Interview for special duties posts VEC

tgirl

Hi I am a secondary school teacher in a PLC college. A number of special duties and assistant principle posts have come up in our college which I have applied for.
I was wondering if anyone could offer advice on the type of questions asked at interview. For the assistant Principle post I will have to do a presentation for eight minutes on the needs of the school at PLC.
Any advice would be gratefully received

spurious

For special duties posts they tend to stick more or less to what you have on the form with some additional questions on your role in a particular task.
The general rule of thumb is that Special Duties Teachers perform a particular task - for example ordering books, submitting exam returns etc., while at Assistant Principal the emphasis is more on leading a team, so Assistant Principals might be Year Heads, or head up a policy committee or co-ordinate the school development plan etc.

In the VECs, interviews are scored under certain headings and anyone can access your interview scores following the interview - it's quite open. The interview panel will inform you before you begin the interview of the number of points you already have from service to the scheme.


These are the areas they mark on:

Capacity of applicant to meet the needs of the school this counts for 50% of interview marks

This might involve questions on-

How much you know about issues and forthcoming developments in your school, not specifically in your subject or teaching area.

How much you know about the scheme as a whole - not just your school.

How you have shown you can do the particular task or fill the role being interviewed for.

How much you are currently involved in the running of things.

Your communication skills.

How you filled in the form, presented yourself for interview.

Service to the particular scheme this counts for a maximum of 30 points for the interview - one point per year of service.

Experience of a professional nature in the field of education and involvement in the school Maximum of 20% of available marks

This covers -
Inservice or additional qualifications you have pursued.

Membership and service on Boards of Management, Sub-committees etc.

Work with groups such as the DES, SEC, NCCA, CDU etc.

Course development, co-ordination of courses

Involvement in organising something - school tour, open day, parents group, school council etc.

TheDriver

In my experience of the interviews from VEC SDT posts, they will ask you anything they want and can annoy you or give you an easy time. Discipline questions sometimes come into it etc which isn't really fair but what can u do!

tgirl

Thanks a lot for all your help I really appreciate it. I think the job is ear marked for some more senior teachers but at least I’ll get some interview experience - if I ever decide to do this again! Cheers

tgirl

spurious wrote:

For special duties posts they tend to stick more or less to what you have on the form with some additional questions on your role in a particular task.
The general rule of thumb is that Special Duties Teachers perform a particular task - for example ordering books, submitting exam returns etc., while at Assistant Principal the emphasis is more on leading a team, so Assistant Principals might be Year Heads, or head up a policy committee or co-ordinate the school development plan etc.

In the VECs, interviews are scored under certain headings and anyone can access your interview scores following the interview - it's quite open. The interview panel will inform you before you begin the interview of the number of points you already have from service to the scheme.


These are the areas they mark on:

Capacity of applicant to meet the needs of the school this counts for 50% of interview marks

This might involve questions on-

How much you know about issues and forthcoming developments in your school, not specifically in your subject or teaching area.

How much you know about the scheme as a whole - not just your school.

How you have shown you can do the particular task or fill the role being interviewed for.

How much you are currently involved in the running of things.

Your communication skills.

How you filled in the form, presented yourself for interview.

Service to the particular scheme this counts for a maximum of 30 points for the interview - one point per year of service.

Experience of a professional nature in the field of education and involvement in the school Maximum of 20% of available marks

This covers -
Inservice or additional qualifications you have pursued.

Membership and service on Boards of Management, Sub-committees etc.

Work with groups such as the DES, SEC, NCCA, CDU etc.

Course development, co-ordination of courses

Involvement in organising something - school tour, open day, parents group, school council etc.

Thanks a lot for all your help I really appreciate it. I think the job is ear marked for some more senior teachers but at least I’ll get some interview experience - if I ever decide to do this again! Cheers

TheDriver

Definitely go for it, I went for one when I was barely in the school and got myself on the ambitous list which the Principal took note and hence picked up a sdt post before good few others

JasperMcEwan

Best of luck tgirl and congratulations for getting this far. I think that Spurious may be incorrect in the marking for Service to the Particular Scheme. To the best of my knowledge and personal experience you do not get one point for every year of service but you are marked on the basis of the longest serving candidate.

