View source for Two-Teacher School

{{trope}}
{{quote|''"You are going to learn something from life every day. And make mistakes. And you'll make good friends and Mr. Feeny will probably teach you every grade you're ever in."''|'''Cory Matthews''', ''[[Boy Meets World]]''}}

Even with a large student body, especially one [[Fundamentally Female Cast|with cute schoolgirls]], the faculty needed to maintain a large campus may rarely appear. Actual teachers may be limited to the homeroom, English, [[School Nurse|nurse]] and gym teacher; sometimes [[Economy Cast|both at once]]. Both will preferably be female characters in their mid-twenties, although the gym teachers are sometimes men or ambiguously lesbian or mannish women.

The rest of the time, education will occur with no visible staff—even when the action takes place in and during a class, a teacher is almost never shown. Like [[Parental Abandonment]], this prevents adults who would otherwise have an interest in (or at least an influence on) the main characters from interfering with the plot. It's also a way to [[Economy Cast|avoid creating extraneous characters]] the show isn't going to focus on anyway.

This may be [[Hand Wave|handwaved]] by the presence of an [[Absurdly Powerful Student Council]] running things, or the pragmatic view that even when screentime is spent on characters actually being in class, it's not the ''lessons'' that are important to the plot. It's also a way to avoid the expense of creating and animating an entire classroom filled with people.

