This book is about curriculum change in secondary schools and shows how the quality of education has been affected by increasing intervention from central government. Following the story of one secondary school between 1957 and 2004, Norman Evans looks at:

* the school before and after the introduction of the National Curriculum
* the changing role of LEAs and governors
* the characteristics since 1992 of school inspections responsible for policing the operation of the national tests
* predictions of results and examination results
* nationally set targets
* compliance with detailed prescription of school curricula.

This is the back-story of today's educational climate, as seen through the eyes of seven successive head teachers and long-serving assistant staff who worked at the school during this momentous forty-year period. How did the changes affect what they sought to do as professionals? Where have these changes taken us, in terms of what happens in classrooms and what happens in the school as a whole? And what can be learned from the development of the curriculum over this time to inform future practice?