Teacher education and the teaching profession have been at a crisis in many countries. The low status of the teaching profession impinges on the quality of candidates applying for the profession and teacher education programmes are blamed for failing to produce effective teachers (Grossman, 2008). One of the essential requirements for improving education is to recruit highly qualified candidates for the teaching profession (Zimpher & Howey, 2005). However, there does not seem to be a consensus on the reliability of the different academic processes of selection (Shechtman, 1989) and some even claim that academic criteria are poor predictors of who will be a successful teacher (Baskin, Ross & Smith, 1996). Although interviews have been used in teacher education programmes internationally, most research on interviews is in the area of employment and medical schools (Gafni & Mohinsky, 2002). Research on group interviews in teacher education found that they have potentiality in identifying traits of quality teachers(Byrnes, Kiger & Shechtman, 2003)). Most research on group interviews has investigated predictive factors of success( Farnsworh et al., 2003) However, they have not explained the dynamics within the groups and the impact on individual participants' performance.

This study concerns one faculty at an Academic College of  Education which uses group interviews to select teacher candidates. This study focuses on qualitative aspects of group interviews illuminating the experiences of participants.

The study sought to understand how participants perceive the group interview, what meanings they attribute to the process and how it affects their performance.

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