BackgroundThe everyday life in Swedish classrooms has, in general and for a long time being, been characterized by its emphasis on structure regarding time, space and the allocation of time concerning different school subjects. Although these conditions still is the case for a great number students and teachers, substantial changes are taking place in Swedish school practice, mainly due to recent years educational reforms and other factors such as technological advancement and its implications for the flexibility of educational settings. The above-mentioned changes can best be described as changes on a structural level, intimately intertwined with what has traditionally been regarded as the very core meaning of school practice. Some examples can serve to clarify this line of argumentation; The physical attendance of students in a well defined spatial (classroom-based), as well as temporal (schedule-based) setting has hitherto constituted a fundamental condition for the logic of school practice. The introduction of new working-methods such as "flexible-time" and "individual time- and study curriculum" has however limited the schedule's authority over the students' schoolwork. The student has as a result the possibility to (within certain limitations) dispose over her individual time vis-a-vis schoolwork. Furthermore an increasing number of students have today the possibility to choose one school day of the week for the purpose of home- based schoolwork with the aid of a computer in so called virtual classrooms. The physical participation of the student is subsequently no longer required at all times and one could argue that the student then becomes less dependent of the physical classroom for his or her school related work.What consequences do structural changes comprise for the understanding of school practice? Against this background, the following pilot-study takes its starting-point in the assumption that the Swedish school practice is a practice in transformation. The aim of this study has consequently been to 1) gain some understanding of the everyday school practice and 2) establish a perspective which can provide a theoretical framework for my future studies. One of the main concerns of this paper has subsequently been to conceptualise the practice of everyday schoolwork. A dramaturgical terminology and viewpoint has been used as an attempt to capture the complexity of this field. Moreover a post-structuralistic approach has been of importance concerning the theoretical discussion in this paper.The analysis of the empirical results of this study (based on observations of approximately thirty lessons in an elementary school) suggest that school practice can be understood on four different, although interacting, institutional levels;· The ideological/generalized institution· The physical institution· The discursive institution· Institutionalized action In accordance with a post-structuralistic standpoint the content of the levels presented above should not be viewed as rigid or given a priori in the practice of school play. The usage of the term institution rather indicates the importance of human agency (in relation to the existing structure) through which the institution/structure is constructed, reproduced and transformed. The complexity of this matter however demands delimitation. An underlying thought in the process of analysing data has been that constructions such as an institution are based upon a system of values. The study of these values can subsequently provide an insight to the institutionalised practice. The results shown in this study manifest that these value-systems are particularly evident when different actors' interests in the classroom are at a state of conflict. The conflict becomes in this sense the arena where the manuscript of the school play is written, and the context in which intrinsic power- structures and fostering strategies of the practice can be studied.