Kinnari Pandya

Areas of Interest & Expertise

  • Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)
  • Human Development and Learning for Education
  • Teacher Education
  • Inclusive Education
  • Religion and Belonging in Early Years
  • Curriculum Studies
  • Higher Education Programmes
  • ECCE Public Policy and Systems Initiatives

Biography

Kinnari Pandya is with the School of Education at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. 

Kinnari’s work spans higher education programme development and implementation, public policy and curriculum development, research and writing on education, teacher education and early childhood care and education. At the university, she led the development of recently launched MA in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), the development and implementation of integrated dual degree Teacher Education programme – BSc BEd and the MA in Education. 

Kinnari has co-edited two books — Teaching the Young: The Early Childhood Development Profession in India (2024) published by Orient Blackswan and the first volume in the series Education for the Foundational Stage: Play and Early Learning Environments (2025) published by Azim Premji University with Jigisha Shastri. She has authored several articles and presented papers at several national and international conferences. She anchors a podcast series – First 1000 Days and Beyond: Early Childhood Care and Education in India featuring thought leaders in the ECCE domain. 

She regularly contributes to public policy on Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Foundational Stage curriculum at the National and State levels. She was a member of the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) 2020 – 2023. She regularly contributes to the ECE initiatives of National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT). She is currently a Working Group member on an initiative of the Niti Ayog and Ministry of Women and Child Development.

She anchored the University’s partnership with University of Helsinki and University of Jyvaskyla as a part of the Global Innovation Network of Teaching and Learning (GINTL), Finland, 2021 – 2024.

Kinnari joined the Azim Premji Foundation in 2006. She has since been involved in the Foundation’s on-field efforts to revitalise public education system with various state governments on development of teacher education programmes, assessment led reforms in Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat. She has been deeply involved in the early childhood education initiative at Sangareddy, Telangana, and development of ECE curricula for states – Karnataka, Puducherry, Madhya Pradesh, and Mizoram. 

She is a Doctoral Researcher at Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland. She has a Master’s degree in (Elementary) Education from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai; a Master’s degree in Social Work, and a Bachelor’s degree in Science (Home) with majors in Human Development and Family Studies, both from the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara.

Courses

Publications 

Books and book chapters 

  • Pandya K., Shastri J., Datta V., (Eds). (2024). Teaching the Young: The Early Childhood Development Profession in India. Orient BlackSwan. ISBN: 9789354422836
  • Shastri J., Pandya K., Jaggenna Maheswara U., Sreenivasa Rao M., Sharma Sen R. (2023). Early Learner Assessment (ELA): A developmental assessment tool for 3- to 5- year-old children. Azim Premji University. Link
  • Shastri J. and Pandya K. (Eds). (2025). Education for the Foundational Stage: Play and Early Learning Environments. Azim Premji University. Link
  • Pandya K., (2024). Curriculum and Pedagogy for Early Childhood Professional Development in Pandya K., Shastri S., and Datta V., (Eds) Teaching the Young: Early Childhood Development Profession in India, Chapter 5, Orient BlackSwan. pp. 67 – 82.
  • Yogesh G.R., Pandya K., Sreenivasa Rao M., (2024). A Multimodal Approach to In- Service Capacity Development of Anganwadi Teachers. In Pandya K., Shastri S., and Datta V., (Eds) Teaching the Young: Early Childhood Development Profession in India, Chapter 16, Orient BlackSwan. pp. 201 – 220.
  • Shastri J. and Pandya K.(2024). In-service Programme for Teacher Educators for Early Years Education. In Pandya K., Shastri S., and Datta V., (Eds) Teaching the Young: Early Childhood Development Profession in India, Chapter 19, Orient BlackSwan. pp. 252 – 270.
  • Madan A., Srinivasan R., Pandya K. (2017). Parent – Child Relations: Changing Contours and Emerging Trends. In Saraswathi T.S, Menon S. and Madan A. (Eds.) Childhoods in India: Traditions, Trends and Transformations. Routledge. pp. 109 – 130. 

Journal article

  • Pandya K. (2018). The National Early Childhood Care and Education Curriculum Framework 2014, and its Implications for Practice. Voices of Teachers and Teacher Educators, NCERT, 6(2), 20 – 27. Link.

Report

  • Redefining Early Childhood Development Profession in India: Challenges and Potential. A Report on National Conference 2016 organised by AECED, Azim Premji University and UNICEF. Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Select newspaper articles

  • Pandya K. (2024, March). An interview with Prof. Hannele Cantell. What goes into developing textbooks. The Hindu. Link.
  • Pandya K. (2018, March 28). Making change sustainable. Deccan Herald. Link.
  • Pandya K. (2016, November 8). Are we doing enough to create the best learning opportunities? DNA. Link.

Magazine articles 

  • Pandya K. (2024). Play: Central to Foundational Learning – An article in Understanding NCF-FS, Learning Curve Issue 18. Azim Premji University. Link.
  • Pandya K. (2019). Teacher’s role in early identification of developmental delays. Learning Curve, Issue 5. Dec 2019 (44−46). ISSN-2582 – 1644. Azim Premji University. Link.
  • Pandya K. (2019, July). Why a teacher does what she does? An analysis of a (math) teacher’s pedagogy. Teacher Plus. Link.
  • Pandya K. (2018). ​Blending Stem in Early Years Classroom. Navtika, IX(3), Aug-Oct 2018, ISSN — 2348 – 8824.
  • Pandya K. and Shastri J. (2014, May). Coming out of the flux. Learning Curve, XXII, 18 – 21.

