ABSTRACT
During the last year of compulsory schooling in England and Wales most pupils now take public examinations. 'High achievers' gain between five and ten passes, in different subjects, at 'Ordinary' (0) level. In the past, many of these pupils would have stayed on in the school sixth form for two extra years of schooling to take two or three subjects at 'Advanced' (A) level for entry into higher education (universities) or jobs requiring extended schooling. The growth of 'credentialism' and unemployment has, however, increased the numbers of pupils staying on at school beyond the statutory age and schools now offer a sixth form curriculum that includes vocational and lower-level qualifications as well as the traditional, and newer, A level subjects. By 1981, roughly the same number of boys and girls were staying on in the sixth form of the large comprehensive
school under study here. However, the school hierarchy - in common with others (Acker, 1983) - was male-dominated in the sense that the senior staff were predominantly men and insofar as women teachers taught sixth-formers at all , they by and large taught the lower level vocational courses.
