Every professor from the Harry Potter books, ranked by how good they were at their jobs

In the Harry Potter series, readers encounter a variety of professors teaching the magical curriculum at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Which of these professors is the worst, which is the best, and how do the others shake out in our lineup? We take a look at each of the Hogwarts teachers and give our assessment of just how good they were at their jobs.

Author’s Note: There are many different teachers mentioned in passing throughout the Potterverse. For the purposes of this list, we are evaluating the top 15 professors that readers see and interact with Harry Potter and friends the most during his education at Hogwarts.

15. Quirinus Quirrell

When readers first arrive at Hogwarts, we meet a variety of new, odd, and interesting characters. It is understandable, then, why Quirrell gets away with his odd behavior for the majority of Harry's first school year. Quirrell’s lessons as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher were considered “a bit of a joke,” his refusal to elaborate on his supposed encounter with a vampire a quirky curiosity. His students developed headcanon theories about why his classroom smelled like garlic over any actual interaction with him.

But Quirrell had a secret: he was sharing a body with Voldemort, the dark lord himself. When you try to murder your students, it doesn't win you any brownie points. Despite being the job of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher after years of serving as the Muggle Studies professor, he coudln't defend himself. He fell short on all levels.

14. Amycus Carrow

When Defense Against the Dark Arts becomes just the Dark Arts, you’re probably in for a bad time. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the series, we hear from Neville Longbottom how awful Amycus is. We read about this firsthand when Harry sneaks into Hogwarts and manages to hide in the Ravenclaw common room. Amycus bursts in while looking for his sister Alecto (who is omitted from this list because readers don’t get much interaction with her) and has a fit when he finds her stunned on the floor. When Professor Minerva McGonagall stands up to his ridiculous plan to blame their failures on the students, he spits in her face.

Disrespecting your colleagues, especially in front of the students? Not cool. Also, wanting to blame said students for your shortcomings? Dude deserved the Crucio curse Harry laid on him.

13. Dolores Umbridge

Of course, the majority of professors we encounter in the books are Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. Umbridge, though, takes the pink-sprinkled cake in terms of being a crappy teacher. She gave back-handed “compliments” to fellow staff members and changes the curriculum to be more in line with the regressive policies of the Ministry, rather than with the facts. She was disinterested in forging any real bonds with students that didn’t suck up to her (and I’m sure even those connections were superficial). In fact, we see her use harm as a punishment for students!

“I will not tell lies” and say that Umbridge isn't one of the most sadistic creeps we meet in the series. Manipulative and cruel, Umbridge was definitely unfit to be a professor.

12.  Barty Crouch Jr. (Posing as Mad-Eye Moody)

We meet yet another Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, although we don't realize until the very end that he isn't who he says he is. While the real Mad-Eye Moody would have been an amazing teacher (and no buttocks would have been lost under his watch), readers find out that a Death Eater named Barty Crouch Jr. was impersonating the Auror the entire time, using polyjuice potion to disguise himself. Having a thorough knowledge of the Dark Arts, Crouch Jr. actually did a pretty decent job of teaching. Granted, transfiguring a student into a ferret as a punishment wasn’t really in line with the code of ethics at Hogwarts (even if Draco Malfoy deserved it) and it wasn’t very respectful of animal rights to practice unforgivable curses on spiders, but he got the points across to the students that he wanted to convey.

Don’t get me wrong, Crouch Jr. was awful for helping Voldemort come back (and practicing identity theft), but despite his ill intentions, he still managed to impart some important lessons.

11. Gilderoy Lockhart

When Lockhart took over teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, he constantly bragged about his adventures and referenced his bestselling books. We can see that he aggravated the other staff members and, as he was hurriedly packing up with intent to flee so he wouldn’t have to enter the Chamber of Secrets, he possessed no real consideration for the wellbeing of the students. Although he did appear to have some knowledge of what he was teaching, readers are hardly surprised when he comes clean and admits that the works he published were, in fact, not adventures that he himself experienced. Lockhart is pretty much the embodiment of the meme with the cat wearing a police dog vest with the caption, “When you lie on the resume but still get the job.”

10. Sybill Trelawney

Divination in general seems to be a tough topic, and Trelawney didn’t make it look easy. Although she certainly attempted to teach her students a variety of future-telling methods, very few of them actually seem to be effective when practiced. She did express a knack for clairvoyant “insights” (such as Neville breaking a cup and Hermione storming out near the end of the year), but her predictions aren’t indicative of her teaching skills. Some of the students seemed to like her, and those students are the only ones that seemed to absorb any of the education she tried to pass along.

Trelawney was definitely a unique character, but she came off as very unprofessional when she ranted to Harry after drinking sherry (and trying to hide her bottles in the Room of Requirement). Not ideal qualities, and therefore not an ideal ranking.

9. Cuthbert Binns

History of Magic is a broad subject with many aspects. Binns, being a ghost, knew quite a bit about history and may have lived through some of the events he taught. Although he doesn’t have an exceedingly strong presence in the books, he did leave an impression on me that puts him in the top 10. Despite giving boring lectures, he was viewed as a reliable and knowledgeable source. When asked for information about the Chamber of Secrets, Binns at first resisted, insisting that he stick to facts rather than “myths and legends.” Moved by the show of interest from his students, Binns relents and tells the tale. It's a bit disappointing that he lacked a connection with his students (he couldn’t get Hermione’s last name right for the life, or death, of him), but I appreciate that he was dedicated to truth and facts, and that he went off book when his students showed real interest.

