It’s important when interviewing candidates for teaching roles that you have a strict set of principles you want them to abide by and traits that you want them to embody. Here are six of the most important ones:
1. A positive attitude
Teachers, no matter how long they’ve been working in the profession, must be positive at all times – from dealing with the kids to the paperwork they have to complete in the evenings.
You need to be sure that your new candidate isn’t going to dampen everyone’s spirits or allow their negative feelings about the workload to affect their ability to get through it. Ask them what they think of the current education system to gauge what they will be like once the work piles in.
2. Passion
Teachers should be passionate about three things: teaching, knowledge and the children. One of the key traits everyone working in education should possess is passion and enthusiasm that they convey every single day. They should want to teach because of what it can mean for the children under their care; they should have a keen interest in developments in education and go out of their way to learn more about new policies and updates in Government. They should be pushing, every day, to deliver the very best for their pupils and keen to make use of all available teaching resources, such as these from Hope Education.
3.Good management skills
Management skills for a teacher covers a plethora of categories, from managing their time to ensure planning and marking is done and lessons follow a strict itinerary to their management of the children in the classroom.
4. Compassion
Children have a life outside school and sometimes this can affect their work in the classroom, their mood or their abilities in general. A teacher who understands this and does their best to help these children is one you want in your school, if they have experience working with under privileged children that might help. They know that treating a child with love and respect instead of coming down hard on them in tough times is the best option.
5.Enjoys spending time with kids
You’re probably thinking, this should be one of the most important traits, right? Of course it should and it should be a given but it’s worth bearing in mind. You might remember teachers from your school days who you thought weren’t suitable for working with children and these are the type of people to avoid. Your candidate should love children and have the ability to connect with the kids they have in their class, a student who invests in a teacher emotionally is more likely to cooperate in the classroom.
They should also have an interest in an extra curricular activity that they can introduce children to. Wanting to spend extra hours with the kids is a good sign and they can also introduce some new and exciting skills into the school.
6. Is still learning themselves
No one can possibly know everything there is to know about a subject, which is why it’s important that your candidate is still learning themselves. If they specialise in History, it’s crucial that they are still reading about events and broadening their skills and knowledge.
It’s the same with technology, a teacher should never be stuck in their ways but happily embrace change and encourages the children to do the same. A teacher should want to get stuck in with the latest developments in education and the world.
Article by Nathan Kitto
Article source (http://recruitmentbuzz.co.uk/6-key-teaching-traits-you-should-be-looking-for-in-a-candidate/)
