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Rethinking play: A postcolonial feminist critique of international early childhood education policy

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  • Subramanian, Mathangi

Abstract

In India, policymakers in the arena of early childhood education are focused on improving the quality of services provided in government run early childhood education and care centers, known as anganwadis, run by India's Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS). One measurement of program quality is the presence of play, which experts construct as a valuable tool for individualized cognitive development. Drawing on ethnographic data from a 13 month study of anganwadis in three southern Indian states, the author uses a postcolonial feminist lens to argue that in India, unlike in Western nations, play often functions as a tool for the collective good rather than for individual social progress. Broadening the purpose of play leads to more accurate evaluations of the quality of services provision in contexts of anganwadis, where early childhood education programs may be falsely judged as poorly run because they do not conform to standards based on inappropriate, decontextualized notions of play's form and function.

Suggested Citation

  • Subramanian, Mathangi, 2015. "Rethinking play: A postcolonial feminist critique of international early childhood education policy," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 161-168.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:45:y:2015:i:c:p:161-168
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2015.10.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Government of India Ministry of Women and Child Development, 2012. "Draft National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Policy," Working Papers id:4940, eSocialSciences.
    2. Milagros Nores & Steven W. Barnett, 2012. "Benefits of Early Childhood Interventions Across the World: (Under) Investing in the Very Young," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 1, pages 200-228.
    3. Naila Kabeer, 2011. "Gendered Poverty Traps: Inequality and Care in a Globalised World," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 23(4), pages 527-530, September.
    4. Andrea Cornwall & Jenny Edwards, 2010. "Introduction: Negotiating Empowerment," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(2), pages 1-9, March.
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