Olha Zahvoiska (Institute of Public Affairs Jagiellonian University)
This paper examines how Lean thinking, functional review and continuous improvement can be embedded in public administration education to prepare public servants as guardians of “quiet excellence”. While many MPA and MPP programs train students to manage crises and reforms, they devote less attention to routine processes that sustain trust and fairness in public services. The paper presents a pedagogical model of “teaching Lean public service”. In this model, students conduct mini functional reviews in public organizations such as ministries, municipalities and universities. Using Lean tools such as process and value stream mapping, waste analysis and PDCA cycles, they identify bottlenecks, co-design improvements with frontline staff and reflect on trade-offs between efficiency, equity and transparency. The model also foregrounds the responsible use of AI in the public sector. Students critically assess whether their organizations behave as frontier builders, infrastructure builders or users of AI, and whether this is the right role today. AI is treated as an enabler of continuous improvement (for example via data analysis and process optimisation) and as a source of risk for transparency, accountability and citizen trust. The paper offers three contributions: a rationale for integrating Lean, functional review and AI literacy into public administration curricula; a transferable course and assignment design; and lessons on how project-based learning can reshape students’ professional identity, encouraging them to see themselves not only as crisis problem-solvers but as stewards of public value in administrative practice.