ABSTRACT
Within organisational analysis itself, D. Silverman has shown how the overall theoretical orientation of a model varies according to the choice of major problem and the principal concepts employed. N. Keddie's study may show how, in our terms, the classroom situation promotes satisficing on a teacher perspective rather than optimising on an educationalist perspective. Taking the classroom context: decisions about, for instance, the content of lessons or the degree of difficulty in the material have 'traditionally' been simplified by the organisational device of streaming. Both Keddie and R. Sharp and A. Green seem to understand their teachers as confused cultural dopes, unable to perceive the gap between rhetoric and practice. Finally, we hope to have gone some way towards providing an understanding of the conservative nature of schools as institutions, regardless of current, fashionable ideologies.