{{examples}}
==  Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'', we only see one shrewish teacher in the first episode. The school's deputy chairman, meanwhile, ends up being the show's [[Big Bad]].
* There's only one teacher at ''[[Haré+Guu]]''{{'}}s school. And he's always sleeping.
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' only ever shows a single teacher, who [[Mr. Exposition|endlessly drones through the same lecture]], episode after episode, about Second Impact.
** And, based on episode 3, horribly sucks at math. [[E=MC Hammer|Pause at the point they focus on the chalkboard...]] Seriously, he cannot handle basic calculus.
** {{spoiler|[[The End of the World as We Know It|Considering this is Eva and the amount of people that are suppose to be left (Especially towards the End)]] [[Justified Trope|this probably was done on purpose.]] }}
* Although it is set in a very large private school, there are ''no'' visible teachers anywhere in ''[[My-HiME]]'' aside from Midori (who is part of the core cast) and Sakomizu (who acts a supporting character and is almost never seen teaching). We do get to see the headmistress ( {{spoiler|who is [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]], and by the end of the series she passes the title and responsibilities to her assistant}}), although the nurse happened to be a [[Hot Scientist|cute lady]].
* The most recent ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' anime, Negima!? plays with this. In the previous anime, we never saw many teachers but lots of nondescript students on the enormous campus, of which the main cast is only class 2-A. The manga shows a larger number of teachers a bit in (past the point the anime drift off on their own), but most of them are also mages, and we never see them do any actual ''teaching'', although, of course, we don't see the main character, ostensibly a teacher, teaching, so presumably its in there somewhere offscreen. Probably. Unless it isn't. Thats the thing about stuff offscreen, you can't see it.
** Negi has been seen giving quizzes and making the "[[Baka]] Rangers" stay after class, and gives various efforts to help them learn. (the whole Library Island arc)
*** Of course, after around volume 9 or so, we don't see them in class period. It goes to the [[School Festival]], Summer Vacation, and then everybody gets [[Trapped in Another World]]...
* In ''[[Shugo Chara]]'', the only adults we see at Seiyo Academy are Nikaidou-sensei and Tsukasa. And Tsukasa isn't even a teacher. Not only does Nikaidou teach Amu both years, but he also teaches her in gym and seems to be the only person seen in charge during assemblies.
* ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'' shows at least three teachers, and even shows them teaching in class. But then again, they're as much part of the core cast as the students are. We also get the occasional cameo by a different teacher. Their homeroom teacher doesn't change, either, but that's only because she doesn't want to memorize any new names (except for Kagura, whom she took for her athletic prowess).
** When one looks at the anime, at least two other teachers are seen (albeit briefly). One (also seen in the manga) is the stern teacher in the very first episode who made Chiyo cry, and the other is a music teacher who shows up for all of 5–10 seconds in the second episode. Neither of them are seen again.
* ''[[Please Twins!]]'' has a bit of [[Lampshade Hanging]] when a student mentions that it seems like the school only has two teachers (Kazami Mizuho and Yamada Masaomi).
* ''[[SHUFFLE!]]!'' takes this concept a step further by introducting the ''one'' teacher school.
* Totally Averted in ''[[Great Teacher Onizuka]]'', besides Onizuka himself, there is Headmaster Ryoko Sakurai, Vice-Principal Uchiyamada, Fuyutsuki (Japanese), Teshigawara (Mathematics), Fukuroda (Gym coach), Sakurada (English), Kochatani (Science) and a few other that show up in the series.
* Taken to the extreme in ''[[Cromartie High School]]'', where no teachers are introduced until volume 11.
* ''[[Corrector Yui]]'' had one undefined teacher, [[Adult Child|Manami-sensei]] who also happened to be a sentient computer program and teach from a TV screen mounted in the class.
* Avoided in all incarnations of ''[[Digimon]]''. While only one or two teachers were ever ''prominent,'' shots of schools made the presence of teachers, lunch ladies, etc. clear. No sign whatsoever of the [[Absurdly Powerful Student Council]] that replaces any faculty in most anime.
* ''[[Strawberry Panic!|Strawberry Panic]]'' has one faculty member shown infrequently and takes the [[Absurdly Powerful Student Council]] to the Nth degree.
* ''[[Kaitou Saint Tail]]'' has a one ''nun'' school. Averting the lack of disciplinary action usually associated with Two Teacher Schools, said nun embodies the sister-teacher stereotype, being very strict and not afraid to punish anyone, much less the main characters. Seira, her [[Nuns Are Mikos|apprentice]], gets off free.
** There is another nun shown teaching English in one episode. But she's only shown briefly, and the only reason you can tell she's different is because she's younger.
* The entire ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'' [[Anime]] passes without ''any'' classroom teachers being seen ''at all''. Somewhat surprisingly for Ouran, nobody [[Lampshade Hanging|hangs a lampshade]] on it.
** It would explain how [[Idiot Hero|Tamaki]] managed to be second in his class.
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' also suffers from this. In fact it gets progressively worse as the five seasons go on. There was one teacher, [[Christmas Cake|Sakurada Haruna]] in the first season. By the fifth season even she had vanished. (Understandably since the girls were in a different school now... but really...)
* Averted in ''[[Gokusen]]'';Yamaguchi and Fujiyama get the lion's share of the attention,but there's a reasonable complement of teachers in the background that are shown occasionally.
* ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure]]'' managed to avert this, with a decent number of teachers at the school—they even brought in student teachers early on. In ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star]]'', on the other hand, this trope is in full effect. And the school in ''[[Yes! Pretty Cure 5]]'' is a Two-Teacher School ''after'' Coco starts teaching there.
* ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei]]'' has only Itoshiki-sensei and Chie-sensei, who is introduced as the school's guidance counselor but also teaches classes on occasion (read: when Itoshiki-sensei is too in despair to care about his class.) Also, Jinroku—what he teaches is unclear—is shown for a few seconds in one episode, then disappears until season two with a weird tattoo on his back.
* ''[[The Familiar of Zero]]'' only ever shows two teachers: Mrs. Chevreuse, who simply exists so we can have a demonstration of [[Stuff Blowing Up|what happens when Louise tries to cast a spell]] and to [[Mr. Exposition|explain the basics of magic]], and [[Badass Teacher|Mr. Colbert]], who actually has plot relevance. This isn't counting the [[Dirty Old Man|principal, Old Osmond]].
* The high school in ''[[Mariasama ga Miteru]]'' appears to have a dire lack of teachers for the number of students. There are a few nuns who apparently are staff members, but it is unclear whether they are also teachers.
* Despite all of the action in ''[[Ikki Tousen]]'' taking place in or around several high schools, there are absolutely ''no'' teachers or staff members visible ever. Perhaps they all got tired of being under attack by supernatural fighters all the time—or maybe they just have been killed already. Of course, one wonders why the police never shows up either despite the regular highly visible outbursts of violence, but maybe [[Weirdness Censor|they just don't care]].
