Top 50 Interview Questions for Teacher Applicants (DepEd Ranking)

After passing the LET and having all the credentials needed, you have already met DepEd’s requirements which qualifies you to apply as a teacher and subsequently be among the roster of well-tenured teaching professionals under its banner. But meeting these requirements is only the first part of the overall application and ranking process. There are still yet some hurdles you must go through in order to see yourself getting the prize of being granted the Teacher 1 position—and the perks that come with it—you have been dreaming of.

One of those obstacles you must yet to overcome still is the interview process, which is essentially you being vis-à-vis with the DepEd official(s). Like all interviews, the purpose of this meetup is to gauge you as a person based on how you see and present yourself, in addition to your accomplishments thus far.

Being in an interview can be a nerve-wracking experience for everybody, especially for those who have never been in the same procedure before. But even experienced applicants know full well that getting anxious is indeed part of the encounter.


Giving in to the anxiety, however, will do you no good during the interview process. When you give in to the overwhelming sensation of being probed and revealing who you are, all sorts of confusion could take place which will only leave you having difficulty expressing yourself well or, worse, make a bad impression on your interviewer—you would not want to be in this situation at all. Essentially, this makes combatting the overwhelming feeling from within appear to be another challenge of the interview.

Luckily, learning how to subdue the disadvantage that the interview process might impose on you can be an adaptive process and is best faced with preparedness. To give you an idea of what kinds of interrogations you will be facing during an interview, I listed here a comprehensive list of plausible questions that a DepEd interviewer will throw at you.

Top 50 DepEd Ranking Interview Questions

  • What is your educational background? (Or I see you went to [insert school name here]. What was the most rewarding part of attending that university?)
  • What are you currently reading for enjoyment?
  • What do you want to be doing in five years?
  • List five adjectives that describe yourself.
  • What is one of your weaknesses, and how are you working to improve it?
  • What interests do you pursue outside of the classroom?
  • To what teams and/or clubs did you belong as a student?
  • What activities might you coach or advise as a member of the teaching staff?
  • When did you decide to become a teacher, and why did you choose this field?
  • Why do you want to teach at the ____ level?
  • What personal strengths do you find especially helpful in your teaching?
  • What is your favorite subject to teach? Why?
  • What is your least favorite subject, and how do you overcome your indifference toward it to teach it well?
  • What do you like most about teaching as a career?
  • What is your least favorite aspect of teaching?
  • What is your philosophy of education?
  • What role do standards play in your classroom?
  • Describe your teaching style.
  • How do you organize your classroom?
  • How do you structure your time to manage all of the duties associated with teaching?
  • What is the greatest success you have had in teaching?
  • What do you think is the greatest challenge facing students today?
  • What is the most difficult aspect of teaching today?
  • What are the qualities of an excellent teacher?
  • Describe the “worst” lesson you have taught. What did you learn from it?
  • What is your approach to classroom management?
  • What role have parents played in your classroom?
  • How do you motivate your students to become active learners in your classroom? (Or: How do you encourage class participation?)
  • Tell us about a troubling student you have taught and how you helped him or her.
  • Describe your best professional development experience.
  • Describe your ideal lesson.
  • Describe your planning process for a major project or unit.
  • Explain your experience with [insert teaching strategy here].
  • What plans do you have for the integration of technology in your own classroom?
  • What experience have you had with team-teaching? What is your opinion of it?
  • How have and will you address your students’ different learning styles?
  • How do the assignments you give offer students the opportunity to express their creativity and individuality?
  • How do you modify your teaching to reach students who are struggling to perform at grade level?
  • How do you provide support for students with exceptional abilities?
  • What would you tell your incoming class in a “back-to-school” letter at the start of a new school year?
  • How would you deal with a student who regularly missed school or your class?
  • If most of the students in your class failed an assignment, test, or project, how would you respond?
  • What would your students say they had learned after spending a year in your class? (Or: What do you want students to remember about your class?)
  • How would you establish and maintain good communication with the parents of your students?
  • What steps would you follow to deal with a student who displays consistent behavioral problems in your classroom?
  • Under what circumstances would you refer a child to the administrator’s office?
  • What could a visitor to your class expect to see?
  • What do you hope to learn from your mentor?
  • How would you take advantage of resources within the community to enhance your teaching?
  • Why should you be hired for this position?

Conclusion

Similar to interviews from a different field, the questions that the DepEd official present you can either force out some objective or subjective answers. How you answer these interrogations could speak a lot about you—especially, how you know yourself and to what extent are you aware of the career you are trying to pursue, among other things.

Although trying to come up with impressive answers might be the primary thought for most applicants, what the interview process boils to mostly is the truth, which could outshine any unnecessary flamboyance. In fact, one of the things that make an interview process mind-boggling for most applicants is the idea of wanting to present their answers in as embellished a way as possible. While some may be able to pull these theatrics off, not everyone is as skilled in the same process.


If you truly want to get past this necessary hurdle in your application and hiring process, the best condition to be in is to perhaps be genuine about your answers and showcase the right confidence with your every answer. If your credentials are good, which is something you had earned out of merit, flowery words to add to such accomplishments are hardly necessary—your feats would already speak most of it, you would just have to articulate it.

Another effective way about getting over the pressure that comes naturally with every interview is to try not to compare yourself with others. How you measure another person’s achievements should not be a concern to you, whether you are of a superior or inferior disposition. It will only create an unnecessary distraction which could substantially hamper your success in the interview. The key is to focus on yourself—ideally, on your best qualities and strengths—and not fall into the trap of comparison with other people as you are not in competition with anybody but yourself.

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Jal25
Jal25
3 years ago

I really like your insights and the contents and ideas that you want to imply in this article. It is really helpful specially for me who possibly doesn’t even know how to introduce myself in an interview. May God bless you. Thank you so much!