Pedagogies for Development takes a sociological approach to examine the introduction of child-centred education in contemporary Indian policy and school contexts. It investigates the promise of democratic learning in development discourses to ask how far child-centred models can address poverty and social inequalities in rural Indian communities. Drawing on in-depth ethnographic research conducted in the south Indian state of Karnataka, the book offers a multi-level analysis of international, national and state education practices of pedagogic reform. The book contributes to pressing debates...

• Why are development discourses of the 'poor child' in need of radical revision?

• What are the theoretical and methodological challenges and possibilities for ethical understandings of childhoods and poverty?

The 'poor child' at the centre of development activity is often measured against and reformed towards an idealised and globalised child subject. This book examines why such normative discourses of childhood are in need of radical revision and explores how development research and practice can work to 'unsettle'...