* Kasugano-sensei from ''[[Sketchbook]]'' is the ''only'' teacher who is ever visible during the course of the show. She is also [[Adult Child|nearly indistinguishable from her students]], both in looks and behavior.
** In the manga she gets assisted by Soyogi-sensei, who stirs things up quite a bit with her love for magic tricks.
* The teaching staff at Yamabuki High of ''[[Hidamari Sketch]]'' seems to consist only of Yoshinoya-sensei and the principal.
** Volume 1 has a named teacher who's absent; Volume 4 finally has another teacher drawn.
** To be frank, the manga has a lot of unnamed teachers; Yoshinoya appreantly only teaches studio arts and basic art theories.
* Averted in ''[[Hell Teacher Nube]]''. Apart of the titular character who works as a teacher in an elementary school, we have one of his love interests (Ritsuko), Tamamo (the male nurse), the PE teacher and the principal (actually a [[Genre Savvy]] man who hired Nube ''knowing'' who he was).
* In ''[[Pani Poni Dash!]]'', Peach Moon Academy is a ''four'' teacher school, and we see all of them teach at various points (even though Becky gets the most attention).
* In ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (anime)|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', the only teacher we see in Nanoha's school is Nanoha's homeroom teacher. There was another male math teacher that appears in one episode of the first season, but that was in [[Cram School]].
* Yukari-sensei is pretty much the only teacher in ''[[Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu]]''.
* Justified in ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'', as Hinamizawa is a village of only about 2000 people, and the (tiny) school really does only have two teachers.
* Averted in ''[[Happy Lesson]]'' since Chitose's teachers all decide to adopt him and become his mother (non-Chitose-related teachers, though, tend not to show up).
* In ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'', the only teacher that gets any major screen time is Onsen Mark, and the only other staff visible is the principal and Sakura, the school nurse.
* In ''[[Ranma ½]]'', the teachers (except for Hinako) are seldom shown (because most of the stuff that happens is not at the school or not during class) and he only knows about Principal Kuno because of the latter's crazy antics. The anime does actually show the existence of more teachers, but they are never named and do so little (only a few speaking lines throughout all seven seasons, and are usually just shown on screen as, at most, Principal Kuno's unwilling goons) that it still manages to qualify for this trope. Well, it's a ''Three'' Teacher School if one counts minor character Higuma Torajiro, a temporary teacher for Ranma's homeroom who is functionally a parody of the [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] serving as a [[Villain of the Week]].
* Whenever [[Inuyasha|Kagome]] makes it to school in the modern era, the teachers seldom have face time.
* ''[[Hikaru no Go]]'', being largely a Go-related series, doesn't show any school teachers unless they have something to do with said game.
** Sports anime in general tends to focus on the team's practice sessions and tournament play, so regular school time doesn't get the spotlight often.
* Semi-averted in ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]''; most subjects have a teacher with a name and character profile in the manga, though they rarely show up. Played much more straight in the anime, where Terada-sensei and Mizuki-sensei are pretty much the only two teachers, and the rest don't even have profiles.
* ''[[Lucky Star]]'' only has Nanako Kuroi as the homeroom/history teacher of the main cast (except for Kagami) and the biology teacher. Apparently, there are no other significant students either, as they all have the same voice of a middle-aged woman regardless of gender or age.
** The manga however, has the school nurse (we have an [[Ill Girl]] in the cast, after all).
* The ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' anime almost never showed teachers in the scenes that took place at school. The main characters would just be sitting in a classroom and talking or something. In one episode, there was a brief glimpse of a highly emotional P.E. teacher... and then Anzu and co. ditched him and that was it.
* Averted in ''S.S. Astro,'' a manga series that focuses on the teachers at a high school instead of the students. The four main characters and supporting cast add up to around a dozen teachers.
* Sort-of-averted in ''[[GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class]]''. GA-1 happned to have two homeroom teachers (Satoma-sensei and Usami-sensei), and GA-3's homeroom (Sasamoto-sensei)is also a major character—especially she's also the advisor for the Art Club.
* ''[[Wolf Guy]]: Wolfen Crest'' has approximately two teachers, one female and one male (guess which one tries to make a stand). There's also the principal and vice-principal, but everyone is too terrified of the delinquents' leader, [[Yakuza]] heir Haguro, to do anything about the violence Haguro's gang causes. Oh, and this is a ''middle school''.
* Katori-sensei from ''[[Amanchu!]]'' seems to be the only teacher dwelling in that rather large high school building — perhaps justified since the school also appears to have a suspicious lack of students. Sure, there are two other adults shown shortly, but it's not clear what ''their'' function is.
* ''[[Ladies versus Butlers!]]'' has the principal, Kaede Tenjouji and Mikan (no last name given) as the ''only'' faculty members that ever appear.
* The school in ''[[Fruits Basket]]'' seems to have only two teachers, one of whom in Mayuko (who has plot significance), while the other is a man who appears to teach gym and possibly other subjects.
* The only known school staff in ''[[Junsui Adolescence]]'' are the school nurse Matsumoto and a teacher named Hanada.
* Garderobe Academy in ''[[Mai-Otome]]'' has exactly two teachers shown onscreen (Miss Maria and Yukariko), plus the principal and a scientist taking care of all the [[Lost Technology]] stored there.
** In [[My-HiME]] various unnamed teachers make brief appearances, but only Midori and Ishigami are significant characters.
* It takes nine episodes for ''[[Madoka Magica]]'' to get a second teacher. Before that it's just Saotome-sensei.
** There is a PE teacher who was impressed by Homura's high jump ability in the first episode. There aren't all that many scenes set in the school overall.
* Maya and Chifuyu are the only teachers in ''[[Infinite Stratos]]''.
* ''[[Bleach]]'' has Ochi-sensei, the main teacher of the teenage human characters, and the gym teacher Kagine-sensei, plus the principal. They all kind of fade out of the series after a while.
* ''[[Beelzebub]]'' and Ishiyama High with its [[Japanese Delinquents|"120% delinquency rate"]]. Actually a ''no-teacher'' school, except for the lunch lady and the principal who doubles as the school janitor(!) Well, since all of the classrooms have actually been turned into individual gang headquarters, the marked absence of teachers is pretty understandable. Lampshaded in the anime.
{{quote|'''Furuichi''': "I've been wondering about this for awhile, but what do the teachers in this school actually ''do''?"}}
* ''[[Code Geass]]'' only gives us one named teacher (in the second season), and in that case {{spoiler|she's a Britannian spy keeping an eye on Lelouch}}. In the first season we see one teacher getting Geassed, and again we see a conference where teachers are apparently lining up to chew out Lelouch and Suzaku for chronic truancy and dump make-up work on them.

