Rao, Sylvia Fernandes;
Kulkarni, Bharati;
Kareddy, Shridevi;
Chereau, Bernardita Munoz;
Ang, Lynn;
Davis, Dawn;
Dockrell, Julie E;
(2025)
Exploring Learning Environments in Urban Anganwadis: Pathways to Early Childhood Development.
International Journal of Early Childhood
10.1007/s13158-025-00437-1.
(In press).
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Abstract
Profiling the quality of early learning environments in low- and middle-income countries is challenging, but essential to ensure that all children have access to quality early childhood education and care. We report a study which assessed the early learning environments of a sample of 36 Anganwadi centres (AWCs) in two urban disadvantaged areas in Hyderabad, India, using the MELE (Measuring Early Learning Environments, 2014). To profile the children’s early learning environments. The MELE was translated into Telugu and observations completed by a local researcher supported by the main team. We outline the context and characteristics of preschool education in the urban Hyderabad Anganwadis and the ways in which the Anganwadis function as centres of learning. The findings offer an in-depth assessment of the learning environment, learning opportunities and learning interactions provided in the centres to the children who attend. While we found that children in Anganwadis were receiving adequate nutrition, questions are raised about how the settings were supporting children’s cognitive development. Specifically, there was little evidence of individualised or small group learning opportunities, play opportunities were rare, materials present such as books were often not used and there was a high level of punitive interaction. Opportunities for enhancing Anganwadi provision are discussed.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Exploring Learning Environments in Urban Anganwadis: Pathways to Early Childhood Development |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s13158-025-00437-1 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-025-00437-1 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Anganwadis; Preschool; Learning environments; MELE; Low and middle income countries (LMIC) |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Learning and Leadership UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10210867 |
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