Department of Education

[OliveOil_Med]

Do you think the Ministry of Magic has some sort of Department of Education, or do you think educational affairs are completely overseen by Hogwarts and the Governers? Do think the Governers are somehow part of a Ministry Department, or do they operate on their own?

[Maple_and_PheonixFeather]

The thoughts running through my head as I was reading this was "wait, aren't the governers part of the Ministry? " But then you asked that, so I would be inclined to say that they do work with the Ministry, and the Ministry did interfere in Book 5...if it was just a school thing, they couldn't do that...could they? Hmmm, I'd just say that yes, there is an Educational department.

[Sapphire at Dawn]

School governors wouldn't be part of the government. Every school in Britain has a board of govenors which is probably why Hogwarts has one; JKR based her school system on the one over here. There role is to oversee the governing of the school and raise concerns they might have, advise on the spending of the budget etc. And apparently at Hogwarts, they have the power to suspend the Headmaster. But they're not part of any official body, like the council, they're independent to the school.

I don't think that there would be a Department of Education, because of what Tim said regarding Fudge's inability to reverse Dumbledore's suspension. Also, in OoTP, Fudge needed to pass all those bills to be able to gain more control over what was happening at Hogwarts. If it was controlled by a department at the Ministry he wouldn't need to do this. The power seems to lie with the Headmaster and the board of govenors.

Sarah x

[Maple_and_PheonixFeather]

Mmm, that does make sense. I kind of based my answer off of the school systems I;m familiar with, where the government does play a key role...Sorry

[Sapphire at Dawn]

No need to be sorry! The government does play a key role in education over here, just the governors aren't part of it. It's just a name.

Sarah x

[Tim the Enchanter]

Do you think the Ministry of Magic has some sort of Department of Education, or do you think educational affairs are completely overseen by Hogwarts and the Governers? Do think the Governers are somehow part of a Ministry Department, or do they operate on their own?

All of the Ministry departments are listed in OotP, and a department for education is not mentioned. Presumably, the governors manage the school and are independent of the Ministry, so whatever the Ministry of Magic wants taught has to go through these governors.

Also, it was the governors lead by Lucius Malfoy who forced Dumbledore's (temporary) resignation in CoS. Minister Fudge even said that he had no authority to counteract their decision.

Tim the Enchanter