PGCE Interview

Interviewer: Hi, how are you?

Me: I’m Good. A little hungry.

*Interviewer laughs for five minutes*

Interviewer: Ok first thing… *laughs again*

 

3 hours later I was full! And I had a conditional offer.

 

First of all hello guys! It’s finally the HOLIDAYS! YIPEE!

This has definitely been an exhausting semester! But yet it all went so fast! I started third year, I blinked and now it’s Christmas holidays!

However it’s not over yet, I still have three assignments to write for the beginning of January. I found out how many days I’m free, made a plan and ready to begin!

 

However this blog is not about that, but about my university PGCE interviews. A lot of people have asked how they went, and I know interviews are still taking place till the end of April, so I’m hoping this blog with be particularly useful to you guys.

 

I have gained a place at Newman University, University of Birmingham and University of Warwick. Each of them had a formal interview and a maths and English test. Newman also included a micro-teach session, and Warwick a focus group. They all asked for specific (and often different) documents (E.g. passport, birth certificate, GCSE grades, skills test booked or passed etc.)

Like I said in my previous blog, I like interviews, so it didn’t really take me long to prepare and although it’s a formal interview, it actually just feels like a friendly conversation. So even if you don’t like interviews, you will be fine. Newman has also shown me how friendly, kind and funny lecturers are (unlike what I previously imagined) so this certainly helped. Of course I thought about what they might ask, but I didn’t plan anything as such. I believe it’s best to just say the truth and speak naturally.

Some of the common questions asked by all three institutions:

• Why do you want to become a primary school teacher?
• Tell me about your teaching experience.
• What’s a recent education issue that you’ve heard, and what are your views on it.
• What makes a good teacher?
• How do you know that you will be able to cope with the intensity of the PGCE course?

 

These were the main ones really. Every other question seems to branch out from these too. Nothing there to trick you.

 

The maths test was primary school level, so nothing too difficult.  Just remember to go over long multiplications and divisions, and multiplying fractions etc.

For example:

4 × 3/4

= (4 ×3)/4

= 12/4

= 3

 

 

Another example: work out 27/ 45 as percentage. Simplify the fraction (9 goes into the numerator and the denominator):

27/45

= (27 ÷9)/(45÷9)

3/5

=0.6

= 60 %

 

I’m just writing these from the top of my head, most questions are a lot more straightforward (e.g. 542+ 347).

I don’t think these would cause a problem, particularly if you’ve started preparing for the skills test (don’t forget Newman offers free session for these if you’re a Newman student, or going to be).

The literacy test was a short question related to teaching. It looks mainly on ‘how’ you write, so the question isn’t difficult. Just remember basic grammar.

In the focus group, in a group of three, we spoke about how to make reading more interactive. Again couldn’t really plan for this, but you will find that you probably don’t need to, especially if you have teaching experience.

Micro teaching tests how you teach, rather than what you teach, so don’t get bogged down with trying to find something amazing to teach. We were in a group of 6. I taught the Arabic alphabet (not all of it of course). I actually enjoyed this part; I had a taster of 5 different topics.

 

I hope this helped a little, remember the best thing to do is just to stay calm and be yourself! whatever’s meant to be will be!

Let me know if you have any other questions.

And Good luck!

 

 

At Newman recently:

 

Tahne

My Interview

Blackpool was brilliant. It was a trip that my dad helped organize- it came to a point where over 400 people signed up so we were forced to stop taking people in. (I don’t usually mention my dad in my blogs, so here is some info on him- he’s the chairman of the Yemeni Community Association of Birmingham so he does know a lot of people, and like me, he likes to get involved in different things. He made a school for example which has been successfully running for over 5 years, and works closely with internationals). Off course we (all 400 of us) did not all ‘hang out’ together for that would be awkward! Haha. Instead I spent the day with my closest friends and some of my family. It was a long 3 hour coach drive! It was mainly spent by speaking to others, reading, eating, singing nursery rhymes to my nephew and playing charades. And then as the trees and fields gave place to the shops, beach and town I knew we had arrived. We spent some time on the beach, then went on some rides, explored some galleries and went shopping.

At one point in my past blogs I mentioned that I wanted to gain some experience in a different school, I absolutely loved my last one, but I knew it would be good for me to try somewhere different. Therefore I decided to apply. The applying stage was really easy as learnt from my pervious experience at Newman. I sent an email to about 5 schools and waited for a reply. I got two unsuccessful replies one saying that they only offer post graduate placements, and the other saying that they already have the full amount of students they can take in, then I got another email offering me an interview in one weeks’ time.

The interview:
I was told to meet at 8.30 at the school. I’ve never been to this school before- or the area (on my own), so first I spent some time on google maps figuring out the route (it was two busses away and a 10 minute walk). Once I’ve figured this out I prepared the things I was told to bring- Id and getting two references ready. I never really prepared for the interview like I would do for an exam- I didn’t sit down and research etc., it was just something I briefly thought about as I was hovering, or making my way to my brothers junior school to collect him. I feel that it was something I could easily talk about, and admittedly I like the attention you get in an interview.

It was the day of the interview, I was on the second bus there and it was 8.18. I wasn’t sure exactly where to get off, the bus ride seemed to take forever and I was sure that I missed my stop. I went to ask the driver about the school, but he wasn’t sure as there were a lot of schools in that area. I sat back down hoping, really hoping that I would soon recognise some road names from google maps, but I didn’t- and it was 8.22.

It was only until the bus stopped to let people off that I recognised a road name; it was a road close to the school. It was weird, the roads weren’t where they were supposed to be according to google maps, everything was backwards (ok I got to admit Geography was not my best subject at school). So rather than walking forwards and turning right (how I imagined in my head), I had to walk the other way and turn left. Anyway the school was still about 5-10 minutes away but I managed it in the end- after turning left you just walk straight straight straight.

It was a short informal interview- felt more like a chat. I spoke about why I wanted this placement and my experience so far and provided my references. I also found out that the person who was interviewing me is an ex-Newman student! I was shown around the school and absolutely loved it! I now desperately wanted a place here.

Fortunately the wait was not long. 2 days later I checked my email and saw the subject ‘placement’ as the title- I quickly opened it before the worry starts. I didn’t get the place. No I’m joking I did. (Yay )

I am still continuing with my university preparations by getting everything I need and reading as much as I can. Also, after changing my mind numerous times I finally have a dissertation idea that I am happy with…I think.

There is still so much more I want to talk about, but this blog has gone long enough! So in my next blog I will tell you about my secret Rabbits, my scary first day experience at school, and the fun I had meeting the Erasmus students: D

Tahne