Selection Criteria Responses: Teacher Examples

As a teacher, you’re always needing to prove how capable you are – in the job application process, of course, but even after that, in parent-teacher interviews. People are trusting you with their children, and so you always need to be ready to prove your strengths.

So, if you’re in the middle of submitting your next job application for a teaching position, it’s essential that your response to the key selection criteria goes above and beyond your recruiter’s expectations. Prove that you’re great at what you do by reiterating your qualifications and demonstrating the success of your teaching methods.

1. Verbal Communication Skills x Interpersonal Skills

Communication skills are essential in most workplaces, but as a teacher, you need to broaden your interpersonal skills even further. Your answer to this selection criteria should include more than just your staff members – you also need to highlight your proven ability to connect with your students, as well as the larger school community.

Example

Communication is integral to the success of my teaching. In my practice, I’m not just making sure that I’m communicating well with my colleagues, I’m also making sure that I’m opening the conversation to the larger school community. Primarily, my methods focus on how I communicate with my students and their families – I need to be sure that my students feel comfortable in their classroom. If they’re facing any issues, I want them to be able to communicate that to me without any hesitation.

To help that process, I actively engage in school activities outside of the classroom – such as excursions, camps and extra-curricular activities. My interpersonal skills in this area help to maintain an open dialogue between my students, their families and myself. I consider this to be an essential asset to successful student learning.

2. Practical Literacy and Numeracy Development Skills

Whether you’re in a primary school environment or in secondary education, effective literacy and numeracy development is essential. Demonstrate your strengths in both areas and list examples of your proven methods.

Example

I target literacy and numeracy in my teaching practice so that I can build strong foundations for student learning. I actively engage my students with proven practices, such as the Four Resources Model for reading development and Propositional and Spatial Reasoning for exploring the early stages of numeracy.

In my years of experience as an early childhood classroom teacher, I ensured that my students kept their learning on track by sending them home with reading and counting at-home materials. This method helped me communicate to parents that persistence outside of the classroom environment can help achieve longterm results in literacy and numeracy, and additionally, built my relationships with the families of my students. I encourage a consistent learning dialogue between myself and my student’s larger communities. This method allowed me to monitor and evaluate the progress of my students from multiple perspectives.

3. Effective Classroom Strategies x Behaviour Management Skills

Classroom and behaviour management can be difficult to maintain. Prove that you manage your classroom environments with ease, through the implementation of your successful problem solving methods.

Example

It’s proven that well-behaved students are more likely to have higher education outcomes in literacy and numeracy. I ensure my students are well-behaved through effective classroom management.

With any new group of students, I collaboratively help them establish their own guidelines in the classroom. This strategy is proven to invest students in the classroom rules, creating a level of mutual-respect. I keep the established rules displayed for the rest of the school term.

This ensures that they’re not forgotten, and allows me to refer to these rules and remind students of their own expectations whenever they are misbehaving. It helps me manage my classroom effectively, while also maintaining behaviour management and establishing a healthy learning environment for everyone.