The devotion to teaching

This chapter begins with the observation that staff are often enthusiastically engaged in teaching their colleagues administrative matters without formally having a teaching role. We investigate the dynamics of this teaching ambition and the establishment of an administrative pedagogy, its driving forces, and particularly how administrative teaching contributes to an administrative spiral. The ambition to “teach the systems” seems to be given a value of its own, and staff from all positions seem to be engaged in teaching new routines, new guidelines, and new systems. This chapter outlines some structural and cultural factors behind this teaching and learning culture, such as the ongoing launching of new digital systems and an accompanying educational market with a supply of courses, popular management philosophies such as “the learning organization,” and new administrative professional roles. We also suggest, however, that these factors do not solely explain the devotion to teaching administration. For administrators, the teaching role may have a status-enhancing consequence, sometimes sustained by specific meetings and other interactive situations. For other workers, it may be appealing to step outside the ordinary work role and temporarily be absorbed by a “teaching situation.”