Pedagogy and quality in Indian slum school settings: A Bernsteinian analysis of visual representations in the Integrated Child Development Service

Abstract

This paper focuses upon the micro level of the pre-school classroom, taking the example of the Indian Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS), and the discourse of ‘child-centred’ pedagogy that is often associated with quality pre-schooling. Through an analysis of visual data, semi-structured and film elicitation interviews drawn from a pilot study of six ICDS settings (anganwadis) within two Mumbai slums, Bernstein’s ideas about social relations of pedagogy are used to explore modalities of pedagogic practice. The paper argues that the forms of pedagogy that were observed are not yet reconciled with current notions of quality pedagogy that underpin the pre-school education component of the ICDS, but that there is scope for a weakened framing that may allow for a more contextualised version of child-centred pedagogic discourse.