High Post-Secondary Grades and Successful Teachers

We had a really interesting research presentation this week trying to make a correlation between high post-secondary grades and successful teachers. The question was, is there a positive correlation between the two?

Some of the research focused on how long teachers stayed teaching. "Success" was defined as still teaching after 7 years. Doesn't really seem like a rational definition to base research on in my opinion. I think success should be measured by student success, classroom management and environment, teacher's well-being and happiness, etc. There would also be a large number of teachers that may have changed careers and moved up the ladder elsewhere, or moved overseas, or began a family and maybe chose to return teaching later on. There are a lot of factors I think were not taken into account for the published research. Anyways, the results were that full time teachers were most successful in the transition from student to teacher. So teachers who are most successful have had more experience for longer consecutive periods of time. Well that seems feasible to me.

I'm going to step aside from the research presented and talk more about the question, why do we use GPA to get into the Education Faculty?

The research above basically says the more hands on experience you get the better the teacher you will be. And in discussions I have had with others and in my own experience, teachers that have mastered a subject and its content are not guaranteed to be good teachers. It is important to be able to explain a method or a concept in several different ways so that students can absorb what is important. I have had decent grades throughout university. I think I am sitting somewhere around a 3.4, but I wouldn't say that makes me a good and qualified teacher. I think it means that I have studied hard, read the materials I was told to, maybe even went to class, and am able to write essays. It is my practicum in the classroom that shows my abilities as a teacher. It's there that I show if I can be prepared, punctual, responsive to children, and a facilitator of learning. I am certain a lot of great teachers have been turned away because they were not as successful on the GPA scale. Why is this the case?