==  Comic Books ==
* [[Archie Comics]] largely averts this, with a large cast at Riverdale High being formed over the years. It used to be played almost straight with Ms. Grundy (whose subjects seem to vary between teaching social studies, English, and/or math) but then there's Mr. Weatherbee the school principal; Ms. Beazley the lunchlady; Professor Flutesnoot the science teacher; Mr. Svenson the janitor; Coaches Kleats and Clayton, The Bee's secretary Miss Philips, Miss Haggly, Vice Principal Patton Howitzer and many others. Miss Grundy is still usually the director of the school play (not Miss Hammly, the ''actual'' drama teacher, who's just not used), and of nearly all extracurricular activities, playing this trope straight in that case. Most of this cast apparently also taught the Archie gang at Riverdale Elementary before following them to high school, per the "Little Archie" stories. A few stories have attempted to subvert this, though.
* [[The Beano|The Bash Street Kids]] plays this trope straight. Their school seems to contain only one teacher, a headmaster, a janitor and a school cook. The Bash Street Kids themselves seem to be the only students in the entire school.


==  Film ==
* [[Never Been Kissed]] contains the kooky French/Spanish/Social Studies teacher and the English/Sex Ed teacher.
* [[Revenge of the Nerds]] is set at a college that seems to only have two staff members- the [[Big Bad]] Coach, and the Principal, who seemed to exist mostly for the Coach to [[Kick the Dog]].
* Literally in ''[[The Children's Hour]]''. The school that most of the film takes place literally has two teachers, being that it's an all-girls school in the 1920s. {{spoiler|Quickly however, the school closes down}}.


==  Literature ==
* The ''[[Jennings]]'' books by Anthony Buckeridge, a series set in a boys' boarding school. Chapter 11 of ''Thanks to Jennings'' lists the school's five teachers. For two of them this is the only mention they get.
** Justified in that 'Jennings Goes to School' states that the school only has 78 pupils. Five teachers is a reasonable number for that many boys.
* Is used in The Candy Shop War, but it's pretty justified considering that the students are in an elementary school and only need one teacher.
* [[A Series of Unfortunate Events|Prufrock Prep's]] teaching staff seems to consist of only Mr. Remora, Mrs. Bass, and later [[Paper-Thin Disguise|Coach Genghis.]] The only other adults working at the school are Vice Principal Nero and two cafeteria workers.


