The special education teacher job is very challenging as compared to the other teaching jobs.
This unique profession requires adapting lessons and adjusting the education materials to the needs of the child as well as to monitor consistently his/her progress, and therefore a special education teacher job is not only differs itself from the others but also develops expertise in some special education fields.
On top of the common job interview questions for teachers, the interview questions that are related to the special education field are specific to this field.
You can also refer to the teaching job interview and to teacher interview tips articles for further information.
This article brings the 10 frequently asked special education job interview questions and suggests tips on answering these questions.
Special Education Teacher Interview Questions and Answers
1. Why did you choose a career in special education? Why do you want to work with children with special needs?
2. Specify the disabilities and disorders that you’ve been working with, such as: physical handicaps, speech disorders, language and processing difficulties, autism and Aspergers disease, ADD and ADHD, behavioral disorders and others.
3. What is your philosophy? How do you set your teaching goals for special education? How have you monitored the progress of each child? How would you define success in special education teaching? Tell us about success/failures stories.
4. What is your greatest achievement?
5. Tell us about your past professional team work with support colleges such as: education teachers, special education administration, speech teachers and social workers. How did you take the assistance and support of these staff to enhance student achievements, meet their special needs and to reach your students potential?
6. How would you ensure that each individual child receive the maximum support he needs? How would you utilize and adapt class lessons and educational material to meet the learning abilities of each individual child?
7. Have you conducted (or participated) in CSE, Committee on Special Education meetings? Describe your role in these meeting.
8. Have you written IEP or participated in meeting for writing Individualized Education Plan?
9. What particular skills and qualities can you bring for us? What are your strengths? How would you contribute to our workforce and to the teachers’ teamwork and our team effort?
10. Should students with disability participate in the regular education programs if possible?
Special Education Teacher Interview: tips to answer the above questions
• Talk about the factors and values that are most important for you working in special education.
• Review your background in this filed. Expend on special stories related to particular children and the way you enhance their capabilities.
• You should also express your desire working with kids with special needs and the reason for that – helping others, enjoy reaching goals and the emotions involves seeing the progress of the kids.
• No work is flawless, especially in this field. You can tell about past difficulties and how you handle these difficulties.
• You can also tell about failures and your lesson learned.
• Special education teacher is a team player and therefore requires collaborating with professional staff. Therefore, demonstrate your teamwork skills telling about your past successful interactions with colleges and how you’ve managed the team work to the benefits of your students.
