Hogwarts professors ranked by who is the Best TEACHER?
So not best/least evil/most doesn't-try-to-kill-students-outside-of-class person. Best *in the classrom.* Lets go -
22. Alecto Carrow
The only one on this list who teaches exclusively INCORRECT information (anti muggle propaganda). Easy way to get dead last.
21. Amycus Carrow
Successfully teaches accurate stuff, but in the wrong order. Bad gun safety, basically - teaching students to cast fiendfyre but not control it. Also forces students to torture each other as class activity, so you know. There's that.
20. Dolores Umbridge
Teaches accurate information... that is below student skill level... in a way that is both boring and condescending. She's all about "just copy the text book." So - basically a babysitter. Shuts down student engagement.
19. Rubeus Hagrid
Sorry to put Hagrid so low, but he is also *basically* a babysitter. I mean he does teach Harry about unicorns, dragons and giant spiders - outside of class. He clearly knows his stuff, but just is not great about that whole zone of proximal development thing. His classes are either WAY too easy, or way too hard. And he's lucky his experimentally-bred manticore/firecrab hybrid didn't seriously hurt anybody. He teaches ONE good class, and it's the one about thestrals.
18. Gilderoy Lockhart
Presumably does know the material in a theoretical way... but his classes are mostly trivia sessions centered around his books, and there's no way all that information is relevant, or accurate. (Like he talks about forcing werewolves to transform magically? that's not a thing.) (also puts things like 'what is gilderoy lockhart's favorite color' on tests) He does rank SLIGHTLY higher than Hagrid because the magical creatures he unleashes (and doesn't know how to control) are less dangerous. Also, I think if he put TOO much misinformation in his books, Hermione wouldn't defend him as much as she does. And he does organize student clubs and extracurriculars. The Dueling Club was a really good idea, even if the execution could use some work.
17. Firenze
He knows what he's talking about - but isn't interested in actually teaching. (He's mostly doing a favor for Dumbledore.) His class seems very chill and mellow, and his classroom is very beautiful. But it's more of a meditation class. He's someone who has just gone very off curriculum.
16. Severus Snape
I'm writing a whole thing about Snape-as-a-teacher, and he's probably the most brilliant person on this list... but look. He is ALSO just not that interested in teaching. He's a "take notes from the textbook" and "follow the instructions off the board" guy. He's much better at classroom management and classroom safety than Lockhart, and he actually is teaching what he's supposed to be teaching, unlike everyone so far. But he does also insult his students, make them cry, heavily favor the Slytherins and generally create a stressful learning environment. He's one hell of a textbook writer, and while Hermione is able to learn from him (she's able to learn from most of the the people on this list tbh) Harry and Neville both get a lot better at potions the second he is no longer in the room. Apparently his test scores look good though?
15. Cuthbert Binns
Knowledgeable, and actually does give lectures, but is boring. Does answer Hermione's questions about the Chamber of Secrets that one time. Very mellow classroom atmosphere. Harry often falls asleep. But no one has a bad experience in his class... just.... a very very boring one.
14. Quirinus Quirrell
Just as checked-out as Binns, but ranks higher because he's not as stagnant. Quirrell did take a sabbatical to learn more about his subject, and at least tries to get better. It doesn't *work* but you know. The students seem to find his classes boring and "kind of a joke." But not as comically boring as Binns.'
13. Sybil Trelawney
Knows her stuff (or at least - she is teaching the curriculum. The curriculum might be stupid, but that's not necessarily her fault.) Gives lectures, has a mellow classroom atmosphere (Harry falls asleep in this class too.) But she ranks higher than Binns or Quirrell because her presentation is better. She at least makes Divination seem dramatic and interesting. Lavender and Parvati are super engaged. Trelawney kinda picks on Harry for the bit though, and apparently "pick one student per year to be the bad-omens lighting rod" is just a very weird thing she does. Personally I think I prefer 'clueless' to 'checked out,' but that's up for debate.
12. Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank
Apart from being... weirdly sexist... seems like a great teacher. The GIRLS at least really enjoy her classes. Even Pansy, who seems like she would be really difficult to get engaged, likes her classes.
11. Rolanda Hooch
Since she only teaches that one class... not sure if she counts as a professor... but she does teach everyone the basics of how to operate a broom just fine. Leaving a lot of eleven-year-olds unsupervised is bad classroom management BUT I agree that Neville definitely needed someone to escort him up to the hospital wing. Really she needs a TA.
10. Aurora Sinistra
A professor who Harry seems to have no opinion on at at all, other than she gives a lot of homework.
9. Bathsheda Babbling
Teaches Ancient Runes. We know nothing about her, including her name, which is from JKR's notes.
8. Septima Vector
Teaches Arithmancy, and Hermione likes her.
7. Charity Burbage
Good enough at teaching Muggle Studies that Voldemort feels the need to publicly kill her. Have to assume that means she's got some decent influence over her students. I also think she gives good essay prompts ("Explain why muggles need electricity.) Doesn't rank higher because Hermione drops Muggle Studies, and we never actually see inside one of her classes.
6. Pomona Sprout
This is what I think Hagrid's classes would have looked like if he were more experienced. A little goofy, a little free-form, very practical and hands-on, a lot of laughing. The plants they're dealing with are at the right level, everything is challenging enough to be interesting, but everyone knows that no one's getting hurt. The only reason Sprout doesn't rank higher is that it's *Moody* that really identifies and nurtures Neville's interest in herbology, and it seems like that's an oversight on her part.
