Bridging Policy and Practice: The Influence of Invisible Pedagogical Mindsets on NEP 2020 in Classrooms

• In Event: Co-Producing Knowledge for Systemic Change: Collaborative Research for Education Transformation in a Divided World

Proposal

The SPARKS India Research Report investigates how India’s 2020 National Education Policy (NEP) is being interpreted and enacted in classrooms across four states—Uttarakhand, Telangana, Jharkhand, and Goa—through the lens of Invisible Pedagogical Mindsets (IPMs) which encompass the cultural norms, learning theories, and systemic conditions that influence how teachers engage with pedagogical reform.
While NEP 2020 articulates a transformative vision centered on holistic, inclusive, and experiential learning, this study finds that its implementation is deeply mediated by teachers’ lived realities. Drawing on qualitative data from interviews and focus group discussions with over 70 teachers, teacher educators, and policy actors, the research reveals that teachers are not passive recipients of reform. Instead, they actively interpret policy through their moral commitments, relational pedagogies, and contextual expertise.
Findings show that culture plays a central role in shaping pedagogical choices. Teachers view education as a moral and relational endeavor, prioritizing student dignity, emotional safety, and ethical development. These values often align with NEP’s emphasis on social-emotional learning and inclusive education, yet they remain unsupported by formal training and policy structures. Gender norms, linguistic hierarchies, and socioeconomic challenges further complicate classroom practice, highlighting the need for culturally responsive pedagogy and localized language strategies.
In terms of learning theories, teachers demonstrate strong alignment with NEP’s constructivist and student-centered principles. Many already employ activity-based, context-relevant methods such as storytelling, role play, and community-linked examples. However, gaps in pre-service and in-service training—often theoretical, top-down, and disconnected from classroom realities—limit the translation of these pedagogies into systemic practice. Teachers call for more experiential, reflective, and emotionally supportive professional development.
The education ecosystem presents significant structural barriers to reform. Teachers face administrative overload, fragmented support systems, and limited infrastructure, which undermine their ability to implement NEP’s pedagogical goals. Despite policy promises to reduce non-teaching duties and promote teacher autonomy, many educators report feeling overburdened and undervalued. Informal peer networks and personal initiative often compensate for systemic gaps, but without institutional recognition or support.
The report concludes that successful reform must begin with teachers—not as implementers, but as co-creators of pedagogical change. Policy must engage with the invisible pedagogical mindsets that shape classroom realities, embedding reform within local ecosystems and teacher identities. Recommendations include rationalizing administrative tasks, reframing teacher education for contextual relevance, prioritizing teacher wellbeing, and establishing participatory governance structures that amplify teacher voice.
Ultimately, the SPARKS India study underscores that meaningful reform is not about importing models—it is about cultivating thriving learning environments rooted in care, equity, and cultural relevance. Teachers across India are already enacting the spirit of NEP through quiet acts of creativity and compassion. This report calls for a shift: reform with teachers, not for them.

Author

• Joseph Thomas Rijo, DREAM A DREAM