==  Live Action TV ==
* Only two teachers are shown in ''[[Radio Active]]''; Ms. Noelle Atoll and Vice Principal Angus B. Noseworthy. Lampshaded in one episode where the students realize they can't name off any teachers other than those two.
* Mr. Feeny and Mr. Turner in ''[[Boy Meets World]]''. Mr. Feeny actually followed Cory and Shawn from middle school to high school due to a promotion, to Cory's horror. He eventually follows Cory to college, with suitable lampshade hanging. Mr. Feeny is qualified to teach elementary school, English, history, geography, math, literature, psychology, sociology, and quantum mechanics. ''And'' [[Economy Cast|he's Cory's next-door neighbor.]]
** Turner was actually introduced in the second season, when the kids moved to high school; the first season took place in elementary school, where it ''[[Justified Trope|would]]'' make sense for the kids to have only one teacher. Because Feeny (the principal of John Adams High) and Turner had a lot of scenes together, we ''did'' get to see other teachers sometimes, even though we never actually saw them ''teach''. During the third season, when Shawn moved in with Turner (giving Turner a bigger role in the show), a ''third'' teacher, Turner's best friend Eli Williams, was introduced. He only lasted one season, and then Turner [[Brother Chuck|disappeared]] at the end of the fourth. In the fifth season and last year of high school, Feeny was their only teacher again.
** ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' even has a Two Teacher ''College'': the only recurring professors we see at Pennbrook are Mr. Feeny (who else?) and Dean Bollander.
* Aversion: ''Gap'' gives every character different classes, and every class a different teacher, resulting in a very realistic portrayal of the school.
* Averted in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' by introducing new school personnel whenever needed and featuring several as recurring characters. This is played with in relation to Buffy's demon-hunting duties; early in the third season, it is revealed that she has missed class so often that her favorite teacher has no idea who she is.
** And even then, the teachers usually only appear long enough to be used in the plot, and then vanish forever, or even get killed off (the first principal, Buffy's first science teacher), or once in a while turn out to be the [[Monster of the Week]] (Buffy's second science teacher, who killed the first science teacher).
** Played much more straight when she gets to college, though: the only lecturer we ever see more than once is the plot-important Professor Walsh.
* ''[[Power Rangers]]'': The first six series involved the same school, and only two faculty tended to be shown: principal Mr. Caplan and teacher Ms. Appleby. Series twelve (''Dino Thunder'') featured a high school again, making [[Older and Wiser|one of the students]] from the Caplan/Appleby years the only teacher seen at the new Rangers' school, with the principal the only other member of the faculty seen.  {{spoiler|Of course, this teacher is [[Mission Control]] and the principal is [[The Mole]].}} When the teacher had to take a leave of absence due to getting [[Mode Locked]] {{spoiler|in his Ranger outfit}} they had to go far outside the usual channels for a substitute: the ''businessman'' who happened to be the [[Sixth Ranger]]'s dad  {{spoiler|and the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Secret Identity]].}} It seems the Power Rangers universe has exactly four people who are qualified to teach.
** Another one of their substitutes was a volcanologist (who was made into that episode's [[Monster of the Week]]), so five people.
** This is, of course, pretty reasonable in [[Power Rangers Ninja Storm|the previous season,]] when the setting is a secret ninja school with a student body of maybe 30.
* Semi-avoided in the various incarnations of ''[[Saved by the Bell]]'', with the one recurring teacher changed every so often, and the occasional substitute teacher/new teacher/horrible teacher as a one-shot guest.
* Averted in ''[[Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide]]'', where there was at least one teacher of every major subject- although the original principal's "retirement" turned pretty quickly into switching places with the English teacher.
** Though that switch is a bit more complicated; the former principal becomes the new Social Studies teacher, (replacing [[Heavy Sleeper|an old lady with a pillow at her desk]]) the English teacher becomes the principal, and [[Voice with an Internet Connection|iTeacher]] becomes the new English teacher. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go [[Austin Powers|uncross my eyes.]]
* ''[[iCarly]]'': Averted. The list of teachers includes [[Reasonable Authority Figure|Principal Franklin]], [[Sadist Teacher|Mrs. Briggs and Mr. Howard]] as the main recurring teachers. Other teachers like [[Lady in Red|Miss. Ackerman]] and [[Hippy Teacher|Mr. Henning]] have episodes centred around them, whilst others like Mr. Devlin show up as recurring background characters.
* ''[[Drake and Josh]]'' had only one recurring teacher, but few minor ones were shown occasionally.
* Harbour High on ''[[The OC]]'' was essentially a ''no'' teacher school. The only staff member we saw was the Dean (and her infrequently). Oh and the [[Dean Bitterman|Dean of Discipline]] for a few episodes late in the series.
*There was also a history teacher who assigned Ryan and Luke a project.
* In the ''[[Leverage]]'' episode ''The Fairy Godmother Job'', the team literally turns the mark's stepson's private school into this, with Eliot as the gym teacher, and Sophie teaching everything else.
