Ealing diversity in leadership programme - Request for schools to support with mock interviews

The Ealing diversity in leadership programme is a collaboration between the Ealing Learning Partnership (ELP) and Teach West London Teaching School Hub, supporting career progression pathways for teachers from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnicity communities who would like to pursue roles in senior leadership - headship, deputy, and assistant headship roles.

We are delighted to inform you that 20 people are participating in the second cohort of this programme - ten secondary, nine primary and one special.

Mock interviews

A significant part of this programme is to enable participants to experience applying and being interviewed in a school, for a leadership position.

The mock interviews take place in a different school from their own, allowing another perspective on what might be expected of the role. Overall, the aim is to make the experience as real as possible whilst also being a positive, developmental learning experience.

To support this part of the programme we are looking for schools who would be interested in volunteering to host and run a mock interview session in the second half of the spring term. We ideally would like three primary, three special and one high school.

What will be required of host schools:

• To host a mock interview session for approx. three participants in spring (2) 2024
• To form a selection and interview panel
• Run the interview session as if for a ‘real’ vacancy – contacting candidates in advance re the format of the day, running the interview day including tasks
• Provide feedback to and on candidates interviewed to support with their future career development
• Attend the TWL / ELP online session.

What TWL / ELP will provide:

• Generic job descriptions - candidates will use to complete their applications
• Generic interview questions, tasks and possible format for the interview day – school’s to personalise these to suit their school
• An online (one hour) session to identify best practice from cohort one, for selection, interview and feedback as part of the process. Date TBC in January.

Benefits for host schools

Schools who participated in the mock interview process as part of cohort one shared that it was an invaluable process for them, highlighting some key learning to improve their future inclusive recruitment practice. For some schools it also highlighted candidates who they have since recruited or invited to apply for senior leadership positions.

Further information

If you would like to discuss further and /or volunteer to run a mock interview session, please contact tmcnulty@ealing.gov.uk or 020 8825 8542 by Thursday 30 November 2023.