Use the interview stage to check candidate fit
By the time you get to the interview stage, you’ll have already confirmed the candidates’ competencies through their:
- Application form and CV
- References
- Interview tasks
The interview is your chance to make sure they’re the right leader for your school.
How to use our list of questions
Our questions are suitable for any headteacher post, and include tips on what to look for in a candidate's answers.
In the download, you'll find:
- General questions for any school type
- Tailored questions for primary, secondary, special and faith schools
Before you get started:
- Be sure to adapt our example questions so they're specific to the role you're recruiting for, your school and any issues your school is facing
- Don’t treat our ‘what to look for’ column as a checklist – candidates' answers will vary based on their experiences
- Don’t plan to ask all of these questions in each interview – choose those that are more relevant to what you're looking for
Use this template during the interview to record the responses given and score evidence.
Questions you’re not allowed to ask
You must not ask candidates about the following during the recruitment process:
- Protected characteristics:
- Age
- Gender reassignment
- Being married or in a civil partnership
- Being pregnant or on maternity leave
- Disability
- Race
- Religion or belief
- Sex
- Sexual orientation
- Their health
- Their relationship status
- Whether they have children or plan to have children
However, as a potential employer you can ask about health or disability if:
- There are necessary requirements of the job that can’t be met with reasonable adjustments
- You're finding out if someone needs help to take part in a selection test or interview
- You're using ‘positive action’, a scheme to encourage applications from people with disabilities
Download and adapt our example tasks
What interview tasks you choose will depend on the person specification for the role and what criteria you'd like to see demonstrated in practice. Download the tasks below and choose the ones that are most appropriate to the role you're hiring for:
- In-tray exercise
- Data analysis
- Financial management
- 'Goldfish bowl' group exercise
- Deliver a presentation
- Observe a lesson
- Deliver an assembly
- Meet pupils
In the download, you'll find:
- A summary of each task, including the skills it tests
- Key points to look for in a candidate's response
- What you need to prepare
- A presentation scoring sheet
- Questions and record sheet for pupils interviewing candidates
- Staff observation sheet for pupils interviewing candidates
Prepare for the process with our suite of content on headteacher recruitment
We have a range of articles and templates to help you through the process, including:
- Headteacher recruitment: an overview
- Advertising for a headteacher vacancy: requirements
- Headteacher recruitment: top tips for attracting candidates
- Job description and person specification: headteacher
- Headteacher selection panel: requirements and eligibility
- Headteacher recruitment: what to do if it's not going well
Headteacher recruitment training
You can also take a training course created by our partners at Governors for Schools, walking you through the whole recruitment process.