Test disheartened pupil before English lesson (7)
I believe the answer is:
example
'lesson' is the definition.
(I know that lesson can be written as example)
'test disheartened pupil before english' is the wordplay.
'test' becomes 'exam' (synonyms).
'disheartened' suggests removing the centre.
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'pupil' with its middle removed is 'pl'.
'exam'+'pl'+'e'='EXAMPLE'
(Other definitions for example that I've seen before include "Case in point" , "Instance, specimen" , "Representative object" , "Illustrative case" , "Paradigm or model" .)