Interview advice for teachers: senior leaders

Three primary headteachers tell us what they are looking for when recruiting members of the Senior Leadership Team...

The best quality leaders are those people who are constantly thinking of better ways of doing things. They still have that humility.

Alison Peacock – headteacher at The Wroxham School, Potters Bar

I want someone who is a professional life-long learner. Even as an NQT, they see themselves as a future leader: asking questions, trying things out and sharing ideas with other colleagues. I’m looking for evidence that a teacher cares not just for the children in her class, but has a sense of collegiate responsibility for all the children and families within the school.

I remember when we interviewed Roger Billing, who is our current deputy. It was so clear to me that he was going to be the person who got the job. He was thinking about things way beyond just focusing on his class. He had so much energy and showed pictures of children who were clearly hugely motivated by what they were doing. The way he talked about working in partnership with parents also impressed me. I think the key to successful leadership is realising that it’s not about pulling up the drawbridge. It’s about working in partnership with the broader community.

What would put me off would be someone who doesn’t demonstrate flexibility. Someone who is pretty sure they’ve got it sorted. I always expect people who come here to have done their homework. I expect them to know about our ethos and what we’re doing. One of the things we always ask candidates to do is bring and object with them and explain why the object demonstrates they would be happy at our school.

There will always be a question that gets to the heart of what the candidate would do to find a way through to every child. What can they do differently, rather than diagnosing the child to see what his problem is?
I want people who actively engage with research and who are going to come to the table with ideas.

Karine George – headteacher at Westfield Junior School,

The true mark of a leader is how they deal with the difficult stuff, such as staffing or parental issues. Sometimes you need to have difficult conversations and you want people with good interpersonal skills who can analyse a situation and give realistic feedback. Difficult messages have to be delivered clearly so the recipient can understand his goals. What a lot of people do is to put so much spin around what they are saying, the message is lost in translation.

I am looking for contrasting characters to work with. I am someone with lots of energy who will forge ahead. Ruth Davey, my deputy, is very thoughtful, will think things through and question where I am going. I love that.

When I employed our current SENCO, Debbie Jones, she hadn’t been a SENCO before. She came from the independent sector where she helped to set up schools and recruit staff. But what I saw in her was a passion to learn; if you looked at the projects she had done you could tell she was a go-getter. Members of the SLT are constantly having to find their way around problems – political, health and safety, etc – and Debbie was able to demonstrate how she’d overcome some massive obstacles and brought staff with her.

I want people who actively engage with research and who are going to come to the table with ideas. They should be willing to try something and get it wrong; but will evaluate why it went wrong and then go for broke again the next time.

We see how they behave with the children when they think no one is watching.

Karen Wallace – headteacher at Stebbing Primary School,

I recruited Lucy, my deputy, about 18 months ago. In the interview she had lots of ideas about new initiatives and successful programmes she’d seen in action elsewhere. For instance, she had come across a plan for tracking phonics throughout the school, which we have since put into practice.

I would consider someone with only a few years’ teaching experience, especially if they had been in charge of a team in a previous career. I had only been teaching four years before I became a deputy head, but prior to this I worked as a management accountant for 15 years and had a number of transferable skills.

We always have a time when the candidate is left seemingly unobserved in a classroom and we see how they behave with the children when they think no one is watching. Anyone who doesn’t get down the children’s level and muck in is not going to work very well. At the end of the day, the children have to be at the heart of everything.