A `chronic' lack of space in secondary schools hampers the curriculum and encourages bullying and anti-social behaviour.
Teacher Naomi Breen, who is carriying out the research for her PhD, says problems in building design provide a powerful illustration of how secondary moderns were `inevitably inferior' to grammar schools.
Many secondary schools became `shanty towns' of temporary buildings.
Mrs Breen - who surveyed 18 secondary schools, including nine in the north west - says serious problems began with overcrowding created by the raising of the school leaving age to 16 in the 1940s.
Problems were compounded in the 1950s by dual-purpose areas such as combined hall and dining rooms which caused a breakdown indiscipline.
Mrs Breen said: "Multi-purpose rooms are still common in many of these schools today, despite the problems of food, mess, noise and waste.
"Educationalists wanted architects to design buildings to fulfil their latest theories but that posed problems when those theories fell out of favour."
Mrs Breen, who teaches at Hulme Grammar School for Girls, Oldham, says a common problem caused by dual-use accommodation is a break down of discipline.
She says before 1944, teachers were usually expected to eat with pupils and act as role models.
But as modern schools emerged, dinner ladies became responsible for pupils' behaviour and teachers were able to eat separately.
She said: "Dining areas became noisy places where poor behaviour and indiscipline were inbuilt - a fact recognised by the schools themselves."
Dual use of school halls and gyms causes similar problems.
Mrs Breen said: "Before 1944, many schools had daily whole school assemblies for prayer, communal discipline and a shared cultural experience.
"But the lack of space in many secondary schools put paid to that."
MRS Breen is inviting people to give their experiences of secondary school education via her website: www.secondarymodern.co.uk Tweet
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Ive heard it all now??Go to africa/asia and see how poor their schools are they have very little books Ect even paper .and they seem to get better results ? Why ???The answer is simple (CONTROL OVER THE KIDS) Stop looking for reasons why our education system is failing?Our kids dont give a toss about teachers and the rules of the schools,Unless you reinstate controls the education will fail even more..heeheeheh What a joke all those people (professinals) who think they know how to solve our problems .."Go to africa/asia and see real eduction in action that dosnt cost a fortune".
And all you people who are doing PHDs please get at least some of your facts right? in the 50s there was no schooling related problems and no problems with pupils attacking teachers Ect ,and i dont ever remember anybody giving problems to teachers like today?Ive seen schooling from boths sides of the fence and the reason we are failing our children (Lack of control in schools and homes)If you go to these asian/african countrys they still use the cane (corporal punishment) the teachers are respected by the pupils,So they learn from the teachers .They respect most authority ..you need to instill respect .
The real reason pupils are better behaved in the third world is that education is treated as a privilege rather than as a right and one that has to be earned - if you don't pass your exams at the end of EACH year you stay down while all your classmates go up to the next year. That way you can drop out of school whenever you want but you can't "finish" without actually learning something!