ABSTRACT
In the area of discipline, pupils felt their expectations had been, on the whole, realistic. The indulgent, child-centred family atmosphere of primary school was gone in the view of these pupils. A description of some of their lessons can perhaps give a flavour of the new deviant and resistant strategies which characterized the pupils at this stage. The first strategy involved challenging the teacher's 'centre-stage' rights. There is normally a bit of space for pupils at the end of a lesson, in which they might chat once they have been dismissed. Another prominent strategy teachers employed was 'making a scene' suspending normal rules and creating an atmosphere of expectancy of reprisals. During the 'scene', normal activity is held in abeyance, adrenalin runs high, and the disciplinary message is imprinted on the pupil's nervous system. The character of the adaptation, therefore, is cyclical, as negotiations and renegotiations follow each other according to the shifting balance of power and' interest.
