This post has been updated in September 2024
Landing a teaching position at an international school can be a dream come true for many educators. These institutions offer unique opportunities to work in diverse cultural settings, collaborate with colleagues from around the world, and contribute to the global education community. However, interviewing for teaching positions at international schools can be quite competitive. In this blog post, I will provide you with valuable tips to help you prepare for and ace your international school interview.
1. Research the School Thoroughly
Use the school’s website as study material!
Research the school’s location and culture: Demonstrate your understanding of the local context and your ability to adapt to a new environment. Make mention of specific facilities/activities you’ve seen on the school website.
Understand the school’s mission and values: Align your own educational philosophy with the school’s goals- give examples of things you’ve already done in the past and demonstrate how they align with the school’s values.
Familiarise yourself with the curriculum: Be prepared to discuss your experience with specific teaching methodologies and frameworks. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have experience in that particular curriculum. Demonstrate an awareness of its core values and an eagerness to learn. Here is a link to the different curricula that international schools utilise.
2.Highlight Your Experience (if applicable)
Share relevant experiences: Discuss any previous international teaching experience, volunteer work, or travel that has prepared you for the cultural challenges of an international school.
Emphasize your adaptability: Even if you have minimal or no international school experience, showcase your ability to work effectively in diverse settings and build relationships with students from different backgrounds. You could mention various ethnicities, religious contexts or how you deal with students of varying linguistic abilities.
3. Examples of interview Questions asked by schools:
- What is a classroom management strategy that is successful for you?
- What are your main strengths as a teacher?
- How do you cater for students with different abilities & language proficiency?
- How do you motivate students?
- How do you use data to inform your planning & teaching?
- How have you handled conflicts in the past?
- How do you assess students?
- Take us through a lesson you recently taught, step- by-step.
- How would you evaluate a 1 of your recent lessons and what you would do differently next time?
- Can you give an example of when a student refused to cooperate in class and how you reacted?
- What would you do if a child told you he/she was scared of going home?
- Give an example of when you have improved something at your school and how you knew you had been successful.
Now in my experience, you CAN and SHOULD ask questions- it shows interest in the positions and demonstrates curiosity and evidence of research.
4. Questions you should ask schools:
- Why is this position vacant?
- What are the some of challenges of this role/school/country?
- What curriculum resources & facilities does the school offer teachers?
- Provide an example of a time school leadership provided support to a teacher in need.
- What is the policy on staff work-life balance?
- Are there restrictions on what topics I can teach in the classroom and how will I know what topics to avoid?
- What is the average number of students in a class?
- What is the school’s policy on diversity, equity & inclusion and how is it implemented?
- What opportunities are there for professional growth?
Something important to remember is that schools will often have multiple interviews with various stakeholders to determine if you’re good fit. I find this useful as you can ask different people different questions and get to know more people to see if this is a school you would be interested in. I am VERY wary of schools that only do one interview with 1-2 people before extending an offer letter.
My tip for anyone going through this process is to do your research and arm yourself with 1st hand experiences from your own classroom. The interviewers are not looking for critical theories on education or general facts about your career; they want to see that you have dealt with poor discipline, what strategies you use for combatting low student engagement and an example of your best lesson. This is why they are looking for fully qualified and licensed educators because most ESL teachers lack this kind of specific experience.
Remember, the international school interview is an opportunity to showcase your skills, experience, and passion for education. By preparing thoroughly, practicing your interview skills, and demonstrating your cultural awareness and adaptability, you can increase your chances of securing a rewarding teaching position at an international school.
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I have many other posts on teaching particularly about teaching abroad, please find them here. You may be specifically interested in these posts about teaching abroad:
Step by Step Guide to start teaching abroad
Interviewing for teaching positions
Questions to ask prospective schools
Questions to ask yourself before teaching abroad
How to resist and disrupt grind culture for teachers
International teaching: when good schools go bad
If you’re a teacher abroad, I would love for you to share your experiences interviewing for teaching positions at international schools in the comments below! Were your experiences similar or different from mine?
7 Comments
I agree with you about the type of questions they ask. Most of them are all about discipline, class room management and lessons. But a lot of schools do not notify you within 2-5 days, like ADEC who took over a month to notify me. And that is why, they lost out. lol.
ADEC has a lot of uncertainty in the whole process. For some teachers, it’s just not worth the stress.
Question 16 and 21..how would you answer that.
[…] your friend doesn’t have time to read a blog post on how to ace an interview with a Middle Eastern school? In that case, they probably don’t have time to spend the hours necessary looking online for […]
Deen30, each person will answer differently and how you would deal with the situation is how you should answer.
I am so happy that you shared this article! I remembered my past when I was in Abu Dhabi. I worked with British consultant company and thrown at the job site the first Nuclear project in the middle-east.
I remembered: “Whenever I have done for the interview, I am always asking the interviewer”
I asked: “Mam / Sir, this conversation means that I am hired?”
The first time I did that question was landed me in the consultant company…
The interviewer was a British National.
One thing, your sample photos with Panda’s are cool! kinda funny while I am reading.
[…] time that suits you both. I have written more about my experience when interviewing with schools here and I have also written a guide with possible interview questions for teachers […]