Survival pedagogy, compliance inversion, and concurrent role fracture: conceptual insights from teachers working in Indian primary schools

This study examines the lived experiences of teachers in rural multigrade classrooms in Uttar Pradesh, India, where instructional, administrative, and caregiving demands converge. Using a phenomenological approach based on in-depth interviews with nine educators, the research identifies three conceptual insights: survival pedagogy, compliance inversion, and concurrent role fracture. Survival pedagogy describes improvised teaching practices arising from structural constraints rather than intentional design. Compliance inversion captures a shift in teachers’ professional focus from pedagogy to administrative compliance, driven by intensified bureaucratic and digital demands. Concurrent role fracture explains the simultaneous and conflicting enactment of teaching, administrative, and caregiving roles within a single moment, producing fragmentation in professional identity. Together, these insights offer a new analytical framework for understanding multigrade teaching in under-resourced contexts. The study highlights the need for policy reforms that address structural shortages, reduce administrative burdens, and recognise the complex, qualitatively distinct nature of multigrade teacher work.