Schools teach from standard spell books approved and issued by the current fairy monarch and her Council. The books are updated roughly once a year. Fresdian plays a crucial role in this as does the Librarian. Students are tested on their skills once a week (theory work is done as per standard exam style - annually). All students are expected to master all skills (though it is accepted some are naturally gifted, others have to work at it and still others are never going to manage more than the basics, which are still enough to fend off an inconvenient dragon turning up and being a menace). Eileen, pre defection, would’ve liked to update the curriculum further by focusing on practical magic (and if she could find a way of teaching common sense, she would have done that too).
Council meetings are about as much fun as they are on Earth - not at all! There seems to be a universal rule that all such meetings must be dull, the minutes are interminable and the seating is never comfortable. The Queen quietly believes that some sort of curse descends on each and every person who attends such meetings - the puzzle is who sets it and is it revenge on the boring meetings they had to go to. The Queen takes some comfort from this as boring meetings mean life is carrying on as it is meant to do. Exciting meetings inevitably means riots and chaos in the realm - after all there would have to be something exciting to talk about. Eileen when in the realm got out of as many meetings as possible. On several occasions the Queen had to put her foot down and insist Eileen goes. Eileen only did so to avoid further hassle.