Civilising pedagogies: An ethnography of instructional and regulative discourses in government schools in Delhi, India

Abstract Over the years, surveys and data on learning outcomes have consistently shown inadequate levels of learning in schools in India, witnessing a further decline in recent years. Studies within the sociology of education have consistently highlighted the overarching role of class and caste on learning outcomes in schools. Neoliberal policy reforms and initiatives in Delhi schools argue for teachers as ‘agents of change’, overlooking the processes and discourses shaping pedagogic practises in government schools. This article uses ethnography to understand this web of teaching‐learning practises in government schools, as well as the complexities of social relations, ideological underpinnings and cultural discourses that shape them. Basil Bernstein's theoretical concepts of instructional and regulative discourse are utilised to analyse the degrees of power and control embedded in the processes of knowledge relay and the structure of the relationships. This intersects with the ideological underpinnings through which social hierarchies are projected and embedded in pedagogy. The class and caste notions of pedagogy and marginalised learners' ‘deficit’ intellectual abilities and educability shaped pedagogic practises in government schools. The pedagogic practises were also shaped by culturally rooted ideas about the purpose of education and moral regulation of students from marginalised class and castes. The article also accounts for alternative practises that encouraged dialogue, student participation and attempted to challenge normative practises.