Chamber of Secrets Chapter 18: Dobby's reward Snape's teaching

[geoffbannister123 at btinternet.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 189361



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nikkalmati" <puduhepa98 at ...> wrote:

Nikkalmati
 
> I have wondered about this situation before.  All the teachers at Hogwarts are expected to teach students from ages 11 to 17.  In the US that would be part of elementary school, middle school (or junior high), and high school.  That's impossible.  Leaving out the number of class preparations, very few would have the personal skills to handle students of all those different ages and we certainly don't expect it of our teachers.  Snape is shown as being very bright or at least very academicly inclined.  Teaching the equvalent of chemistry to very young children would have been extremely stressful for someone of his abilities.  
> I think he may have liked teaching some of the older students.  He certainly took pride in his students' OWL and NEWT pass rates.  

Geoff:
This is not unusual in a UK situation.

When I started teaching, I taught in an 11-16 year old boys' school. 
When comprehensive schools began to be general under the Wilson 
Labour government of the late 1960s, I found myself in a 13-18 mixed 
High school and later again a 12-16 mixed when my Local Education 
Authority (LEA) opted for Sixth Form colleges.

in some ways, JKR was a trifle out of date when she started the HP books
because a majority of UK LEAs had gone down the middle school route
but there has been something of a swing back to transfer at 11+ or 12+
in recent years.

As a result, I found myself teaching across quite a wide age range at 
various times. To say it is impossible is not really true; you have to be 
able to adapt your approach to the differing maturity and skill levels in 
such a structure. 

Keeps you on your toes. :-)