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Interview Questions for Principal

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A school principal with great leadership skills can build a better and more positive school culture, and become an inspiration to students. So, as a hiring manager, it is a challenging task to recruit a good principal.

The hiring committee must construct a comprehensive interview process that often consists of more rounds of interviews to understand each job candidate's personality, motivation, attitude toward various work-related issues, and obstacles the institution faces.

During the interview sessions, you’ll screen their applications, asking behavioral and technical questions, perhaps a personality test. In this question template, we will take a look at sample questions you can use to hire the best candidates.

Problem-Solving interview questions

  • What are your thoughts on our school improvement strategy? What part of that strategy will you play?
  • What do you think an effective (elementary, middle, or high) school looks like?
  • Describe an instance when you had to deal with a delicate circumstance. What went wrong?
  • How can you help teachers become great leaders?
  • What if teachers complained about a lack of administrative support?
  • What is the relationship between teacher evaluations and student achievement?
  • What are some of your favorite classroom management techniques?
  • What kind of help would you give new instructors in their first year?
  • How would you close the gap between privileged and underprivileged students?
  • How would you strike a balance between extracurricular activity and budgetary constraints?
  • At your previous school, what new services or activities did you introduce?
  • How would you go about increasing community involvement?
  • What are the strengths and limitations of our school?

Situational Questions

  • What characteristics distinguish a highly competent teacher? How can you be certain you're hiring the best?
  • How do you assist teachers in improving their teaching methods?
  • How do you give negative feedback to a long-serving teacher?
  • What would you do when dealing with a student who is putting other students in danger?
  • When dealing with challenging students, when would you involve parents, and how would you explain it to them?
  • Walk us through the steps if some students voiced their dissatisfaction with a teacher?

Conclusion

The principal position is definitely a role that comes with great responsibility and pressure at a school. As you’re evaluating these candidates, you need to be evaluating their soft skills as thoroughly as their hard skills. That means you need to look at their past results in improving student performance.

Need an email template to move forward with your next steps? Whether it’s an acceptance email, rejection email, or more, you can find them here!

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Talent Resources & Development Director - Charoen Pokphand Group
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Senior Talent Acquisition - Manpower Group
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International Director - JB Hired
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HR Manager, Talent Sourcing & Acquisition - Suntory PepsiCo Beverage
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