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How can I be more confident in interviews

How can I be more confident in interviews?

You are a great teacher and you are confident in your abilities, but what do you do with the dreaded interview fear? Are there ways to get past this and shine in your teaching job interview? Of course there are and I am here to help you.

Develop self-compassion and improving your self-talk

So many of my clients come out of an interview and do a postmortem of it! They berate themselves for the bits they slipped up in or couldn’t answer well and focus mostly on that. Try refrain from doing that by d


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Aug 18, 2021 08:00am
By Orla Dempsey
Under #Interview Preparation, #Confidence, #Education, #Mock Interviews for Primary, #Post Primary & #Primary
4 min read
Your Inside Guide to Looking at Our Schools – A support document for aspiring and existing school leaders

Your Inside Guide to Looking at Our Schools – A support document for aspiring and existing school leaders

Picking up this document – whether to self-reflect or when applying for a new role in management is a good idea to allow you to align with your current teaching practices. Working on your career vs working in your career – there’s a difference! Looking at our schools is a great document to allow for self-reflection.

There are a number of elements outlined in this document that you should consider when working on your career.

1. Reflection

Reflection is key to teaching and this framework serves as a


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Aug 16, 2021 08:00am
By Mary Dillon
Under #Leadership, #Career, #CPD, #Confidence, #Teacher, #Job Applications, #leadership, #primarymockinterview, #teachers, #careercoaching, #jobapplications & #permanentjob
6 min read
Looking at Our School The Leadership and Management Domains - Skills Development

Looking at Our School 2016: The Leadership and Management Domains - Skills Development

The ‘Looking at Our School 2016: A Quality Framework for Primary Schools’ outlines 4 domains as guides for teachers to step into management roles. 

These 4 Domains are:

1.    Leading Teaching and Learning

2.    Managing the Organisation

3.    Leading School Development and

4.    Developing Leadership Capacity

While I have already written blog posts for each individual blog post (linked below) today’s blog focuses on the skills development necessary for stepping up to the next level in your career.

I ha


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Aug 13, 2021 08:00am
By Orla Dempsey
Under #Career, #Teacher, #Education, #Primary, #Quality Education, #education, #careercoaching & #Teaching
7 min read
Orla Dempsay

Diary of a teacher career changer

I've finally found the courage to label my stage in life at the moment as a 'career change', not a career break or time out to travel or time to think but now is about changing career for me. My time in UCD's Innovation Academy has equipped me with the knowledge and that courage. It seems a huge step but many of my classmates are doing the same thing and so will I! 

I will outline firstly, my recent wave of self-reflection and self-care leading to a  realisation of my strengths and weaknesses. Se


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Aug 11, 2021 03:59pm
By Orla Dempsey
Under #News
8 min read
Mistake

5 Mistakes to Avoid as you Begin your Teaching Career

Embarking on your NQT year can be full-on. Getting used to a new school, new colleagues, new pupils and new routines, can send your head in a spin! I didn't even have a proper place to stay for the first week of my first job as a qualified teacher! Think.. grotty hostel and you may get some idea of what my nightly 'refuge' was like after my working day was over! Luckily, that didn't last too long!

Giving 100%

In my first year of teaching, I began my NQT year laminating everything; the printer flyi


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Aug 10, 2021 08:00am
By Orla Dempsey
Under #News
6 min read
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‘Looking at our schools’ interview questions

Using the 4 leadership domains from the Looking at Our Schools document is an excellent starting point from which to prepare for leadership interviews in education. Look at the domains (not as a rigid structure) but for BOMs and Interviewers to use as a framework from which to compose questions. Here I outline some questions and the domains under which they may fall under.

Leading Teaching and Learning

1. In what way have you used a curriculum area or other to promote a culture of improvement, col


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Aug 9, 2021 08:00am
By Orla Dempsey
Under #News
3 min read
Checklist for filling in your job applications

Checklist for filling in your job applications

Here a few important things to bear in mind as you embark on filling in your SAF. This document will most likely be your initial introduction to a potential employer and it is worth taking the time to fill it in as well as you can. Consider the following points when filling in your form.

What are they looking for in a candidate?

Have you checked the job advert for clues as to what's important to the school? A job description will sometimes state the kind of person the school is looking for. The sc


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Aug 6, 2021 08:00am
By Orla Dempsey
Under #Teacher, #Job Applications, #Interview, #Interview Preparation, #Interview questions, #Primary and Post Primary Interviews & #Mock Interview Preparation Primary
5 min read
Looking at our School 2016

Looking at our School 2016- A Quality Framework - A Practical Guide for Teachers

The Looking at our School 2016 guide (available here ), is an essential tool to help you gauge your effectiveness as a teacher. In this blog post, I aim to give you a brief run down of what an effective or highly effective teacher looks, sounds and acts like. I have added some of the statements below with the key information on what makes for a highly effective outcome.

Learner outcomes

  • Motivation: If pupils enjoy their learning, are motivated to learn, and expect to achieve as learners as they wo


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Aug 5, 2021 08:00am
By Mary Dillon
Under #education, #primaryschoolteacher, #careercoaching, #cpd, #inspectorate, #ourschools, #nqt, #career & #teacher
6 min read
Things I like about the Primary level SAF

Things I like about the Primary level SAF

While I know that it can be frustrating for teachers at times, I am in favour of the form in general. Here are some reasons I feel that the Standard Application Form is a good idea.

  • The 3 x 150 word questions are short and functional. If it’s of primary importance that the BOM want to find out if you’re competent, can follow the school ethos and are happy to teach the school religious ethos - then the SAF does a good job at eliciting that information from you.

  • The universal nature of the form - At


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Aug 4, 2021 08:00am
By Orla Dempsey
Under #News
3 min read
Standard Application Form Reviews

Standard Application Form Reviews – The quick and easy way to get a teaching job

As a career coach, I have reviewed hundreds of Standard Application Forms for clients and I see many kinds of errors that can be avoided by having your SAF reviewed by a professional. Things like grammar and spelling mistakes, making your form look drab and dreary leading to troubles scanning the document and not giving yourself credit can impact how an employer sees your form.

The Employer’s View

I have spoken to many interviewers over the years, and they have informed me of the errors they see t


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Aug 3, 2021 08:00am
By Orla Dempsey
Under #News
2 min read

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