Masters, mistresses and teachers. The UK heirarchy.

[Geoff]

No: HPFGUIDX 188273

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "bboyminn" <bboyminn at ...> wrote:

Geoff: 
> > There is also the fact that one of the largest teaching 
> > unions in the UK is the NASUWT (National Association of 
> > Schoolmaster and Union of Women Teachers).
> > 
> > Potioncat will be pleased to know that there are at least
> > two Brits following the thread. Pleased to meet another Brit.
 
bboyminn:
> Here is a thought I had, and I wondered if it has any relevance
> to the wizard world or to common British schools.
> 
> We have a Head Master, so logically he is the lead of the
> general Masters. But, are the general masters then head of
> common teachers. In this sense are all teachers 'masters'
> and the Head Master is merely the head teacher. 
> 
> Or, is there a hierarchy, Head Masters, followed by Assistant
> Head Masters, followed by Masters, followed by teachers?  

Geoff:
I hope this is not drifting OT, but I think that some knowledge 
of the hierarchy of UK secondary education might help.

I believe that JKR is a little out-of-date in some ways in this 
matter as you will see as I explain.

When I was in secondary school in the 1950s, in the grammar 
school which I attended, we would refer to teachers as either 
'masters' or 'teachers'. The reason was that, at that time the UK 
schools were roughly one-third single-sex boys, one third 
single-sex girls and the remaining third mixed. Although we had 
been in mixed Junior schools up to 11 in state schools (more likely 
13 in public schools), at secondary single-sex boys' schools, the 
overwhelming majority of staff were male. in my grammar school, 
there was one female teacher who took an intake class and another 
who taught Art. Full stop.

Similarly in girls' schools, staff were mainly mistresses. The same 
tended to be true in the first few years I taught in an all-boys school; 
out of 22 staff, we had two ladies.

However, after the Wilson Labour Government committed to 
comprehensive education in 1965, a slow but steady shift to mixed
schools began with the result that there are very few single-sex 
schools in the UK today; even the great bastions of the public 
school tradition such as Harrow or Eton have female pupils.

This, plus the drive to PC language has meant that most people 
refer to 'teachers', 'masters' and 'mistresses' having fallen out of 
use in general terms. Headteacher is now the accepted term for 
the leader of the school in official terminology. However, it is not 
unusual for reference to be made to 'headmaster' or 'headmistress' 
where you are referring to the specific head of a specific school.

Looking at your note about heirarchy, most schools will have a 
Headteacher and a Deputy Headteacher. The remainder of the 
teachers will usually be collectively 'the staff'.

Occasionally, a staff member will be referred to by their position 
such as 'Head of xxxx' where 'xxxx' is a house or similar structure. 
Staff may hold Posts of Responsibility within a department but it is 
usually the HoD who gets referred to. I was Head of Computing for 
the last ten years of my teaching but if someone was referring to me
in a situation where my position was known, I might just be referred to 
as 'Mr.Bannister'.

What *is* perhaps unusual is the use of 'Professor' at this level of 
education. In a secondary school here, we would normally refer to 
'Mr.', 'Mrs.' or 'Miss'. I do recall at my grammar school a Chemistry 
teacher who was Dr. Cavell, presumably a cut above the others! 
Possibly a parallel with Snape?