Buildings are more to blame for school failures than teachers, according to new research from Manchester University.
The lack of space in school halls, gyms, canteens and other areas is the cause of many of the problems blighting today's secondary schools, said Naomi Breen, a teacher studying secondary school buildings for her PhD.
According to Mrs Breen, school design affects the curriculum and encourages gender stereotyping, bullying, antisocial behaviour and alienation.
Mrs Breen, who teachers at Hulme grammar school for girls, Oldham, surveyed 18 secondary schools - nine in Burnley and nine in Berkshire - and analysed historical records and documents. She says these reveal government regulations from the 1940s and 50s lie at the root of today's problems.
Shortages of space and overcrowding were created by the raising of the school leaving age to 16 - planned in 1944 and implemented in 1972 - and the impact is still felt, she said.
In 1944, architects were not allowed to plan and build schools for future changes in educational approach, use or size. In 1950, new government regulations to save space and costs compounded the shortages, and problems.
"Local education authorities were encouraged to reduce costs of building programmes by adopting dual-use dining rooms that doubled as entrance halls, corridors or classrooms," Mrs Breen said.
"Before 1944, teachers were usually expected to eat with pupils and act as role models. But as modern schools emerged, welfare staff and dinner ladies became responsible for pupils manners and behaviour and teachers were able to eat separately. Dining areas became noisy places, where poor behaviour and indiscipline were inbuilt - a fact recognised by the schools themselves."
The problems with building design illustrate the inferiority of secondary moderns to established grammar schools, Mrs Breen said.
"Unlike secondary moderns, many grammar schools had sixth forms, which meant they were large enough to offer a full five or seven year secondary school education."
Cost-saving requirements, rising populations and lack of consultation with teachers meant new buildings were too small and schools were forced to expand.
The original shape was lost and the ability to enforce discipline diminished, Mrs Breen said. "Temporary classrooms, bike sheds, toilets and other out-of-sight spaces became sites for bullying, hiding, smoking and other anti-social behaviours."
As a result of chronic lack of space, multipurpose rooms are still common in many of these schools today, despite the problems of food, mess, noise and waste.
In many schools, gyms are used for examinations, which has a detrimental impact on exams and the physical education curriculum, she said.
"This is virtually unheard of in established grammar schools where the exam has always been central to a school's function.
"After 1944, the shanty towns of temporary school buildings became a permanent feature of many modern secondary schools and this impacted on their effectiveness," she said.
"Teachers had little or no say in the design of schools and interpretations of the architect's work lay firmly at the feet of educational theorists. Educationalists wanted architects to design buildings to fulfil their latest theories, but that posed problems when those theories fell out of favour."
According to Mrs Breen schools also "accept and embellish" gender stereotyping. Workshop and science labs are masculine spaces that mirror 'work' whereas textiles and housecraft rooms are female spaces that mirror 'home', she said.