1. Tell us something about yourself and your career.
You need to make maximum use of this opportunity to introduce various aspects of your personality. Apart from your name, work experience, and qualifications, you should describe your interests and goals. You can also highlight the milestones of your career. When you start answering, maintain eye contact with the interviewer(s).
2. What are the issues faced by the education sector? Do you have any suggestions to resolve these issues?
The interviewer here wants to know your take on the education system. You should be able to point out some issues that you feel are acting as a setback against the learning objectives. Suggest some measures and changes that you believe will bring a change in the way education is perceived and imparted.
3. How do you tackle situations where parents support their child despite being told that the child is indisciplined?
Give your insight about handling such situations where taking a stance is tough, yet inevitable to avoid further complications.
4. What would you do to resolve conflicts that arise among the students owing to difference in caste and ethnicity?
Conflicts among students are unavoidable, and there is little that can be done to completely eliminate these situations. However, you need to explain the various measures you would take to imbibe a sense of unity and respect among the students for each other.
5. How would you schedule classes?
Before answering this question, you should clarify the grade for which you are being asked to schedule the classes, and accordingly answer the best schedule that will help the students to attend all the classes attentively.
6. How many classes/lectures can you handle apart from administrative tasks?
Feel comfortable to speak about the number of classes/lectures you can handle, because sometimes you might have to handle more classes than usual apart from the administrative tasks assigned on a routine basis.
7. What do you know about our organization? Would you like to make any changes in our vision, goals, and activities?
The answer to this question emphasizes on your familiarity with the organization and how well you understand the nature and scope of its operations. Discuss areas where you think improvement should be done while keeping in mind that your suggestions should be practical.
8. What makes you think you are an ideal candidate for this job?
Answer this question by expressing not just your interest, but your qualifications for this position. Emphasize on the job duties in your previous jobs and the knowledge you have gathered throughout the course of your career. Be confident and ready to answer further questions that might arise when the employer discusses the job requirements.
9. What are your weaknesses?
Weakness is a human trait. No one is perfect and can never be. Still, there is always a room for improvement when you are able to recognize the areas where you lag behind. Openly discuss about what you consider as your weaknesses and do not forget to elaborate on the measures you are taking to eliminate your weakness.
10. Are you interested in sports and outdoor activities such as camping?
Discuss about your interest in outdoor sports and other activities that are aimed to keep an individual physically as well as mentally rejuvenated. On the other hand, if you are not much into outdoor activities, then feel free to discuss your interest in indoor and virtual sports.
11. What salary do you expect?
State clearly about your salary expectations and justify why you want this salary.
12. Do you have any questions for us?
You definitely would have questions in your mind and need to clear all your doubts. Do not hesitate to ask the time the recruiters will take to decide for your selection, or the operations, or anything else that you feel is reasonable to be asked.
13. Why do You Wish to Work for Our School / Institution?
In order to answer this question, you will need to have detailed knowledge about the institution. You can elaborate your answer by using this information and making the interviewer realize that you are aware about the institution and really wish to work for them.
14. How Do You Handle Student Discipline?
As an assistant principal, your first and foremost task will be to assist the principal in his or her duties. From time to time, this means that you will be called upon to discipline an unruly student. You may be asked to determine whether the student should get detention, in-school or home suspension, or even expulsion in extreme cases. To answer this question, you should reply with a past scenario if you can. Explain the offense and the steps you took to discipline the child. If you do not have experience with student discipline, create an imaginary scenario and explain how you would handle it.
15. Have You Ever Handled an Upset or Irate Parent?
The parents of schoolchildren are often very involved with their children’s education, and as such, you will sometimes need to participate in meetings or conferences with parents. Sometimes, and especially when students have been suspended or otherwise disciplined, parents can become very upset. Your interviewer will ask you if you have ever dealt with such a situation, and you should answer honestly. If so, describe the situation and how you handled it. If not, you should provide another example of a situation in which your communication skills were able to dissolve the angry party’s frustrations.
