Madame Pomfrey AND EDUCATION

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston) <catlady@wicca.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48373

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "alora <chrisnlorrie at y...>" 

> Yes, I agree about the comparison, I have just always thought that 
> there is more to everyone at Hogwarts than meets the eye.  You 
> brought up the "job specification" thing.  What do the teachers 
> have as credentials?  I mean, there's not a wizard college, that I 
> am aware of.  ;)  

JKR has stated in interviews that there is NO UNIVERSITY FOR 
WIZARDS. Mike (Aberforth's Goat) provided this tool for 
searching JKR interviews: http://www.geocities.com/aberforths_goat/

I used it to find the following:
http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/author/transcript1.htm
Q:   Do you think that you will write about Harry after he graduates 
from Hogwarts? Isn't there a University of Wizardry? 
JKR: No, there's no University for Wizards. At the moment I'm only 
planning to write seven Harry Potter books. I won't say "never," but 
I have no plans to write an eighth book.   

I believe that even tho' they have no universities, they have 
some vocational schools (vocational colleges) and some Guilds 
which have programs of apprenticeship. I went on about it at some 
length in the following posts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/38034
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/33882 

> That's another thing that I mull over quite a bit.  How do you GET
> your teaching position in the first place?  

I SUPPOSE that the first step is to APPLY for the position. Either 
Dumbledore reads all the letters of application or he lets McGonagall 
weed out the worst ones. He interviews the applicants who seem to be 
possibly qualified, based on their letters or on knowing them or on 
knowing their reputations; the wizarding world is a small place, 
probably the vast majority of applicants will Dumbledore's former 
pupils. After the interviews, Dumbledore chooses the one who seems to 
be best at teaching and know the material well enough. 

In some cases, Dumbledore's judgement of the candidate's knowledge can 
be influenced by credentials issued by a Guild. In other cases, 
he must go on letters of recommendation and how much knowledge the 
candidate showed during the interview.