clueless Madame Hooch question

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 127584


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "thursday morning" 
<thursdaymorning at o...> wrote:

Thursday:
> What all does Madam Hooch do at Hogwarts?  

<snip>

> I just can't see her being kept at Hogwarts as a part-time teacher.

Geoff:
Your comments lead me to make two observations about Madam Hooch.

First, in response to your last comment, I would say "Why not?" It is 
quite common for UK schools to use part-time teachers. This might be 
because there is not enough teaching load for a full timetable or it 
might be for someone who doesn't want full-time, say, a mother 
returning to teach after maternity leave. I certainly met both of 
those situations in my teaching career. Since learning to fly a 
broomstick is something purely for the First Years and wouldn't 
require many lessons, Madam Hooch may have an arrangement to come in 
each year in September and also be on call to handle the inter-house 
Quidditch matches,

The second observation arises out of speculation I've had in the past 
but have never got round to posting on the group. We have two other 
ladies at the school who are referred to as "Madam" – namely Madam 
Pomfrey and Madam Pince and, as an aside, in formal situations Argus 
Filch is always called "Mr.Filch" by Dumbledore. These folk are all 
ancillary workers.

This leads me to suspect that Madam Hooch may be not be a staff 
member at Hogwarts but another ancillary worker. In the same way that 
UK schools have a lab technician to provide specialised support, 
perhaps Madam Hooch is providing "technical" support in the area of 
flying and is involved in different behind-the-scenes work at other 
times.