Art Teacher Interview Questions
If you’re about to be interviewed or you’re a head of department who is going to be doing the interviewing, you’ll find the questions below useful. As an interviewee, you can’t anticipate every question but if you write down answers to the questions below, you’ll certainly fly through a good part of the interview. Writing the answers down will help you remember them. There is a link at the bottom of the post so that you can download these questions if you wish.
Before Your Answer The Questions
Before you answer the questions below, think about what special skills and talents you have. What makes you the most appropriate candidate for the job? What great experiences and successes have you had that you want to tell them about. I’ve always gone into an interview thinking ‘I’m not leaving without telling them about x, y and z.’ Try to work your special skill set and strengths into your answers.
- What three words describe you?
- Why do you want to work at this school?
- What characteristics make an effective and successful lesson?
- How do you use technology in the art room?
- Describe a successful lesson you’ve taught recently.
- Describe an unsuccessful lesson you’ve taught recently and how you would do it differently next time.
- What is your biggest strength?
- What is your biggest weakness?
- Can you give an example of how you have contributed to whole school life?
- How would you manage a student who was not on task?
- How do you manage behaviour in your classroom?
- How do you ensure the most able/ least able achieve in your lessons?
- Explain how you differentiate in the classroom.
- What makes a good teacher?
- What makes a good art teacher?
- Why is art important?
- How do students know they belong when they are in your classroom?
- What is the best team you have worked in and what role did you play?
- What would you do for a lesson with only scissors, paper and tape and no lesson plan?
- What’s the difference between a good and outstanding lesson?
- How do you engage boys in art?
And of course…
- Do you have any questions for us?
Make sure you’re armed with a question that shows you’ve done your research about the school. If your prepared question has already been addressed within the interview simply say that you were going to ask about ‘X’ but that they’ve already answered that question. Or have more than one question. If you didn’t get the opportunity to share some of your special skills and talents within the questioning, be bold and ask if you can share your experience. ‘May I tell you about a particularly successful art club I ran…’ ‘May I tell you about an intervention strategy that I’ve had great success with…’
If you have any interview questions that you’ve been asked that are not listed above please comment below. To download this list of questions in a form ready for you to fill in, please click the image below.
I taught secondary school art teachers for 9 years. Firstly, the students need to know that the teacher knows what they are talking about. They need to make sure all the students know exactly the repercussions of misbehaviour, and the teachers need to follow through every time. They need to be FAIR, with the students and encourage creativity, experimentation and effort in class. If an artwork is not finished, I would not mark it, but I would suggest various ways to finish. A good teacher allows different activities that suit the student needs at the same time. Good teachers know what their students are interested in and the level of their skills. By having an after school skill raising ‘art club’ is a great idea, because older students teach the younger ones. Showing finished artworks is important. Life drawing for older students. I organised an annual arts festival at the school where each class presented a creative project with their favourite teacher and vice a versa. And much more!
Everything you say makes sense. You certainly get taught these skills during teacher training in the UK. To pose these as questions for an interview, the following questions might help:
How do you communicate to accommodate different learners?
What sanctions for good or bad behaviour have you found effective?
How do you incorporate independent learning into your teaching?
How do you differentiate your lessons? (Already included above)
What extra-curricular activities have you run that raise achievement?
How important do you think creating a good example is? Or, are you familiar with the acronym WAGGOL?
I only got better at interviews by managing to be interviewed many times. Typical questions as you suggested were dominant. Really important is to have a physical map plan / brochure for an ideal Art course you would teach. a curriculum map. i was able to put this on an easel and talk ahout it. Visuals really helped me and took thie stress off me and showed me taking control of the interview to strut my stuff.Also I found having visuals l could show easily. This l achieved by having as well a small portfolio of photos or certificates/documents that l could pull out and lay on the table. These inspired me to talk about the workshop l gave last week, the wall mural installed last year, the recent course or institute I attended. This took the pressure off me trying to remember to include this or that. The interviwer enjoyed seeing the visuals and actual certificates. I also had certificates to show in TESL and in Whole Language for Elementary Language training. I also took along a physical portfolio of recent large chalk pastel life drawings. I also took along
art posters and Art Criticism posters based on 5 steps in Feldmans Model of Art Inquiry and put these on display to talk about. Many people have no concept of Art as a body of knowledge to be discussed. I made it easy for administrators to actually see what l was talking about. later when l got the job I asked the interviewer what made me stand out as a candidate. He said l was well prepared for the questions and l was the only candidate to actually bring visuals and my own artwork to the interview.
Hi Sharon, Thank you for taking the time to comment and include all these great ideas. As you say, it’s great to have things in a portfolio that prompt you to talk about all the great things you have done. Here in the UK the job advert states what you need to bring. Nine times out of ten, you are asked to bring a portfolio of students work and sometimes your own personal work. I’m glad visuals worked well for you. Good luck in your job.
As an Art teacher for over 30 years, I feel there is never enough to learn & update honing my skills. I would like to know what ate some of the most prevalent skills taught today & how can I apply it to my elementary Art lessons grades K-5th?
Wow, what a huge question! I think the answer would depend on what country you teach in. I am a high-school teacher in the UK and have been teaching for 20 years. In the UK lots of different skills are taught and teachers have a huge choice as the national curriculum is very broad. I try to make sure that some sort of drawing, photography, printing and 3D are taught to every year group, every year. Age 15+ the students are a lot more self-directed and can work to their own strengths. If you are looking to broaden your skills there are a large range of Professional Development providers listed here: https://theartyteacher.com/professional-development-for-art-teachers/