What qualities do you have that would benefit this school?

That's about it. Nothing really scary or unexpected.

I asked them about what training they would give me. How many on the role. Did TA's have regular meetings.

thanks to vicster for sharing these questions with us

Basically they asked questions about discipline and confidentiality. I also had to do a 40 minute teaching session which they asked me to evaluate during the interview. It was a group of 8 reception children. I had to do a rhyming word exercise with them. It involved a guided reading session, followed by rhyming picture pairs, then rhyming word pairs. They were then supposed to use letter flips ( not to sure if thats the right name for them, plastic frames with 3 sets of letters that you can flip over to change the letter and make different words) to make lists of rhyming words and non rhyming words

1. How do you feel your session went?

2. What would be your approach to discipline?

3. What do you understand about confidentiality?

4. How would you deal with a parent who asked you about their child or other children outside of school e.g. in the supermarket?

5. Would it be appropriate to talk to a colleague about a child in the staffroom if there were parents or other non school employees present?

6. What skills could you bring to the job?

thanks to Wendi for this question that she was asked at her interview

What are the advantages and disadvantages of working with children one to one?

thank you to Pixels, who was asked these questions at her interview

I was asked these questions in my recent interview:

- How would you be able to create a positive learning environment for the child?

- If you were uncertain of how to act in a particular situation, what would you do? / Where would you seek help/guidance?

- If you were to be successful, what training do you think you would need/want?

thanks to Bluebell27 for letting me copy this into here, it may give you all an idea of what to expect from an interview

I think TA interviews can be categorized into sections which revolve around:

Confidentiality,
Child protection,
Working with other staff/relationships etc, younger/ older/ groups
dealing with negative behaviour,
understanding learning styles and diversity
knowledge of curriculum and specific sen impairments

We all could most likely form an opinion on any of the above categories, so if I was to have an interview now I would try to fit the question being asked into one of these [of the top of my head] and answer from my own understanding/perspective.

thee are the questions that Loopylindy was asked at her interview

What experience do you have working with children?
What made you apply for the job?
What qualities do you have?
How would you get to know your Class Teacher and TA?
Any hobbies etc that might help me in this job
What would you do if the child was unhappy?
Confidentiality
When would you be able to start?

thanks to Psychkitty for the questions she was given at her interview today
1) What qualities / strengths can you bring to the job / why do you want the job

2) You're in a small class and one child refuses point blank to show you his / her work. How would you handle that?

3) You're supporting a teacher in a science class. Week in, week out the class is disruptive. How would you handle the situation? (Further elaborated question with - this same class was exceptionally well behaved in the geography class earler)

4) A child calls you to one side and says they want to tell you a secret but you mustn't tell anybody. What would you do?

5) You are in a class where there is one hearing-impaired pupil. How would you prepare them?

6) Bearing that in mind, how would you ensure they are integrated into the class of non-hearing impaired pupils?

7) The class that day involves listening to an audio tape. Bearing in mind hearing-impaired pupils rely heavily on visual clues, how would you handle the situation?

thankyou to livvy for the questions that she was asked at her interview

Hi,
Thanks so much for your help, this is such a fab website! It's great to see TA's supporting each other. I had my interview today and it went well. I wanted to add a few questions for those that work within special needs schools - while the questions are fresh in my mind!

The questions are on the lines of:-

Give examples of activities where you have achieved the childs targets.

Give examples of how you adapt tasks so that the child is able to achieve or to challenge the child futher.

Think of the children you work with keeping their disabilities in mind, how is your classroom set up differently to other other disibility group classes?

What form of communication do you use with the children in your class?

How would you maintain a safe environment in and out of the classroom, think of the children you work with, what would you need to be aware of when walking around the school?

How would you promote a positive learning environment?

How do you assess pupils work?

Why do we assess childrens work?

Think of a child who you work with that displays challenging behaviour, how do you deal with their behaviour - what strategies do you use?

What written records do you contribute to?

If you were stepping up for the day and a child was hurt and you had to phone the parent, what would you say?

What is the difference between the job you do now and a senior teaching assisstant?

What do you think the role of an TA is?

How do you deal with stress inside the classroom and at home?

Tell us about any recent training you have had and how can you implement this in the class in which you work?

How would you implement equal opportunities within your classroom?

What is your understanding of inclusion?

If you had problems within the team you were working with how would you deal with it?

What skills can you bring to the job and what skills do you think you need to lead a team?

How do you help children to manage their own behaviour and emotions?

How do you help the pupils you work with cope with their personal hygiene needs?

How would you welcome a new member of staff into the classroom?

Sorry! I know there is loads of questions here but I just want to give a variety as I was so nervous I just want to help others like me!!

thanks Sccatfish for this question that she was asked...

one i had which didn't expect, which is one that would be handy to prepare for..... "Is there anything you'd like to share with us?" a very open question so nice to plan for such a thing.
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