5. Minerva McGonagall
Strict but fair, AMAZING classroom management (transfiguration seems like such a hotbed for magical accidents, and the ones we see are incredibly minor, and dealt with in-class.) She effortlessly controls her room, her assignments are at the right level and usually sound interesting and fun. (I love that she gives extra points for how pretty your transfigured snuffbox is, that's cute.) Harry doesn't seem to do especially well in her class, but still enjoys it, which is the mark of a good teacher. Transfiguration also seems to have a reputation as one of the more "prestigious" subjects at Hogwarts, at least according to Augusta Longbottom. 'Transfiguration Professor' is kind of a feeder position for 'Headmaster.' So it's probably a fairly high-pressure subject to teach.
BUT. (but). I don't get the sense that Minerva finds being a teacher especially fun or rewarding, and I think you have to count that when you're in the top five. McGonagall should have a few higher-level classes, a handful of hand-picked NEWT apprentices, and enough time to do some academic writing. She's not an ideal teacher for the younger levels - and especially for students like Neville, who she's pretty harsh with. She's just too intimidating.
4. Horace Slughorn
Slughorn likes to run his classes competitively, way more than anyone else on this list... which is an approach that works really well for Harry and Draco, and less so for Hermione and Neville. I think they find it a little chaotic and unpredictable. But Slughorn clearly has tons of classroom presence, he's an engaging, motivating, charismatic speaker. He likes it when his students challenge him and surprise him, and he definitely likes emotionally connecting with them more than like, McGonagall does. He's the type of teacher to tell you funny anecdotes about his own life. Ex-students like him enough to keep in touch, and he clearly finds teaching incredibly fulfilling and rewarding. He gets Harry VERY interested in potions, very quickly.
The drawbacks are that Slughorn does play favorites. He likes charming, powerful students, and that isn't you... then you're probably going to find yourself overlooked (like Neville, or Ron.)
3. "Mad-Eye Moody" (Barty Crouch Junior)
One thing about McGonagall - I know this isn't exactly fair, it has more to do with the way the books are written. But - no one USES transfiguration outside of her class. The only examples of McGonagall's students using transfiguration out in the wild are:
Cedric turning a rock into a dog.
Barty Jr. turning his father into a bone
Barty Jr. turning Draco into a ferret.
Hermione making bread less moldy (unsuccessful)
Percy using transfiguration in combat to create spikes
And all four of those people are exceptional students who probably would have done fine with any teacher.
But Moody. Moody teaches Harry crucio, imperius, how to *resist* imperius, and a lot of his safety tips come in very handy when Harry has to deal with Umbridge. He gets a lot out of that class. Moody is also really good at dealing with Neville. He identifies that he's in a bad place after the Unforgivable Curses lecture, takes him aside, and very effectively encourages him and cheers him up. He had ulterior motives of course, but he still did it. Moody also gives engaging lectures, and has enough charisma and presence to impress the twins. I think he enjoys teaching for kinda twisted reasons... but he absolutely does enjoy it.
I will say though. I think Barty is probably leaning a bit on Moody's reputation and Moody's *look.* I don't think he'd be able to command that class so effortlessly if he were a 30-year-old skinny blonde guy.
2. Remus Lupin
If I'm putting the top guys through the "how do you handle Neville Longbottom" test - then Lupin passes with flying colors. He is universally beloved by everyone except Draco Malfoy (and the only criticism Draco can come up with is that his clothes are shabby.) Lupin is knowledgeable, endlessly kind and patient, has engaging lesson plans and assignments (I really like his obstacle-course final.) He gives Harry very successful extracurricular patronus lessons, and even incidental stuff like 'how to deal with grindylows' ends up being useful later.
The one thing I will say about Lupin is that he might err on the side of too lenient. I could see him being very unwilling to discipline a student, or give them a bad grade, or assign make-up work. Snape also says that he keeps bad class records, and - I think that's probably true.
1. Fillius Flitwick
Unexpected, but I think he's my winner. It does help that he's not on the page much and isn't important to the plot - that limits possible strikes against him - but still. NO one has a single word to say against Flitwick, ever. He's an ex-dueling champion, so he's very competent. His classes are fun and light-hearted, but everyone still comes away knowing how to do the spell of the day - and if you don't, he'll assign make-up work. We get absolute workhorse charms from him - wingardiam leviosa, accio, alohomora. He also seems to be the only teacher who is absolutely bulletproof during Umbridge's inspections:
"You know what Flitwick’s like, he treated her like a guest, didn’t seem to bother him at all. [Umbridge] didn’t say much. Asked Alicia a couple of questions about what the classes are normally like, Alicia told her they were really good, that was it.” “I can’t see old Flitwick getting marked down,” said George, “he usually gets everyone through their exams all right.”
Flitwick doesn't pick favorites, all his students do just fine - we don't have much info about how he treats Neville, but we know Neville does well on his Charms OWLs. Flitwick lets the trio practice in his empty classroom during Book 4, in the movies he runs the choir as a student club. He's head of Ravenclaw, seem to legitimately enjoy his job. Love that for him.
