When the student manages his time: the relation to time in autonomous work at primary school

Abstract

This contribution highlights the temporal contradictions among pupils and teachers in primary school in the context of autonomous work. It examines the relation to time underpinned by these working modalities. Based on an ethnographic survey carried out in a primary school in Geneva, it highlights that students have to establish a managerial relationship at the time, which is a source of both emancipation and control. It considers how temporal categories are used to naturalize students’ behavioral and cognitive difficulties. It shows how pupils are unequal in terms of school temporality, depending on their family environment.