Teaching is an intellectually and physically demanding occupation that can be made more effective and efficient when the school accepts the common, distinct and individual needs of the teachers as well as those of the children. The stream of government initiatives arriving in schools over the past decade has placed immense pressure upon teachers to change. Teachers have been bombarded by linear concepts of progress, attainment defined within the parameters of 'normal' cognitive development and an overloaded curriculum. Externally enforced change, particularly when it seems to ceaselessly cascade down from a non-consultative hierarchical structure, will inevitably demoralise those who are expected to implement the change. It also erodes and undermines the concept of professional judgement.