ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the problem for sociology that is the problem of "knowing" school classes. The classroom can be seen as a complex social system, an arena within which teachers and pupils exercise various skills and differing power in the service of the hopes and expectations that they bring with them from outside. The chapter examines the way teachers' perspectives relate to the administration and the stratification of classrooms. The part played by teachers in developing children's perspectives on school becomes crucial. One teacher per year, the class teacher, will often be the main channel through which the formal educational system is mediated to a child. The demand for attention in the classroom is a demand for recognition of authority, because attention structures control in any lesson. Inevitably the reputation of any teacher, particularly amongst his peers, is very dependent upon the success that he achieves in controlling his own classes.
