Hi All,
This forum has been extremely helpful thus far to all hopeful applicants. Thought I should share what I went through too to encourage others, especially those in similar situation.
I am currently still waiting for the interview results... *keeping fingers crossed* and yes, the wait is a torture because it certainly doesn't feel good to be rejected. Nonetheless, I was rejected once before so am hoping things will work out fine this time...
A couple of things to share :
1. Yes, I believe there is indeed a cooling period of 6 months after your initial application. Other than the reasons stated in this thread, I believe it could also be because the interviewers are the same? For my case, three out of the four interviewers are exactly the same as the one I attended a year back, only the HR personnel is a different person.
2. Should you be rejected, you will receive the email notification that your application is unsuccessful about a month after your interview session. The status will also be updated on your careers@gov website. That was what happened for my case last year... Can't advice on if your application is successful.
3. The essay question this time was different. Last year, it was something along the lines of 'You realised your colleague is holding other jobs outside of school hours and is affecting his performance in school, what would you do....'. This time, it was 'You overheard a group of students discussing about how a fellow teacher gave hints to a student with special needs during an examination. What would you do....'
4. A few of the interview questions that I remember include 'If you were the principal of the school, what kind of target/achievement/experience would you set for the school?', 'Do you know what are the job scope of a school teacher?', 'What challenges do you think you will face in your teaching career?', 'Do you know what you are suppose to teach in primary school art?', 'If the Math teacher were to approach you to give up your art session as he/she needs the extra hours to finish the Math syllabus, would you agree?', 'How would you convince someone who says Art is not as important as Math?' etc...
5. You will be given about 20mins to complete the essay before the interview proper. I would definitely recommend for you to arrive at least 15mins before your scheduled interview timing as the time allocation is pretty tight and we often need that extra time to cool ourselves down, in my opinion. Remember to bring all the necessary documents, especially ALL your yearly CPF statements if you have been working.
Hope the above helps.