ABSTRACT
Student behaviour in schools does not occur in a vacuum (Watkins and Wagner, 2000). Students operate inside classrooms inside schools within neighbourhoods and also within their own families and communities, and each influences student outcomes (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Society at large imposes significant demands on individual students. These demands vary from one community to another. Students growing up in the UK, for example, face a number of demands which are specific to the UK context and others which are shared by other societies. 'Formalised education, commencing at the age of five years, imposes a whole range of requirements including the need for compliance, focused concentration and the willingness to listen and reflect' (BPS, 1996, p 13). The hurdles facing students in the UK education system 'reflect, in part, modern society's emphasis on competition and achievement' (ibid, p 13). It is inevitable that students who experience difficulties in meeting these demands must face 'a range of social, educational and psychological consequences' which will be 'compounded by personal unhappiness' (BPS, 1996, p 13).
