Ethnographic data on schools are used as the basis for commenting on two issues that concern British educational policy-makers: the crisis of control in the classroom, and the cut-back in initial teacher training. An ethnographic review of classroom control indicates that physical and verbal aggression by students is rare, and that such aggression is less important in the minds of teachers than the routine, minor threats to their control that occur far more frequently. Ethnography identifies teachers' perceptions of classroom control as hinging on student noise and teacher autonomy. Ethnography also shows that beginning teachers derive their knowledge about the job of teaching from their days as students and that training has little long-term impact on teachers' attitudes to classroom control. These findings lend support for either extending the period of training or alleviating new teachers' control anxiety by providing more "on site" experiences or team teaching. Information on the classroom, along with teacher strategies to achieve control and pupil counter-strategies, can be used in teacher training to prepare newcomers to cope with a basic part of their job. (MLF)