ABSTRACT
In this chapter the author describes the dissolution of teacher authority as the greatest challenge facing the education system. He focuses on three structural conditions that to a great extent frame adolescence today, and that also mark young people's relationship with all spheres of life, such as school and education, the labour market, economy, family, relationships, housing, sports and the arts. The first condition is that the youth phase has been extended. The second structural condition is the changes in 'the grammar of relationships', which is the cultural expectations and codes that enact the relationships between people in a society. The third structural condition is authority. A successful teacher must be both academically and pedagogically skilled and must become an appealing and long-lasting authority as a result of her relationship capital. The students who indicate that they have good student relationships at the school are also more likely to say the teachers are good.
