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Original poster

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

87 replies

trinketz · 02/12/2023 22:15

As a school governor at a 'Good' secondary comprehensive school (with well above average results) I'm sometimes involved in interview panels. Most applicants seem to have got very average grades in the subjects they teach and/or lower second class degrees. I guess I find that surprising, and wonder how it impacts their ability to stretch the brightest. If you're a secondary school teacher, did you shine in your subject of choice when you were at school/uni? If not, does it matter? Does it perhaps even make you a better teacher?

OP posts:
greglet · 03/12/2023 17:42

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).

Sunflower8848 · 03/12/2023 17:50

@countdowntonap Someone didn’t read the question

cut it out no GIF by Big Brother Canada
countdowntonap · 03/12/2023 20:13

@Sunflower8848 And someone isn’t a teacher…

Sunflower8848 · 03/12/2023 20:14

countdowntonap · 03/12/2023 20:13

@Sunflower8848 And someone isn’t a teacher…

Where did I say I was?? 🤨

TotteringByRosie · 03/12/2023 20:19

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

MrsKeats · 03/12/2023 21:25

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

verbalreason · 03/12/2023 22:38

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

BertieBob · 03/12/2023 22:43

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

BurbageBrook · 03/12/2023 22:49

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.

aliceinanwonderland · 03/12/2023 23:11

sorrynotathome · 03/12/2023 07:32

If they have O levels then their grades at O, A and degree level will be significantly different. In my year at Uni (Russell Group) there were over 100 students on my course and only 3 got a 1st.

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

sashh · 04/12/2023 04:41

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

ProfessorPeppy · 04/12/2023 06:13

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.

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