** Though it can be assumed that other teachers are still there, but as they are unnecessary to the plot, we simply never see the kids in their classes.
* The television series of ''[[The Worst Witch]]'' only ever featured 4 teachers. By the third season, Mildred and her class didn't seem to have a form tutor for their year. (There was mention of a Form 2 teacher at the start of series 2 who'd gone off to live in the Outer Hebridies though).
* ''Popular'' originally subverted this, but eventually the school's instructors shown on camera pretty much boiled down to Bobbi Glass, who taught biology and then got upgraded to chemistry. Did I mention that her twin sister was the school nurse in season 1, and her brother also got brought in for an episode?
* ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'' had Mr. Pool and the infrequently seen Westbridge High Principal. After Mr. Pool left he was replaced by [[Sadist Teacher]] Vice Principal (and later Principal) Mr. Kraft, and [[Hippy Teacher]] Mrs. Quick.
* In season one of ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'', one running subplot was how Sydney's spy duties were affecting her grades in college. Though apparently it wasn't that much of a problem since she only seemed to be taking one class.
* In ''[[Strangers with Candy]]'', Flatpoint High has [[Sadist Teacher|Mr. Noblet]], the history teacher, and [[Hippie Teacher|Mr. Jellineck]], the art teacher. The gym teacher is around sometimes, and other members of the faculty make cameos, but most of the time, those two seem to be the only ones around.
** [[Bald Black Leader Guy|Principal]] [[Meaningful Name|Onyx]] [[Scary Black Man|Blackman]] is present in every episode, though he is more interested in being feared & worshipped by the student population, than actually running the school.
* ''[[Grange Hill]]''. For such a long-running show featuring classes of students ranging in ages from 11 to 18 (and a fairly realistic number of extras to fill out a London secondary comprehensive school), very few of the staff were ever shown on camera. Sure, there were some, but in any given season there was usually only about 4 or so (including the current Headteacher and often a janitor).
* They don't even get teachers on ''[[The Secret Life of the American Teenager]]'', but they do get a football coach and a guidance counselor.
* ''[[The Steve Harvey Show]]'' Ced was the gym/health teacher/football/basketball coach and Steve was the music/art/drama teacher and later, vice principal. There was a dance teacher, an English teacher, and a social studies teacher as well as other faculty members, but they only showed up when the plot demanded it, so Ced and Steve were pretty much it at Booker T. Washington High School.
* The only faculty typically featured on [[Glee]] are Will, guidance counselor Emma, Principal Figgins, Cheerios coach Sue Sylvester and either football coach. Other faculty appear frequently in the teacher's lounge, but both teachers and students are rarely shown in class, giving the impression that virtually all of the day's activities are football, cheerleading or Glee-related. It got jarring in [[Gwyneth Paltrow]]'s episode as a substitute teacher, reminding us that Will does, in fact, teach Spanish at some point every day.
** Also played ''very'' straight with Dalton Academy, were there appear to be no teachers whatsoever. Dalton is introduced in the sixth episode of season two, but no teachers turn up until the fifth episode of season ''three'', and the only reason she is even assumed by the vieweer to be a teacher is because she's the only female in a [[One-Gender School|school for boys.]]
* ''[[The Inbetweeners]]'' has this. Mr Gilbert, Mr Kennedy and Ms Timms are the only teachers to have appeared in the series (though the principal turns up in a deleted scene). Somewhat justified in that, while the boys are frequently shown at school, it's generally only at the start of the day, at lunchtime or at the end of the day.
* Averted in ''[[Carrusel]]''. Ximena only teaches second grade. Susana only teachers her own class. Rene only teaches music. There is also an art teacher. And a teacher named Gloria who teachers yet another class. And Sra. Orraca is only the director and does not teach any classes. Finally, Fermin is the groundskeeper- he may count as well.
* The teenagers in ''[[Family Matters]]'' never spent all that much screen-time at school, but there were enough such episodes to demonstrate the sparse faculty. It was briefly a [[Running Gag|recurring joke]] for Urkel to land in Ms. Steuben's class every semester, in spite of her best efforts to avoid him. And yet the show-stealer among the school staff was the janitor [[Cloudcuckoolander|Mr. Looney]]. (That's [[It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY"|Lou-NÉ]]--[[Catch Phrase|it's French]].)
* [[The Vampire Diaries]] only features the recurring teacher Mr. Tanner and later his replacement main character Alaric Saltzman. Both teach history which is the only class anyone ever attends
* The only teachers ever seen to teach in ''[[Round the Twist]]'' are Mr Snapper and Ms James. The principal appears in one episode, and then never appears again. {{spoiler|Mostly because he was de-aged into a baby.}}
* Amanogawa High from ''[[Kamen Rider Fourze]]'', whose staff body seems to consist entirely of Ohsugi and Sonoda. Sonoda's replacement, Ms. Utsugi, is briefly seen for two episodes; and {{spoiler|Hayami, Libra Zodiarts}} is the headmaster, but is never shown to actually teach anyone.


