The Relationship of Birth Order to Teaching Ability

Abstract

The question, "Who makes the best teacher?" has been asked by many educators. In an attempt to shed some light on this question, Krumboltz and Krumboltz (1958) looked at birth order and family size. The primary measuring tool used was the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory (MTAI). They did not find any significant differences in scores among prospective teachers - students in their junior year of college - when analyzed by birth order and family size. Do these results demonstrate that birth order is not a good discriminator of teaching ability? Extensive research has been done on the relationship of birth order and variables such as intelligence, conformity, eminence, college attendance, affiliation, and creativity. If there are, in fact, differences in say intelligence, conformity, and affiliation, perhaps these differences interact in persons of a certain birth rank so as to make them better teachers. Thus, to ascertain if such a relationship between birth order and teaching ability does exist, these prospective teachers should be evaluated in a more realistic surrounding, student teaching.