The teacher, the content and the learner are central to the practice of education. With these three actors at the core of our thinking, we ask: What is education? Why is there a need for it? How do we determine if learning objectives and educational aims are being attained? 

Answering these questions involves looking at socio-political assumptions, philosophical assumptions, and psychological aspects of education. It includes a study of the concepts of justice and equality, and ideas of human nature and knowledge. It involves a close understanding of a child’s mind and development in language and emotions. 

We contextualise these enquiries within history to ensure that you are able to develop a strong analytical and theoretical basis for educational judgement. These core courses will introduce you to key issues in educational thought, critique and practice. 

An elective allows you to pursue an extended exploration in a subdomain of educational theory and practice, which will include a field internship in a related topic.

You can select courses from a broad area of theoretical, practical or procedural knowledge in particular fields of education and supplement your understanding developed through the core courses.

The five fields offered are Early Childhood Education, Language Education, Math Education, Science Education and Social Science Education. The electives form an interplay between school curricular knowledge, subject knowledge and pedagogy. 

We believe that spending time in the field will help you develop a deeper understanding of the theoretical and conceptual ideas that you encounter in the course of your study.

We ensure that you are able to engage with a variety of field settings in the Indian educational context. We think this will help you address and understand dimensions of educational realities and tasks. You will be able to understand educational contexts and organisations, including work culture and ethics, and subject area knowledge. 

Weekly practicums

You will have weekly practicums that relate to course work that will help you hone your communication and negotiation skills as well as conceptualise and plan some educational practice. You will visit public and private schools, preschools and anganwadis or NGOs that work with children. 

Field practice

You will also have longer, sustained field engagements of two to three weeks in the first and second semesters. You will visit schools and NGOs to understand different aspects of the government education system. You will interact with teachers and children in the classroom setting and in teacher professional development centres in field offices of the Azim Premji Foundation.

In the third semester, you will participate in a 12 week field internship at Azim Premji Foundation field institutes, experiencing and understanding different aspects of school education. During this time, you will engage in field research. Know more here.