About
Research
Email: shalini.bhorkar@stmarys.ac.uk
Biography
- PhD in Education and International Development, Institute of Education, University College London
- M.Ed. in Comparative and Global Studies in Education & Development, University of Hong Kong
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA Ref. PR293903)
Shalini is a Lecturer (Teaching and Research) at the Centre for Research into the Education of Marginalised Children and Young Adults (CREMCYA), and she is a Module Convenor in the Education, International Development and Social Justice MA programme. She is currently supervising doctoral students conducting studies in India, Ghana, and the UK.
Shalini has a diverse profile in teaching, and has taught children and adults in India, Japan, Hong Kong, and the UK. Her research and practice broadly focus on critical debates in education quality and equity in low and middle-income countries, with an emphasis on the political economy of privatisation in school education. Based on her research, she undertakes consultancy assignments. Her work includes several spheres of education in specific (design and delivery of education, student-centred learning approaches, teacher professional development) and development more broadly (policy planning, implementation, and analysis and governance and accountability).
She is interested in hearing from prospective doctoral students who are looking to conduct research on education quality and equity, particularly from comparative and international education perspectives.
Research
Research profile
Shalini’s research publications particularly focus on the implications of educational privatisation on the most underserved student population sections.
Publications
Peer-reviewed journal articles
- Bhorkar, S. (2024). Variegated roles of and relationships between private tutoring and schooling: Insights from the State of Maharashtra, India. ECNU Review of Education, 7(1), 66-88.
- Bray, M., Bhorkar, S., & Suante, P. K. (2024). Quand l’éducation de l’ombre supplante la scolarisation : tendances en Inde et au Myanmar [When shadow education displaces schooling: Patterns in India and Myanmar]. Revue internationale d’éducation de Sèvres, 95/2024, 26-32 (in French).
- Bhorkar, S. (2023). Teaching-learning dynamics between schools and tutoring centres in India: Avirtuous or vicious cycle? (Las dinámicas de enseñanza-aprendizaje en los centros escolares y los centros de tutorías privadas en la India: ¿ciclo virtuoso o ciclo vicioso?). Journal for the Study of Education and Development, 46(4), 879-913. (Bilingual – English and Spanish)
- Bhorkar, S. (2023). Réinventer les syndicats d’enseignants en Inde: Perspectives à partir d’une étude de cas dans l’État du Maharashtra [Line of duty: Insights for Teachers’ Unions from a case study in Maharashtra State, India]. Revue internationale d’éducation de Sèvres, 91/2022, 141-150 (in French).
- Bhorkar, S. (2023). Public perceptions on education provision: The case for reforming India’s unequal system. ORF Issue Brief No. 651, July 2023, Observer Research Foundation.
- Khanapurkar, R., Bhorkar, S., Dandare, K. & Kathole, P. (2020). Strengthening the online
education ecosystem in India. Observer Research Foundation Occasional Paper 282.
- Bhorkar, S., & Bray, M. (2018). The expansion and roles of private tutoring in India: From
Supplementation to supplantation. International Journal of Educational Development, 62, 148-156.
Book chapters
- Bhorkar, S. (2024). Unregulated Private Tutoring in India: Educational Inequalities Engendered by the “Light but Tight” National Education Policy 2020. In T. Saeed, R. Iyengar, M.A. Witenstein, & E.J. Byker (Eds.), Exploring Education and Democratization in South Asia: Research, Policy, and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Bhorkar, S. (Abstract accepted). Peopling of educational policy reforms and Private tutoring in India: One step forward, two steps back. In S. Christensen, M. Majumdar, & N. Sarkar (Eds.), Shadow Education in India. Comparative Education Research Centre (CERC), The University of Hong Kong and Routledge.
Book reviews
Blog articles
Conferences and invited lectures
- September 2024 BAICE (British Association for International & Comparative Education), Sussex, Contextualising foundational literacy learning: Grassroots lessons from educators in India and Mexico.
- July 2024 School of Education, University of Birmingham, Networking Workshop on Supplementary Education in Theory, Policy, and Practice, Evoking a regulatory response for the heterogenous private tutoring sector: Global insights.
- August 2023 Centre for Excellence in Teacher Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India, The dynamics between mainstream education and private tutoring: Implications for educational quality and equity.
- June 2023 France Education International (organisation affiliated to the French Education Ministry) International Seminar on “Collaborative work at schools”, Paris (Invited as a speaker), Reinventing Teachers’ Unions in India: Insights from a Case Study in Maharashtra State, India.
- June 2023 Institute of Education, St. Mary’s University, London, Research Conference, Expansion and role of shadow education: Implications for mainstream education.
- Nov 2022 Danish School of Education, Aarhus University and Nordic-Asian Network Seminar on “Shadow education in transition? Lessons from the coaching sector in India”, New Delhi (Invited as a speaker), The expanding role of private tutoring in India: Policy perspectives.
- June 2020 UCL Institute of Education Doctoral Summer Conference, London, Power, interests and ideas: A disaggregated theoretical approach for political economy analysis of private tutoring in India.
- Sept 2019 UKFIET Conference 2019, Oxford, Reservations for poor children in private schools in India: Inclusion or illusion?
- April 2019 Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) Conference, San Francisco, Educational corruption arising in and through the private tutoring sector in India.
- April 2019 British Association of South Asian Studies (BASAS) Conference, Durham
Education in India: Old issues, new challenges.
- Dec 2018 CESI (Comparative Education Society of India) Annual Conference, Baroda, India, Comparative education methodologies for developing shadow education research in India.
- Nov 2018 Waseda University Doctoral Exchange Programme Conference, Tokyo, Japan, Expansion and role of shadow education in India.
- September 2018 BAICE (British Association for International & Comparative Education), York, Lessons from Gandhian principles for rethinking educational policies in pluralist India.
- June 2018 UCL Institute of Education Doctoral Summer Conference, London, Political economy of private tutoring: Implications for mainstream education in India.
- May 2018 Hong Kong University Postgraduate Research Conference, Hong Kong, Educational quality and equity: Dynamics of shadow education in rural Maharashtra, India.
- March 2017 Comparative Education Society of Hong Kong (CESHK), Hong Kong, The untapped potential of comparative education research to study the shadow education phenomenon in India.