In the Kingdom of Bavaria, the capital city, Munich, created in 1873 positions as "Oberlehrer"--a head teacher in primary schools ("Volksschulen") responsible for one school for boys and one school for girls. The mere existence of these male "Oberlehrer" challenged for the first time the exclusive power of Catholic and Lutheran clerics in the supervision of elementary schools. The article follows the establishment and transformations of this group of educational administrators until the final replacement of clerics in the government of primary schools in 1919. The increasing authority and influence of this group can be interpreted from the perspective of the inherent ambivalences of "liberal governance" in education. This concept meant to govern education "from within"--through the specialised knowledge on methods and pedagogy--and not "from outside"--like the clerics did. Whereas expert knowledge on methods suggested a kind of direct linking to the teachers, the same expert knowledge helped the "Oberlehrer" to build up new hierarchies in the government of primary education. (Contains 1 table and 69 footnotes.)