Child-centred education and the promise of democratic learning: Pedagogic messages in rural Indian primary schools

Global and national agendas to achieve universal primary education and improve the ‘quality’ of school provision in developing countries have identified the need to reform classroom pedagogy. Since the 1990s, child-centred ideas in particular have been utilised in teacher-training programmes and school reforms across many parts of Africa and Asia with the intention of creating more child-friendly, democratic learning environments. Analysing episodes from classroom observations conducted in a rural Indian primary school, this paper reveals the tensions experienced by one teacher in handing over greater classroom control to pupils. It provides insight into the complex processes of pedagogic interaction, and sheds light on some of the possibilities and conditions for achieving child-centred pedagogic change in such development contexts.