==  Music ==
* The school in [https://web.archive.org/web/20131015210222/http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdfse_the-cure-charlotte-sometimes_music the video for Charlotte Sometimes] by [[The Cure]] seems to be exactly like this - which lead to a friend agreeing that even a school populated only by members of [[The Cure]] and a past version of yourself would be better than our school.


==  Video Games ==
* Seen in ''Pokemon Ranger'' :Shadows of Almia, in which there are literally two teachers. Semi-justified in which it's a school for Pokemon rangers. {{spoiler|Until one of the teachers mysteriously leaves...}} and they bring in a SUBSTITUTE teacher. Where'd he come from?
* ''[[Rival Schools]]'' naturally falls into this trope, as only a handful of faculty from a few schools are ever shown in the games. Taiyo High has gym teacher [[Hot-Blooded|Hayato]] as a playable character, with science instructor [[Mad Scientist|Hyoe]] and office clerk [[Hot Mom|Shizuku]] showing up in the [[No Export for You|Japan-only]] character creation modes. Justice High's only known faculty are Japanese teacher [[Cool Old Guy|Hideo]], [[School Nurse]]/chemistry teacher [[Christmas Cake|Kyoko]] and principal [[Large and In Charge|Raizo]]. Gorin High also has volleyball coach [[Big Ol' Eyebrows|Kohtaro]] and sumo instructor [[Stout Strength|Kinzan]], but they only show up in character creation modes.
* ''[[Rule of Rose]]'' features an orphanage with over 20 children, but it only has one teacher/headmaster, a cleaning lady who doubles as a cook and one orphan who is sixteen years old and acts as a makeshift nurse. {{spoiler|They all dissappear in the course of the story, leaving the orphanage entirely in the control of the Aristocrat Club.}}
* Averted in ''[[Persona 3]]'' and ''[[Persona 4]]'' - the teachers aren't major characters in either case (though one's a Social Link in the former), but there's a different teacher for every class.
* ''[[Eagle Eye Mysteries]]'': In the first game, you only ever meet three teachers from Kennedy School in Richview—Mr. Minas, the math teacher; Buck Morrow, the school's football coach; and Ms. Skerzo, the music teacher.
* ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' has Fujimura and Kuzuki, and only them—justified in that very little of the action actually happens at school.
** ''[[Fate/hollow ataraxia]]'' reveals a little background info on the teachers. They have some of a carrot and stick approach between them that makes the pair highly effective: Everyone loves Taiga and fears Kuzuki, though they tend to think he's an excellent teacher by the time they graduate.
* The Knight Academy in ''[[Skyward Sword]]'' has literally two teachers. Considering Skyloft is a [[Thriving Ghost Town]] in general, this is to be expected.
* In ''[[Katawa Shoujo]]'', the only teachers who appear are Hisao's homeroom teacher Akio Mutou, and the art teacher Shinichi Nomiya, the latter of whom only appears in Rin's route and the scenes in Act 1 that lead to it. There are at least four classes in the third year alone, though, and Miyagi, who is Lilly and Kenji's homeroom teacher, is once mentioned in passing.


==  Web Original ==
* The only professors out of the dozens in ''[[Harry Potter]]'' that make it into ''[[A Very Potter Musical]]'' are Dumbledore, Quirrell and Snape. And all leave the school.
{{quote|'''Harry''': Well looks like all the professors are  {{spoiler|dead}} so...butterbeer's on me!}}
* In ''[[Greek Ninja]]'', the only teacher in Ariadnio that recurs is Aspa. Yamuchi-sensei may also count.


