Help with poss questions at a TA interview particularly re safeguarding.

[Squarepebbles]

Starting to apply for TA jobs,I was a teacher in my past life.

Had my first interview in 20 years before Christmas and it was a rabbit in headlights experience ie I was terrified.

The first question they asked was "what do you understand by safeguarding", completely threw me(even though I knew the answer I waffled). So what would a clear answer be?

Thinking they'll also ask questions re team work,why I want to be a TA,how I would support the class teacher effectively???

Or maybe not.

Help!!! my confidence seems to have deserted me which is strange as I know I'd be good at the job and would work really hard to support any teacher well.

What kind of questions are they likely to ask?Any advice re answers,preparation etc would be gratefully received.

With safeguarding just give a range of examples that you have experience of and ensure you cover what you did in order to ensure the child was safe and situation moved forward. Also how you used your judgement and understanding of the protocol in school.

For the other questions, use this model to phrase your answers, give specific examples from your own experience and you can't go far wrong:
S situation
T task
A action
R review

Oh thank you that's really helpful.

Could you or anybody else summarise safeguarding for me in a non waffley way- I just rambled.

Protecting children from harm, abuse or neglect through early and/or ongoing identification of risk factors and meeting individual and family needs. Ensuring all children reach their full potential and that no child is left behind.

You could talk about child protection, early identification strategies and assessments for multiple need and risk factors such as the CAF (common assessment framework) and legislation such as Munro report, Every Child Matters, Children Act, etc.

Thank you both of you.

Hello,
One of the safe guarding questions could be "what would you do if a child came and asked to speak to you in confidence?"

Not that hard, but I got the answer wrong, so think about that!

Oh yes, another one that threw me and shouldn't have done:

"A parent volunteer starts speaking inappropriately about a child in your class to you." What would you do?

Have you had safe-guarding training recently? You have to have it every 3 years now, but if you get a job they should send you on a LA course for free. So, you could point out that you need to update your knowledge (whilst of course giving fantastic answers...)

Free so what were the right and wrong answers?

Good tips,thank you.

don't promise to keep any information a child discloses a 'secret'
write it down asap afterwards in their words, not your interpretation
know who the schools CPLO and deputy CPLO are and contact them for advice, immediately if you think child is in immediate danger

Remember safeguarding is much more than Child Protection and includes the five key areas of Every Child Matters, being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and achieving economic well-being.

there is a great thread on TES with interview qus for TAs - good luck :)

questions

Thank you both of you,those are really helpful too.

Well, I think others may be in a better position to give you the right answers , but to answer the first, as holidays says, you need to say that you cannot keep anything "in confidence" - ie you can't promise to keep things secret.

For the second, I will leave that to someone else to answer, I made a hash of it in interview .

I found that my confidence in interviews improved as I did a few and got used to the format. So... my advice is don't put too much pressure on yourself for the first one or two, prepare as best you can but then you will learn loads from just doing the interviews and the key is shaping your skills and experiences to the questions.

Oh yes, another tip- if you can bear it- get someone to give you a mock interview. Really helps. DH did this for me, and he had some basic things to say about body language, looking people in the eye, speaking clearly and not saying errrrrrrr too much. Really helped. Good luck!

Thanks free,glad it's not just me!

If a child makes a discloser you must inform the designated child protection teacher/officer (often the head but not always).

If a child say they have something to tell you but not to tell anybody be honest and say you can't promise that because you have to keep them safe.

Remind the parent that when they are helping in school they must respect confidentiality.

You never promise to keep anything quiet.
You report any CP issues to the relevant person, and only them. You also follow this up with a detailed written report. This is written on the basis that potentially it could end up in court, and you never write your thoughts etc, just facts.
Don't reassure the person that everything will be fine, because you cannot guarantee this.
A parent volunteer or anyone speaks inappropriately about a child, you report this immediately to the relevant person, ie whistle blow. Same with any other behavior that is inappropriate you report (policy in my school).
Can be to help with making healthy choices if choosing own lunches occurs at morning registration.

There's quite a few things you can give as examples.

You can take notes in with you. Helps to concentrate and keep from waffling.

Ah yes, that's what you do . (I start teacher training in September, complete with safe-guarding, although I have had some of this ).