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Conceptualized
within a
socio-cultural
constructivist
and postcolonial
paradigm, the
book explores a
definite tension
between
“Western”
theories of
child
development and
the “Indian”
ways of being
and thinking.
Based on the
author’s
doctoral study,
the book
provides a
richly
descriptive and
relatively
unexamined
account of the
culturally
complex and
multi-dimensional
relationship
that exists in
urban India
between formal
teacher
education, early
childhood
classrooms and
the daily lived
experiences of
children and
early childhood
teachers. Strong
influences on
how early
education is
understood and
practiced in
urban India have
been carefully
traced back to
an ancient
philosophy and
psychology; to a
colonial
experience; and
to more recent
progressive
educational
ideas, all of
which also
define the daily
lives of the
people in urban
India. Rich
examples and
anecdotes from
the research
data, concrete
details, and
several chapters
devoted to the
voices of
teachers
describing their
classroom
practice in
terms of such
issues as class
size,
educational
aims, prescribed
and hidden
curricula,
incorporating
the teaching of
values with the
teaching of
academics, and
so forth, make
this book one of
the first of its
kind.
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