ABSTRACT
Different institutional settings help shape and modify the processes through which teachers play out their career. The sixth form college is one particular context which exhibits several unusual features. The absence of younger pupils makes for a markedly different ethos (Macfarlane, 1978; Watkins, 1982). The increased maturity of students and their subject-mindeness (Crowther, 1959); the fact that attendance is voluntary (cf. Corrigan, 1979); and, above all, the absence of discipline problems (Watkins, 1982)— combine to produce an atmosphere where the traditional skills associated with professional expertise in classroom management and control are not called into question (Hirst, (1971); Musgrove, 1971; Shipman, 1968; Hargreaves, 1975; Woods, 1977).
