ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to synthesize the most useful aspects of a systems approach with those of a child-centered approach focusing on individual differences. It deals with the background to recent developments, in particular the conceptual and empirical weaknesses of some of the work from which they are derived. The chapter explains, if it is not responsible for, many of the misconceptions about the role of teachers in creating or preventing 'deviant' behavior in the secondary school. Implementing behavioral change at classroom level is facilitated by a readily available technology which does not exist in as well developed a form at institutional level. The chapter argues that efforts to tackle problem behavior at an individual level are not inconsistent with attempts to tackle it by modifying the social or educational context in which it occurs. Creating a school climate which inhibits problem behavior depends less on the form of organization than on the way it is implemented.
