Teachers: What grades did you get in your own A Levels/GCSEs?

5A*s and 3As at GCSE, 3 As at A-level, Oxford degree (2.2) and an MSc in an altogether different subject. I’m intelligent but I did the wrong subject at degree level. I’ve been teaching 20 years so I’m also very experienced.

Grades B and C at O Level.

VI form was a disaster, I didn't want to be there and I have dyslexia but both school and VI form didn't believe it existed.

Then I went to work in my local cardiology department and took BTEC National and HNC in medical physics and physiological measurement.

When my health went downhill I went to uni in my 30s, got a 2:1 and I went on to teach health and social care, computer science and some maths.

I love teaching maths to students who are 16+and finally seeing them 'get' it. I even have a happy dance for when that happens.

I think I can probably teach anything I understand

haha yes I think there was only one first in my subject at university!

I used to be a secondary teacher. I got straight A*s/As at school then PGCE and Masters. I was a good teacher but decided my future was in HE so changed career. I think that academic ability doesn't always correlate to being the best teacher though and I have known loads of amazing teachers without the best academic record. Often people learn so much after school/A Levels -- university can really be the making of many people. Other teachers have huge amounts of enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge in their subject which means they're continually learning, consequently having a really powerful impact on the kids. Once a teacher has a degree in a related subject, then stretching the brightest GCSE or even A Level student isn't a problem usually even if their own results were below the level the student is working at. I do think it can occasionally be a problem though when some teachers don't have enough expertise in the subject area due to teacher shortages.

In the subject I teach:
GCSE= A
A-level= A
Degree= First

Odd question. I’ve got As in all my subjects at GCSE and A level, and a 2:1 from Cambridge.

Alll A grades at A level.
2:1 degree from a Russell Group uni.
Master's degree.
PGCE.

I'm often surprised at the low grades teachers achieved in their specialist subject.

Where did I say I was?? 🤨

@Sunflower8848 And someone isn’t a teacher…

@countdowntonap Someone didn’t read the question

6 A*s and 5 As at GCSE

3 As at A level (pre-A * grades), 1 A and 1 B at AS level

Distinction in AEA English

1st from Oxford

But I teach in a very academic private school (went to a worse than bog-standard comprehensive myself and would absolutely not work in one).

I understand because there was no A star when I sat my A levels either. I also feel downgraded despite getting 97 percent in my exams and having to do 5 pieces of coursework too.

GCSEs A*s to A

A level AAAA

First class degree.

Been a teacher for 17 years.

We get a lot of people with lower qualifications now. There is a recruitment crisis and the calibre of people entering the profession is lower than I remember. But qualifications aren't everything. I have interviewed very academically able people who have no rapport whatsoever with students.

I got an A and BB at A level and 2 undergraduate degrees both at 2:1. I would add when I got my first degree from Warwick less than 3 percent got a First Class with Honour, now you can multiply that by 5. It doesn't mean a person getting a FCD with H now is necessarily smarter. When I got my A grade A level there were only 3 others who got an A grade in my year at a good grammar school. The majority got B, C or D. Now about 33 percent get A grades.

I wonder if those with extremely good grades from good universities (especially STEM) get into teaching rather than say finance as they are particularly vocationally orientated and want to 'give back'. I am thinking on the same lines as Oxbridge grads joining the clergy in years gone by where the money wasn't great but there was a sense of a higher altruistic purpose?

The very well educated in the public sector I find have made a considered decision in their career choice and have made peace that maybe a 100K job may not be feasible with their career. IME it is sometimes the children of the very wealthy that enter careers like teaching because in a way they have 'done' the rich lifestyle in childhood and do not have a sense of FOMO about adult renumeration

Degrees go much deeper than even A level, so having even a 2:2 will be mean much more knowledge and experience than even a bright A Level student. Being a teacher is not only about knowing the course inside out, although of course that's important, but ability to impart information in an interesting and effective way and to motivate.

(Not a teacher but I do have a 2:1 and a PhD - many of my fellow PhD students were awful at explaining things to undergrads etc, but apparently I was decent).

What a stupid question.

Any governor worth their salt would want a good teacher that fits the school.
The absolute best teacher that I know is unqualified. Mainly due the fact that the LA doesn't recognise her qualifications and the school won't pay for her to get recognised.

Personally I have two degrees and due to being treated poorly, I have now gone back into industry.

Just FYI OP I couldn't be replaced and the school has had to cancel the course that I taught. But teachers are so easily replaced.

@trinketz OP seems to have disappeared. Was this actually fodder for a newspaper article?

I got an A, B, and 2 Cs - this was in 1973 before A* existed. My degree was only a 2.2 though. I did feel a bit miffed that other people who got lower grade A levels and went elsewhere to study the same subject degree came out with higher level degrees. Still - all water under the bridge now - I taught secondary French up to GCSE and I don't think I could even tell you what grades any of my colleagues had.

Top grades at GCSE and A Level, Oxbridge degree and masters. Came across excellent fellow teachers with lower grades at school and at university (not that I asked them!) whom I learned a huge amount from and who had much more of a natural gift for teaching than I did. . Many of them were lifelong learners and very creative and innovative people whose true potential had not been captured by the system. Some had had undiagnosed learning difficulties like dyslexia and dyspraxia and/or personal difficulties during their studies. Pupils across the ability spectrum valued them highly and reached their potential.

For the subject I teach - A at GCSE, A at A level and 2:1 from a RG uni. But this was quite a long time ago. The learning experience is very different now to when I did my GCSEs etc. I left for study leave at Easter with my exercise books and was told to learn the information and turn up and do an exam. Pupils today have many more resources available to them and the exams are different so it’s not a like comparison.

I’m now a head of department and I’ve had loads of trainees over the years. Some of the very worst ones have been those with amazing grades. They look good on paper, but it definitely doesn’t always follow that they’ll be good in the classroom.

I am not entirely sure I understand your post, but obviously uni is far easier to get into now, there are about 4 times as many places! DofE does not help you get in though. By grade inflation I mean that when applying for a masters now, applying as a student with grade from 30+ years ago, a B at A level from then is worth far far more than a B at A level from now, ( depending on the course, it counts as up to A or A*) etc

What l? GCSEs are totally different to a level. Level 9 for my subject less than 10% same for A at a level. When I did my a levels 3 A could have got me into any uni I wanted pretty much. My daughter needs 4A to do the same and extra curricula eg D of E uni not so interested but doing a course related extension course much better. University was miles easier to get into 30 years ago - not so much now for the good degrees at sought after universities.

Cheers for that. Straight out of uni I was offered a job (30 years ago) for a well known STEM company at 25 offered then £50 K a year. I could have done and I chose teaching instead because I thought I had a good skill set to be one, great subject knowledge, empathy, a drive to want others to love my subject etc
I had connections I had a great subject and could be a millionaire - I chose a different life and I’m not sorry I did. I’m sorry that others think -those that can’t do - teach. Teaching is not an easy job and I challenge most parents to do mine for a day let alone a week. I’ve been spat at, hit, swore at daily, called sexist names, had no life outside of school and yet most parents think they can teach better than me etc in my experience those that can’t - go into anything unrelated to their degree - they do not teach.

those that can’t do it themselves say ‘those that can’t teach’ or even better ‘those that can’t criticise teachers’