ABSTRACT
For most teachers, the pressures felt to operate are not only those of time; there are also social demands which press on them and hem them in. Of all kinds of work, it is teaching, perhaps, which is subject to the most numerous, the most clamorous pressures from other groupings. Stephen views teaching as establishing status ‘which confers duties and powers’; it is the teacher’s responsibility, and right, to demand proper order from his pupils. This responsibility also extends into making important judgements about pupils’ ability levels and their progress – judgements which should not be passed over or called into question. Fortunately, such extreme dissension among close colleagues is not the norm. However, most teachers probably experience, if not actual hostility, a sense of isolation and lack of the support from all but a few of their teaching colleagues.
