ABSTRACT
It was in the middle of an investigation into pupils’ perceptions of a fourth and fifth year non-examination social education course at Abbey Vale High School, 1 an outer-London comprehensive, that I became increasingly aware of a particular view of school held by many estranged and mainly working-class pupils, whose alienation had led, not to rebellion or active hostility, but to indifference and apathy. For these pupils school had become meaningless and insignificant, its routines and institutions nebulous and amorphous.
