The purpose of this experimental study is to examine the extent to which changes in a classroom scenario influence participant reports of pupil control ideology (PCI). Pre-service teacher participants (n = 83) completed a measure of PCI. They were then randomly assigned into hypothetical classroom contexts (low time, low physical resources, and control conditions). An ANOVA procedure was used to examine group differences in PCI. Results of this study indicate that participants in the low time condition exhibited statistically significantly more custodial PCI than participants in the control condition, while participants in the low resources condition exhibited a near significant mean difference from participants in the control condition. Implications for practice are reported.