How the interview process works

All Teacher Education students are legally required to undergo a police vetting check.

If you attend a face-to-face interview, you will complete the police vetting form at this time.  Please ensure you bring 2 forms of identification with you to your interview, one of which must be a photo ID. Student ID cards are not acceptable.

If you attend a Zoom interview, we will be in contact to arrange your police vetting check.

You will be interviewed in a group along with 3-4 other applicants. There will be 2 interviewers on the panel. The interview will be approximately 30-40 minutes long and is designed to build on your application and assess your suitability for the teaching profession

We encourage you to view this interview as a structured conversation where you are presenting yourself as a potential, professional person who wants to work with young learners. The interview process is designed to provide opportunities for you to demonstrate evidence of your personal qualities that could include motivation and commitment to teaching, positive dispositions for relating to others, confidence, self-assurance and professional attitudes.

Expressing relevant ideas fluently and clearly are assessed, along with your body language and the depth of message substance. Being responsive to others and showing the potential to work collaboratively as a team member are also important considerations. You will be given opportunities to convey your involvement and experience working with children along with examples of your relevant leadership, commitment and organisational abilities.

Following this discussion, focused around a set of standard questions, you are given the opportunity to ask your own questions concerning the course and/or the application process.

If you have any questions about your interview or need to re-schedule the time, please email the programme entry team at teacheredselect@canterbury.ac.nz

Teaching is a rewarding profession that provides opportunities for engaging with children and families, sharing your passion for learning, and having leadership in education more broadly. As professionals, teachers are expected to uphold a set or ethical responsibilities and demonstrate standards of practice set by the profession. The Teaching Council’s Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession clearly define these expectations. You should read these documents as part of your preparation for the interview.

The interview questions are designed to address aspects of the code and standards for the teaching profession. Specifically, the areas that will be addressed in the interview are:

• Teaching is a collaborative profession – we will be asking questions related to teamwork and working in a group setting
• Society and education communities have become more multi-cultural – we will be asking questions about how you work with people from different backgrounds
• Teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand are required to demonstrate a commitment to tangata whenua (affirming Māori learners as Māori) and to Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) partnership – we will be asking questions relating to te reo Māori (the Māori language) and tikanga Māori (Māori culture)
• Teacher have ethical responsibilities – we will be asking questions related to ethical responses to situations

We aim to inform you of outcome of your interview within 2-3 days by email. If you have not received any notification after 1 week, please email the programme entry team at team at teacheredselect@canterbury.ac.nz

Some important things to know about initial teacher education programmes:

• They start earlier in the year than other university programmes and require attendance from day 1 – it is important that you know the start date of your programme, which will be listed in offer letters.
• They are specifically designed to give you a mix of academic and practical experience in the teaching profession. This means that your workload and time commitments required will vary during the academic year. Distance students are also required to attend on-site intensives at set points throughout their study – it is important that you are aware of this and plan

More information on what to expect during the course of your study can be found here.