What picture of schoolwork do we obtain if we take a close look at everyday classroom activities and consider what students and teachers do and say about them? This is the basic focus of the study reported here which examines a teaching and learning practice called "own work" ("eget arbete") in the context of primary classroom settings in a Swedish comprehensive school. One theoretical assumption is that knowledge is integrated into situated practices and thus relative to context. Data were collected by means of observations and tape-recorded discussions between the teacher and individual students. Students' responsibility for making effective use of time, achieving much and finishing what they had planned was emphasised. The activities the participants engaged in and how the participants looked upon successful work and learning are discussed as being contingent on certain administrative and controlling functions of the institution.