Online articles/​ blog posts

  • Pandya K. (2024, January 5). Field Practice | MA in Education: Why it is more than just practice, Faculty Perspectives, Azim Premji University. Link
  • Eta, E., Pandya, K., Niu, J., Kangasvieri, T., & Poulton-Busler, R. (2023). Reflections on the GINTL symposium at the 2023 FERA Conference: ​‘Bridging education research, practice and global education development’. GINTL Blog post.

Conference Presentations and Workshops

  • Pandya, K., Patra T., Kurre T.K., R.T.S. M., Vijayashree, G.R. and Shetty, N. (2024, June 18 – 21). Strengthening Pre-service Science Teacher Education in India through Capturing Pedagogical Content Knowledge of In-service Teachers, Paper Presentation in Reimagining Teachers and Teacher Education for the Future Conference, University of Helsinki, Finland.
  • Pandya, K., Patra T., Kurre TK., RTS M., GR Vijayashree and Shetty N. (2024, June 18 – 21). Enhancing In-service science teachers pedagogic content knowledge — recommended pedagogic practices for low- resourced contexts. Paper Presentation in the Reimagining Teachers and Teacher Education for our Futures Conference, University of Helsinki, Finland.
  • Pandya K., (2023, Oct 24) Discussant for the Symposium on ​‘Bridging education research, practice and global education development. Finnish Educational Research Association Annual Conference (FERA) Hybrid conference, Åbo Akademi University, Vaasa, Finland.
  • Pandya K. (2020, Sep 26) Panellist: Webinar: ​NEP 2020: Vision for Curriculum & Pedagogy for the Foundational Stage, Panel Discussion, organised by Association for Early Childhood Education and Development (AECED), Mumbai, India.
  • Yogesh GR, Pandya K., MSR (2020, July) invited paper presentation Strengthening the ICDS ECE Programme – A multi-modal approach, National Conference on Research and Innovations for Quality Improvement in Early Childhood Education, NCERT, Delhi, India
  • Shastri J., and Pandya K., (2020, July 19). Webinar on ​‘Understanding Early Childhood Education, Directorate of School Education, Puducherry.
  • Pandya K., (2019 Nov 28), Full day workshop on ​“Language and Emergent Literacy in Early Years”, ECE Workshop for School Teachers, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, India.
  • Pandya K. (2020, April 22). Invited Speaker, Online Seminar ​“Setting up and Administration of Early Childhood Centers”, Department of Early Childhood Education and Administration and Research Center, Smt. VHD Central Institute of Home Science (Autonomous), Bengaluru, India.
  • Pandya K., Shastri J., MSR., (2019, Jan 31-Feb 2), ​Socio-emotional Development Trends in Young Children and Role of Early Years Education. Paper presented at the International Conference on ​‘Human Development in a globalizing World: Perspectives from South and South- East Asia’, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat, India.
  • Pandya K. (2018, June 5 – 7) ​“Our Journey in Early Childhood Education”, Invited paper on Foundation’s work in ECE, Plenary presentation at Asia-Pacific Regional Network of Early Childhood (ARNEC) Conference, Kathmandu, Nepal.
  • Pandya K., (2016, Nov 7 – 8) Co-Convener, National Conference on Redefining Early Childhood Education Profession in India: Challenges and Potential organised by Association of Early Childhood Education and Development (AECED), Azim Premji University and UNICEF, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
  • Pandya K., (2016, Nov 7 – 8), Curriculum and Pedagogy for Early Childhood Teachers. Paper Presentation at National Conference on Redefining Early Childhood Education Profession in India: Challenges and Potential organised by Association of Early Childhood Education and Development (AECED), Azim Premji University and UNICEF.
  • Pandya K.,(2016, July 27). Response to the Early Childhood Care and Education proposal for the draft New Education Policy. Paper presented at the Symposium on the Inputs to the New Education Policy, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, India
  • Jigisha S. and Pandya K. (Oct 21 – 24) ​Capacity development of trainers: Transforming the early childhood environment of ICDS in India. Poster Presentation at Asia Pacific Regional Network of Early Childhood (ARNEC), Beijing, China
  • Pandya K. (2014 Dec 3) ​Enabling environment for early educators: a key to early learning among children. Paper presentation at Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC), Manila, Philippines
  • Pandya K.,(2012 Feb) BTC work in Uttarakhand. Poster presentation at National Conference organised by the RV Educational Consortium and DSERT, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
  • Pandya K., (2014, Aug). Status of pre-school education component in Anganwadi centers in Medak.  Paper presentation MANTHAN, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
  • Pandya K., (2012) Contextualising language learning in a multilingual classroom. Paper presentation at MANTHAN, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
  • Pandya K., ​(2011, Aug 19) Why does a teacher teach the way she does? — An Analysis of a (Math) teacher’s pedagogy. Faculty Seminar, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.

Videos