ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that pupils in Scotland's secondary schools who are perceived as less than manageable will tend increasingly to be exposed to a pupil-centred, progressive pedagogy of the type widely advocated during the 1960s. In the early 1980s, the 'problem' of the 'young person' of less-than-average academic achievement came to the fore. The concern was not so much to ensure his/her compliance in the school, but more to prepare him/her psychologically for the impending attenuation between school-leaving credentials and employment. The thin end of the progressivist revival in the 1980s comprises the subjects referred to in the 1977 Munn Report as the 'social subjects' 'mode of activity'. During 1983 and 1984, a number of documents about social education were published in Scotland. The Scottish Examination Board (SEB) advisory committee, the National Committee for the In-Service Training of Teachers (NCITT), does recognise the merits of both 'personal professional staff development' and 'centralised staff development'.
