This book presents a multi-faceted approach to a case study of a secondary school, the London Technical and Commercial High School, one of the first vocational secondary schools. The authors make a case for tracing the history of classroom and curriculum, using a variety of ways to examine the history, the institutional structures, and everyday life in the school. A major theme is the importance of viewing teachers and administrators as mediating agencies between government and the "outside world" on one hand, and students on the other, whilst retaining their own personal and career agendas. Other central themes are gender and class.