ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the major features and problems of methodology. The method by which the account came to be written cannot be stated according to some readily recognizable formula. It was not a one-off event but arose during a process of sustained negotiation at all levels, from decisions and wrangles over metatheoretical standpoints to the day to day activity of deciding what to observe and how our work was developing in terms of our changing conceptual apparatus. The authors' reception into the school was such that we were given the impression of an atmosphere of openness and a willingness to allow us in as observers. It appeared from the authors' initial experiences in the school that their entry may well have been facilitated by the headmaster's interest, in that his keenness for their work, which was itself to present problems, may well have been crucial in persuading the young staff that the work could be useful.