8. Firenze

At one point in the books, Trelawney is replaced as the Divination teacher at Hogwarts by Firenze, who is a full centaur: half-man, half-horse. Firenze’s teaching of Divination tended to revolve more around astrology and astronomy, and he seemed to be pretty well-liked by his students. He was even considerate enough to share the teaching of the subject with Trelawney, even though he didn’t believe her methods of fortune-telling were accurate, as they are confined to the things humans perceive, rather than some of the more universal understandings that centaurs have developed).

I quite like his teaching approach and his reassurance to his students when they struggled. It was a refreshing and surprising take for a character in a role of authority to acknowledge and recognize that fallibility and variability exist rather than insist that there's only one way to solve any given problem.

7. Pomona Sprout

Herbology is a complex subject. How to handle different plants and what their properties are requires a lot of study and dedication. Sprout showed how robust her knowledge of the subject was when teaching a lesson on mandrakes, giving concise and clear instructions to her students to ensure they would be safe, like putting on earmuffs until given a signal so no one would get knocked out by the mandrakes' cries. She also used her keen intellect to use mandrakes later in order to help students who had been petrified.

However, she didn’t seem to connect much with students on other levels. We once hear her telling Crouch Jr. that Neville was good at her subject, but did Neville know she thought that? She did seem to get along well with most of her colleagues, though, as was demonstrated by her harvesting ingredients for Slughorn’s Potions class.

6. Rubeus Hagrid

In terms of subject knowledge, Hagrid did a pretty fair job when teaching Care of Magical Creatures. He conducted hands-on lessons that were interesting to students, which is a plus. However, these lessons didn't take the safety of said students into account, which is where he falls short. He still ranks decently on our list; we love him because of his endearing personality and the fact that students definitely remembered things they learned that did help them on several occasions. Not only was Hagrid a big man, he had a big heart and continued to look out for students (and creatures) when he wasn’t engaged in lessons.

5. Horace Slughorn

When it came to teaching Potions, Professor Horace Slughorn definitely understood the subject matter. He was encouraging of students in his classes, but he showed favoritism to the members of his “Slug Club” and tried to use students to foster connections, which takes marks off his score. It also was not great of him to be drinking to the point of inebriation in front of Harry (before you say it, yes, Hagrid also drank in that scene, but Slughorn was the one who provided the alcohol and they both were irresponsible).

On the positive side, this was what it took for Harry to convince Slughorn into giving up his memory of a young Voldemort. Using that memory, Harry learns that Slughorn was coerced by Tom Riddle into giving him information on Horcruxes. Even before he came back to Hogwarts to teach, Slughorn was essentially manipulated by Dumbledore to discontinue his retirement. He was not the strongest or most independent character, but he was knowledgable and more or less kind, even if he could have stood to maintain stronger professional and personal boundaries.

4. Filius Flitwick

Flitwick popped up several times throughout the Harry Potter series. The Charms professor was seen taking an interest in the education of his students as well as their personal lives, like being excited for Harry when he received a broom. He was also well-regarded as one of the few Hogwarts teachers that manages to last through all seven of Harry’s years at Hogwarts. He was responsible for some of the Hogwarts security system and was trusted with helping defend the school and its students in the final battle against Voldemort and his minions. Though short in stature, Flitwick towered above some of the others in reliability.

3. Remus Lupin

Arguably one of the best Defense Against the Dark Arts professors, Lupin brought a firsthand knowledge of survival and knowledge to the classes he taught. Several very important lessons about magic came from Lupin’s teachings at Hogwarts, like how to use a patronus. He encouraged students to be curious and exhibited concern for their wellbeing. Lupin was a solid professor with a compassionate, relatable nature that made readers and students alike adore him. Also, he promoted eating chocolate to feel better, so that obviously makes him amazing.

2. Severus Snape

The top two were hard to decide, but Snape had to be one of them. In his position as Potions Master, Snape came off as cold, easily annoyed and judgmental towards students he didn’t favor (which is a no-no, despite those choices making sense later), which is not ideal for a teacher. Snape’s firsthand experience with the Dark Arts did qualify him in a unique way for his eventual position as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, though we have few examples of how he conducted that class. However, the notes that he had written in his old Potions book provided Harry the cutting (or crushing, depending on the recipe) edge in his studies, showing that Snape had a very intricate knowledge and understanding of potions, poisons, cures, and more. A professor who can cover more than one subject and actually knows what they're talking about is a valuable asset to any institution of learning. 

1. Minerva McGonagall 

McGonagall was one of the strongest characters in the whole of the Harry Potter series. Described as “strict and clever,” we know she was quite gifted in Transfiguration, as she transformed into a cat in front of her students the first time Harry and his classmates ever met her. She was serious about her classes and graded students harshly but fairly, being particular about the details in the final product. However, she was also adaptable, witty, and very smart. She did not suffer fools. She did not get particularly close with any of the students, but did express sympathy and kindness. She fought to protect Hogwarts, its students, and its staff, and was consistently one of the first professors to arrive on the scene when issues arose. Her dependability and fierce loyalty were admirable qualities, and her students tended to hold her in high regard. She was sassy, sarcastic, and suitably the best professor.

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