==  Western Animation ==
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'' takes this trope and runs with it; with the exception of one episode, every class, field trip, and extracurricular activity we see is headed by Coach Barkin. It's implied that he's the regular teacher for at least a few of these classes, but more often he's portrayed as an emergency substitute.
** Lampshaded further in an episode where the students visit Mr Barkin's father at a Living History (early American History, where every character has an [[Identical Grandfather]] to be precise) community where he too implausibly performs every single job in town.
** Coach Barkin generally drops [[Noodle Incident|some reason for the absence of the regular teacher]]; just enough to give us the idea that had they given us the full story, it would be hilarious, and a whole show could be built based solely on the things that incapacitate the teachers Barkin covers for.
* Similarly, the teaching faculty of Springfield Elementary on ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' seems to consist entirely of Miss Krabappel, Ms. Hoover, Mr. Largo, and Ms. Pommelhorst (who later became Mr. Pummelhorst due to a sex-change operation). The small size of the faculty is subject of a [[Lampshade Hanging]] in one episode where it is revealed that Lunch Lady Doris is also the school nurse (due to the fact that she likes getting two paychecks working as a lunchlady and a school nurse) and another where, due to school budget cuts, Lunchlady Doris is now the school nurse while Groundskeeper Willie has been hired out as a French teacher ("''Bonjourrrrrrrr'', ya [[Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys]]!"). It should be noted that in a later episode, Willie was replaced as a French teacher by a man with a New York accent (and no experience in speaking or teaching French) named Mr. Kufferberg. And in the earlier episodes, Springfield Elementary had two additional teachers: one named Mr. Glasscock, who almost quit because the kids kept making fun of his name and an unnamed hippie teacher who once started his class by saying, "Did I ever tell you kids about the '60s"?
** Principal Skinner has also taught a few classes as a substitute to otherwise detained teachers. And of course in one episode there was the near-perfect Mr. Bergstrom...
** Justified since this is an elementary school in a world where the kids don't grow up, so Bart and Lisa's classes are always going to have the same teachers.
*** In a few episodes some more unnamed teachers can be seen in the faculty room.
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'', first Lancer's the vice principal, then English teacher, then the biology, then the astronomy teacher, then basically whatever the plot calls for in the future. It wasn't until the second season that enough focus was put on another teacher long enough to actually get to speak.
** Principal Ishiyama had brief speaking roles in season 1, and there was a short balding teacher we only ever saw twice (Mr. Faluca). Coach Tetslaff, though, could be seen as the second teacher in the Two-Teacher School. Lancer never takes up the PE position, and Tetslaff has been featured quite a few times throughout the show ("Fright Night" and "Micro-Management" come to mind).
* ''[[Invader Zim]]'', where Miss Bitters seems to run most of the important things (though we do see Gaz's teacher once, and there's a nurse who shows up at some point).
** There's also the "skool" counselor Mr. Dwicky and a rather intimidating principal. And Coach Walrus. (Actually, this may be an aversion.)
** Actually, we see Gaz's teacher, Mr. Elliot, three times. His personality is perpetually and forcefully optimistic in direct contrast to Ms. Bitters... who taught ''him'' when he was in grade school.
* [[Aaahh Real Monsters]]: The Monster Academy is run only by the Gromble. He's both the teacher and headmaster of the academy, while theres The Snorch who is in charge of administering unusual punishments to students who break the rules.
* Averted in ''[[Daria]]'', where the teachers <ref>the three main ones, anyway: Ms. Barch, Mr. O'Neill, and Mr. DeMartino. There are other teachers, such as the art teacher from "Arts 'n Crass" who encouraged Jane and Daria to submit their controversial painting of a bulimic girl and the economics teacher who appeared on the episode where she takes the class on a trip to the mall, but those characters drift in and out between appearances</ref> and principal are all developed characters (of course, in ''Daria'' this just means [[Dysfunction Junction|they get unique neuroses]]) who not only play important roles in the plot but also get screen-time independent of the teenage students.
* Shown in ''[[WITCH (animation)|WITCH]]'', specifically the episode E is for Enemy, where generally only two teachers, their principal and history teachers, are shown. Lampshaded during a nightmares sequence, where one character has a bad dream involving an unsolvable math problem, presented by the teacher, to which she responds, "But you're a 'history' teacher!"
** In the original comic, the girls do get other teachers too, the principal and the history teacher just show up more often than others.
* Averted in ''[[Bromwell High]]'', where the teachers are just as much a part of the plots as the students and the main trio.
** If anything, there's more named teachers then there are named student characters.
* It was obviously averted in ''Disney's [[Doug]]'', where the various middle-school teachers Doug had were recurring characters. It was more subtly averted in the Nickelodeon version of the show; only one teacher appeared most of the time, but a few others appeared every now and then, which shouldn't be unexpected for elementary school.
* ''[[Home Movies]]''
* ''Sort of'' averted in ''[[Recess]]''. Ms. Grotke (4th grade homeroom) and Ms. Finster (recess monitor) are the main ones seen but there have been substitutes and a few other teachers are named and recurring.
* South Park, the only teachers ever seen are Mr. Garrison and Ms. Chokesondick for a few seasons. Even the non-teacher staff is lacking, just showing Mr. Mackey and Principal Victoria, and Chef in the earlier seasons.
** Mr. Adler, the woodshop teacher who still has flashbacks of his wife dying in a plane crash, has been shown in a few episodes (such as the "Tweek vs. Craig" episode from season three and a couple of the later episode). Also, "Elementary School Musical" and "W.T.F." reveal that the school has a basketball coach and a wrestling coach.
* Basically [[The Fairly OddParents|Dimmsdale Elementary's]] teaching staff is composed of Principal Waxalplax, Mr. Crocker, and Mr. Birkenbake.
** And Mr Bickles.


==  [[Real Life]] ==
* Obviously there have been times and places where this was the rule rather than the exception. See [[Schoolmarm]].
* It can often ''feel'' like this for college and grad students with a very specific major or one with a small department.
* In many countries, students spend their first years of school with one teacher singlehandedly teaching their class most of the basics (with some exceptions such as P.E.). In later years, the subjects get too complicated to teach by non-specialised teachers.
* Anyone who is or has ever been homeschooled (in a family with two parents as opposed to a single parent household) exemplifies this trope.

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[[Category:School Tropes]]