Early Years and Primary

Before your interview you will be asked to spend one day in a school local to you. The school will be asked to complete a simple report form to provide us with feedback on your approach and demeanour.

On the Selection Day you will be asked to do two tests in the morning: English (45 minutes and 30 minutes reading time) and Mathematics (20 minutes). Candidates who pass the tests will be asked to stay for a short group exercise (15 minutes) and interview in the afternoon.

English test

As part of your selection process you will be asked to demonstrate appropriate reading and writing skills. These are two skills which will enable you to be an effective professional and to complete the course assignments at a postgraduate level. In this test you will be asked to do the following:

  • Read an article about an educational issue.
  • Write a structured response to the article you have read. This writing must demonstrate that you can construct an argument about an educational issue. Your use of basic writing skills (including spelling, punctuation, use of grammar) will also be considered in this task.

Mathematics test

As part of the selection process you will be asked to complete a range of simple calculations. Before attending interview we strongly recommend that you revise your subject knowledge in basic numeracy skills. We suggest you practise the work expected of Key Stage 2 children by looking at the Primary Frameworks for Literacy and Mathematics. This sets out the mathematical competencies that children should achieve at the end of key stage 2.

Here is a link to the booklet - Primary National Strategy. Please look from page 80 (yr 5/6) onwards at the 'calculation' column as this is what we have traditionally tested at interview.

http://www.niched.org/docs/the%20primary%20framework.pdf

The topics you may be tested on include:

  • the four operations (adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing)
  • fractions, decimals and percentages

Examples of the topics are in the attached files: (Word Document) Mathematics Test Examples, More Mathematics Test Examples

Group task

Just before your interview you would be asked to participate in a short discussion (15 minutes) with other interviewees.

Interview

Candidates who pass both tests will stay for the afternoon to be interviewed individually by a tutor, usually accompanied by a teacher from one of our partnership schools. This is an opportunity for us to find out a little bit more about you, as well as giving you an opportunity to look in more detail at the course and assess whether it is the best course for you.