Following up with a candidate’s references can mean the difference between making a good hire or a bad hire, no matter what sector you’re working in.
When it comes to hiring teachers, vetting your applicants not only helps to ensure a better hiring decision, but also works to support a positive learning experience for current and future students. Professional educators are responsible for pupils’ learning outcomes both in-school and beyond – it is critical they know what they’re doing.
So how can decision-makers at your school get the insights they need to hire effective, experienced teaching candidates? Here are 10 questions to ask their references.
10 critical reference check questions to ask when hiring teachers
- What was your professional relationship to the candidate?
It is important to understand up-front the positional relationship between the candidate and the reference. Co-teachers, supervisors, administrators, etc. will all have varying perspectives on your candidate’s work history.
- What in your opinion are the candidate’s teaching strengths?
In interviews, you will have already heard the candidate’s perception of their own skills and strengths. It is important to ask the reference this same question in part to confirm the assertions which your applicant is making about their own abilities.
In addition, some applicants may leave out or downplay some of their strengths which make them look even better in a hiring committee’s eyes, and the reference may reveal those to you.
- What in your opinion are their areas of potential growth?
This can help to establish what training or other support needs the candidate may need up front should you choose to hire them. It can also uncover problems in their instructional, pedagogical, or relational skills that may merit a closer look before you decide to bring them onto the team. Ideally, the answer given by the reference will match the answer given by the candidate.
- What is your perception of the candidate as a teacher? How would you rate their instructional skills/teaching style?
This question may be taken as an elaboration on question 2. Here, the goal is to understand in more detail how the candidate approaches teaching, and how effective their unique style is.
This question may also touch on their ability to keep their students on track, manage a classroom, and stick to/utilize instructional material. Make sure to ask follow-up questions that drive their answer into these specific areas, and collect examples.
- Please describe your perception of the candidate’s ability to facilitate student success.
Student learning outcomes are a critical metric for establishing the effectiveness of teachers. Your reference may have actual numbers they can point to, giving you a convenient place of comparison against other candidates, or past and current instructors at your own school.
Or, they may only be able to provide anecdotal evidence, which still gives you insight into the candidate’s efficacy as an instructor.
- How have you observed the candidate supporting the unique learning needs of a wide range of students?
Teachers need to have a high degree of emotional intelligence in order to facilitate learning for all their students – not just the ones who are engaged, communicative, and possess expected learning proficiencies. Asking this question allows you to understand whether and how your candidate goes above and beyond to support all members of their classroom.
- Please provide an example of the candidate’s work which you would consider to be outstanding.
This question in part works to establish a true relationship between the candidate and the reference. To answer this effectively, the reference must have observed your candidate in action enough to be familiar with some of their stand-out teaching moments.
This also helps to separate some candidates from the pack if your hiring decision is proving difficult. Insight into your applicants’ best can help make your choice just a little bit easier.
- Was the candidate able to build impactful relationships with students/parents/colleagues? How did they go about doing this?
Teachers must be able to effectively communicate and build very different relationships with a range of stakeholders.
It is important to participate in the school’s community and work collaboratively with colleagues. Teachers must also be in relationship with their student’s families to be able to communicate problems or progress, address concerns, and flag if there may be issues happening at home. And of course, healthy student/teacher relationships are critical for building an effective learning environment.
The answer to this question should tell you all you need to know.
- Would you hire the candidate as a teacher again? Please explain.
The traditional final question in any reference interview, it is especially critical in a hiring scenario that ultimately concerns the wellbeing of children. Even if all their previous answers were glowing, if the answer is “no,” that may tell you all you need to render your decision.
Hopefully, we receive a “yes,” and can move forward from there.
What’s next: Reference check questions for teaching positions
Reference checking your teaching candidates is a critical part of the hiring process that gives you invaluable insight into their quality and effectiveness as an instructor. And Crosschq makes it easier to collect, reference, and use these answers to empower better hiring decisions for teachers.
Using Crosschq, school administrators can automate reference checking to ensure a more thorough process. This also gives you more time to focus on crafting winning interviews and selecting the right people for your team.
Sign up for a demo today.