ABSTRACT
The concept of the system embodied in general systems theory provides a possible framework for thinking more adequately about problem behavior in schools, mainly because of its implications for the kind of action. A special news report in the Times Educational Supplement for 8 October 1971 was headed 'Secondary School Crisis' and presented a disturbing picture of increasing absenteeism, educational failure and anti-social behavior. Secondary schools can still be stressful and unsatisfactory places to work in, but the general situation is better than might have been predicted. The behavioral effects of changes in teacher behavior/attitude and is what goes on inside a school—the situation where pupil and teacher have to get on with each other—is as demonstrably true as it is intuitively doubtful. The implication of the studies briefly reviewed so far is that preventive action, especially for problems in school, is best taken at the level of the school as institution and the management skills of individual teachers.
