Securing a Job as a Maths Teacher

The job market for maths teachers is particularly busy between January and May. Many of my readers might be in the process of applying for jobs and going for interviews. I sometimes get emails asking for advice so I thought it might be helpful to share some general advice here. I wish someone had told me these things in my first few years in the profession! 

Here's a list of fives dos and fives don'ts when applying for jobs in maths education.

Five things you should do

1. Do ask for clarification regarding the lesson

I once went for an interview where they simply told me to teach 'percentage change'. I fretted about what this could mean. Using multipliers to increase and decrease? Or working out the percentage by which something had changed? I didn't ask for clarification on the topic or the students' prior knowledge or anything else. On the day of the interview I taught a lesson on percentage change and quickly discovered that the students already knew how to do all of it. And even worse, all the tasks I had planned required a calculator, and no one in the room had a calculator...

I now know that it's totally standard to ask the school for clarification regarding the interview lesson. Most candidates email the school to ask for:

• Seating plan
• SEND information for the class
• Attainment levels, to help you pitch the lesson appropriately
• More information about the topic (e.g. if asked to teach a lesson on volume of a cylinder, ask whether the students have already studied volume of a prism etc).
• Equipment available, if relevant (e.g. whether students will have calculators, or whether mini whiteboards are available etc).

Some candidates ask for even more than this, and that's absolutely fine. I wish someone had told me earlier in my career that it's alright to ask for more information.

2. Do communicate formally

I know it sounds silly to say 'use capitals letters and punctuation on your application form and in emails' but you'd be surprised... If you're filling in an application form and you don't even capitalise the names of the schools you've worked in, it screams 'can't be bothered'. 

3. Do ask for a visit or a chat before applying

This isn't essential at all, but is totally acceptable if you're unsure about applying, particularly for big job changes where it's really important to get the right choice of school and understand the scope of the role (e.g. applying to be Head of Maths). And if you have questions about suitability, for example if a role has been advertised as full time and you want to know whether they'll consider a part time applicant, just email to ask.

4. Do ask about behaviour policies

If you're given a tour of the school on an interview day, look closely at the behaviour and attitudes of students in classrooms, corridors and playgrounds. In the interview, it's sensible to ask about behaviour policies and routines (depending on the school, I'd personally be looking for centralised detentions, sensible classroom escalation procedures, and a team of behaviour mentors or equivalent).

5. Do know how it all works

Teaching is a bit different to other industries. There are some fairly standard rules and procedures in recruitment.

• For safeguarding reasons references are taken before interview. So you have to tell your current headteacher that you intend to apply for a job before you submit your application (both as a courtesy, and because they will find out when the reference comes through anyway!).  
• The recruitment process tends to work very quickly in teaching so if you're asked to come in for interview then you'll normally only be given a few days notice. You'll have a very busy time preparing for interview, planning your interview lesson and setting cover. Don't try to negotiate the day of the interview - your current school shouldn't be asking you to do this. Obviously the school you've applied for will have already planned out all the logistics of the interview day and will want to see all the candidates at the same time. You shouldn't demand a change to the interview date unless you have a really good reason (like you're going to a funeral, it which case it's totally reasonable to request a different date). 
• Offers are normally made same day, and the expectation is that you'll accept or reject the offer straight away. This is because the school is waiting to inform the other candidates of the outcome. Make sure you're ready to make the decision when the call comes in. Or, if needed, tell the school you need to talk it through with your significant other/parent/friend and then phone the school back as soon as you've made your decision. Don't mess them around - it's not fair on anyone involved. I once offered to a candidate who accepted and later changed her mind (because her school made a more lucrative counter-offer) - but at that point we'd turned down the other candidates. So she left us with no one and we had to start the process all over again.
• Time is precious in teaching. Don't go for interviews 'just for the experience' if you have no intention of accepting the job. It's not fair to waste people's time. And once you've formally accepted a job at one school, make sure you withdraw any outstanding applications at other schools. 

Five things you shouldn't do

1. Don’t feel the need to show off every teaching technique in one lesson 

To me the most important aspects of an interview lesson are:

• a well structured lesson
• clear instructions issued to students throughout
• clear modelling and explanation (this is probably the most important thing!)
• at least one well chosen task [be prepared! - make sure you've got something ready in case the students are much quicker or need a lot more challenge or a lot more scaffolding than you expected]

I'd also want to see some kind of assessment of students' understanding, but you don't need to show off multiple assessment techniques in one lesson! Bear in mind that mini whiteboards can be tricky with a class where you haven't embedded routines. 

You can't demonstrate everything you know about teaching all at once. It's hard to show your very best teaching with a class you've never met before. Unless there's a large number of excellent candidates, a solid lesson is all that's needed. 

2. Don't worry about behaviour being a challenge in an interview lesson

Depending on the school, you might have to use a few techniques to get students on task, but if you have the Head of Maths and Headteacher sitting at the back observing, students shouldn't be disruptive. And if they are, the members of staff in the room will intervene (obviously you won't be expected to give detentions or send students out during an interview!). Schools normally pick 'nice' classes for interview lessons, so don't stress about this.

3. Don’t use recruitment agencies

They charge schools extortionate fees. This money should be going towards children's education, not into agents' pockets. If you're applying for permanent teaching roles then go directly through the school or MAT, unless there's a good reason not to.

4.  Don't turn up unprepared. Or late! 

Make sure you've practised answering some standard interview questions (you can find lists of these all over the internet - I'd print some questions, write out possible answers and practise saying them out loud). And don't worry about arriving very early and waiting in reception for a while. That's way better than misjudging the journey and arriving late.

5. Don't be scared! 

If you're unhappy in your current school then go for it - apply somewhere else. For example you don't have to put up with a school where leadership do nothing to address poor behaviour. I promise you, there are schools where teaching is a pleasure. They do still exist. Applying for a new job is difficult and time consuming, and it can be a bit terrifying, but if you're unhappy at work then of course it's absolutely the right thing to do. 

I hope this is helpful! If you're going through this process for the first time, make sure you ask for advice if you're unsure about anything. And if you don't have colleagues you can ask, try asking on Twitter or Bluesky where I'm sure lots of teachers will be happy to help.

Good luck!