The longest serving candidate gets the full 30 marks. The remaining candidates are then awarded points in accordance with the percentage of this candidates service that they have themselves. E.g. If LSC has 20 years service he/she gets 30 points. If Joe Bloggs has 5 years service(25% of 20) he gets 7.5 points (25% of 30).

In preparing for any post go over your CV or better still get a critical friend to do so and ask you questions on it. (I hope you submitted one with your application). Be able to answer anything about it. Emphasise your skills and experience, everything you organised even if only the staffroom tea money.

Show enthusiasm for any position. Interviewers will probably suggest possible vacancies and ask you which one you are most interested in. Beaware of what these may be. Ask the principal if necessary. Have one in mind and know how you will carry out the duties involved. Be flexible.

Highlight your involvement or successes at every opportunity. Be aware of the future needs of the school. Have a vision for the overall development of the school and have competence in your ability to manage any aspect of the school that a post may demand.

I wouln't stress myself out with White or Green papers. I've never been asked anything about them. The TUI mags are good to read before interviews or check out the website. Things like developments in education, National Frammework, awarding bodies FETAC etc are all things to check out, Know about the organisation. I was once asked how many schools were in the CDVEC. The CEO at another interview asked me "what makes a good teacher?"

If you're going for both SDT and an AP position, it is usual for an AP to already have an SDT but not mandatory so don't be too disappointed. It's good experience. In the presentation don't go over the time and practice, practice practice. Don't be afraid to disagree with interviewers if they dispute a point, they sometimes test debating skills. Back up your point. And if asked what type of teacher you are, you can't go wrong with being strict, fair and compassionate.

Good luck, Knock 'em dead.

spurious

@Jasper - thanks for the correction on the points for service thing - apologies for that. I was basing it on some interview scores I saw where it happened that the longest serving person did have 30 years. They will tell you at the start of the interview how many points you have been awarded for service.

I never had a SDT post and went straight to AP, but I had a million years service and had been for many interviews under the old scheme where you could apply outside your centre. I have always taught in the inner city where it is only recently I have been in a centre with rapidly rising numbers and subsequent promotional posts.

You'll probably have forgotten all the advice here by the time they get round to forming interview panels - it tends to be what causes great delays.

Best of luck.

JasperMcEwan

Hi Spurious. No problem, I'll call on you for advice next time I'm going for an AP. I'm also working in the inner city. Be funny if we were in the same school. Quick question. If AP position is advertised and form clearly states one vacancy to be filled and VEC subsequently fill two from interviews, say for e.g. upgrading someone from an acting position to full position and also filling in the acting position at the same time. Is one entitled to validly appeal such a situation?

spurious

JasperMcEwan wrote:

Hi Spurious. No problem, I'll call on you for advice next time I'm going for an AP. I'm also working in the inner city. Be funny if we were in the same school. Quick question. If AP position is advertised and form clearly states one vacancy to be filled and VEC subsequently fill two from interviews, say for e.g. upgrading someone from an acting position to full position and also filling in the acting position at the same time. Is one entitled to validly appeal such a situation?

Wearing my union hat, my gut feeling would be that each post has to be advertised so I think that would certainly be grounds for appeal. Since we're speaking of the CDVEC, I know they have terrible trouble getting people together for interview panels so often people are interviewed up to six months following the advertisement of posts. This is causing problems like the one you describe, as by the time they are interviewing there may be additional posts arising in the school, or acting positions may no longer be needed.

From the VEC point of view, a situation as described could easily be avoided as they would just need to write to all applicants informing them of the change and post a notice in the centre, since posts are now limited to the centre.

JasperMcEwan

Yes, that's my gut feeling too. The interviews were today and only four people were intervied eventually compared to 16 plus last time around. There are at least two positions plus one acting position to be filled. one of the candidates who is very strong is already in an acting position so I expect him or another very strong person to be successful. I didn't apply this time around on that basis. I'm fairly definite that the application form said one vacancy only. Unfortunately I didn't keep it so I'm trying to get hold of another copy. Whispered rumours are suggesting that more than one post may be filled. I'm reluctant to rock the boat by appealing as those who did so in the past have been ripped to pieces in subsequent interviews but on the point of principle and as an ex union rep I may do so. May have a quite word with principal tomorrow before any announcements are made to outline my position and ward off any future unpleasantness.