Extract from the Initial Report of the Hogwarts High Inquisitor

Charms:

While Professor Flitwick is cheerful and welcoming, the Hogwarts High Inquisitor, that is to say I, feel that this demeanor encourages the wrong sort of learning environment. While the students were focused on their studies, there were more mishaps than one would have expected, all of which resulted in far too much merriment.

Points for improvement: Professor Flitwick should focus on disciplining his classes when they step out of line, and conduct his lessons with a serious manner.

Action to be taken: Probation not deemed to be necessary.

Divination: Professor Trelawney lacks the basic skills of divination and teaching. Her predictions are a mixture of deduction and wild guesses. Her class control is minimal, she resorts to making ghoulish predictions in order to scare or bore her students into submission. She is also unable to make predictions on request.

Points for improvement: Professor Trelawney needs to revisit some tried and tested, ministry approved disciplinary procedures and apply them. She must also become more accurate in her predictions and teaching methods.

Action to be taken: Further inspection is required. Probation may be a necessary measure.

Care of Magical Creatures:Professor Hagrid is difficult to understand, intimidating to the students and seems to take pleasure in the thought of other people being hurt. His curriculum is vastly inappropriate for the age group he is teaching and he refuses to admit this. There have been injuries in his classes, one of which has led to a hypogryff being sentenced to death by the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures, although the beast escaped, something that the Hogwarts High Inquisitor, that is to say I, am convinced was arranged by Professor Hagrid.

Points for improvement: Professor Hagrid should follow the lesson plans left by Professor Grubbly-Plank while he reassesses his curriculum so that it is in line with Ministry expectations. He should also concentrate on enunciating clearly so that the students can understand him.

Action to be taken: Further inspection is required. Probation may be a necessary measure.


Herbology: While Professor Sprout has a sound knowledge of her subject and so she is able to convey this knowledge to a reasonable standard. However, she allows her pupils to use foul language in her classes, something that the Hogwarts High Inquisitor, that is to say I, find most abhorrent and unnecessary. The amount of group work that is undertaken by Professor Sprout’s classes is also of concern, as they seem at times to almost be teaching each other, rather than receiving instruction from her.

Points for improvement: Professor Sprout would benefit from revisiting and revising some basic teaching skills, including what is acceptable language for the classroom.

Action to be taken: Probation not deemed to be necessary.

Potions:
Professor Snape is a highly competent Professor who had excellent control over his classes. It is clear that he has consistently and throughly educated his students throughout his tenure at Hogwarts. The Hogwarts High Inquisitor, that is to say I, have doubts about some of the potions that are currently on the syllabus, for example Strengthening Solution. However, there are other considerations to take into account which outweigh this. Professor Snape seems to be highly skilled in many areas and seems to be an asset to the school.

Points for improvement: Professor Snape should consider revising which potions are on the syllabus as some of them are too advanced for young children.

Action to be taken: Probation not deemed to be necessary.

Professor Flitwick; Charms:

This is a subject that requires, more than anything else, the power to concentrate, and to will. Intention is important to charms, and that is exactly why I believe Professor Flitwick's, is a job well done. He is a cheerful and nice person, and that - more than anything else - encourages students to give what they may think they can not do, a try.

A healthy environment, which one may be at total ease in, and the knowledge that he or she will be awarded and appreciated for good work, is a part of what drives a student forward, and Professor Flitwick is fully aware of that. In my opinion, 'merriment' in a class in which the students were also 'focused on their studies' is nothing bad - it only goes to prove, beyond all doubt, that the students are enjoying learning.

Bottom line; Knows his job!


Professor Trelawney; Divination:

Divination is a very 'See or Don't' subject - you either can, or can't. While I believe there is no doubt that Professor Trelawney may actually have inherited the great C. Trelawney's genes, there is also no doubt that she is not the best teacher, out there. This is not because of any negation of who she is - someone who does possess the ability to look into the future - but because of the lack of good teaching techniques.

Teaching is an art -- and one that can, thankfully, be polished, with a little effort. In my opinion, Professor Trelawney lacks, more than anything else, this polish: she focuses more on the textbook than on practicality, and her class zones in, not on the subject itself, but on her whims --- false predictions that she makes only to garner interest.

Bottom line; Teacher, or Not? Needs to re-evalute where she stands.


Professor Hagrid; Care of Magical Creatures:

Is Professor Hagrid good with magical creatures? There is no doubt that he is. He knows his Creatures Dictionary and has, certainly, an extensive knowledge of which is which, and what is what. He knows how to handle them; and, very importantly, will not hesitate to protect his students, should anything ever go amiss -- a significant quality that is not found in every Care of Magical Creatures teacher, though it should be.

What Professor Hagrid lacks, then, is awareness of how to convey his knowledge to students, and what to set, in the curricula. How can one expect, from a man who did not even get to filly complete his schooling, classes that are up to Ministry standards? I believe the Department of Magical Education should offer workshops designed to pinpoint exactly how to teach effectively, to teachers at Hogwarts. This could remedy Professor Hagrid's teaching, and give Hogwarts a professor to be proud of.

Bottom line; Diamond in the rough!


Professor Sprout; Herbology

Professor Sprout knows her subject to a tittle, and is fully aware how to convery her extensive knowledge, to her students. She encourages group-work, which teaches co-operation and co-ordination - often required, as I believe she knows, when studying herbology extensively, and at higher levels, mostly due to the fickle and dangerous nature of specific, magical plants, or the need to experiment with their usage under fully-controlled conditions - and makes students feel less apprehensive, about approaching plants that they may feel are out to eat them.

In short, she may have developed her own - healthy - techniques, but knows exactly what she is doing, and how to go about her job.

Bottom line; A valuable asset to the staff.


Professor Snape; Potions:

Professor Snape is a potions master, par excellence - he has his facts down, and knows his ingredients - the major requirement of a brilliant potioneer. He appears to be a brave and logical person, which makes him even better-suited to the job, as that ensures he will not be too scared to experiment with his own work, while making sure, at the same time, that his students remain out-of-danger, as long as they are under his watch.

That said, he can also be cold person, and regularly shows favouritism and bias - the coldness can be accepted, but the later two drawbacks, certainly not. I believe Professor Snape needs to reassess his position, and not use his authority unfairly.

Bottom line; Excellent teachers, but needs to be talked to.