ABSTRACT
Background For the last 20 years I have been working in a number of countries with groups of up to 115 teachers at a time, developing programs designed to instruct them in how to help their pupils behave more responsibly in class. I have provided sessions for at least ten such groups a year; consequently, over that period I have interacted with at least 10 000 teachers. One of the many issues these teachers discuss is whether pupils are becoming increasingly difficult to manage in schools.
