Children's self-allocation and use of classroom curricular time

A class of 9-10 year-olds (N = 12) in a British primary school were observed as it moved over a one-year period through three types of classroom environment, traditional directive, transitional negotiative and established negotiative. Each environment offered the children a differing relationship with curricular time, its control and allocation, moving from teacher-allocated time to child allocation. Pupil self-report and classroom observation indicated differences in the balance of curricular spread and allocated time on curricular subject in relation to the type of classroom organisation and who controlled classroom time. These differences were at both class and individual child level. The established negotiative environment recorded the most equitable curricular balance, traditional directive the least. While individual children responded differently within and across the three classroom environments, the established negotiative where time was under child control recorded preference for longer activity periods compared to where the teacher controlled time allocations.