I teach A-levels in the UK only and it's all I've ever taught, so I lurk in this sub amazed at how differently things seem to work in different places - while the core problems of being in the classroom seem mostly universal no matter who or where you teach.

But I keep hearing that there's this elusive band of shadow-dwellers; nameless entities like agents in the night, dropping off suitcases and micromanaging the schools, called simply: 'admin'. Who are these prophetic purveyors of hyper-specific teaching strategies and pencil-pushing overseers of percieved malpractice?

I assume it's a US school system thing, but have these folks ever actually been teachers? In most schools I've worked in here, there is a lot of middle management (heads of department and pastoral, etc.) And then SLT - principle and assistant principals. All of whom were previously teachers, so kind of 'get it', even if they're sometimes weird about it. Are admin like those guys? I don't really understand their role.

Anyway, thanks in advance to those willing to enlighten me in this small corner of the teaching profession.