Amita Gupta

Dr. Gupta has been in the field of early education for over twenty years and has extensive cross-cultural experience with school administration, teacher education, and classroom teaching in urban schools in both India and the U.S. Prior to joining CUNY she was Associate Director of an early education school on the Upper West Side for ten years. Dr. Gupta has served as an early childhood consultant and on the Board of Directors for schools in both countries, and continues to offer culturally responsive professional development consultations in the areas of school leadership, teacher preparation, curriculum design and development for schools, institutions and organizations in India and the U.S.

Ed.D. (Early Childhood Teacher Education): Columbia University, Teachers College
M.A.  (Early Childhood Education): Columbia University, Teachers College
M.A. (Literature in English): Annamalai University, India
B.Ed. (Teaching of Biology and Chemistry): Delhi University, New Delhi, India
B. Sc. (Botany and Chemistry): Delhi University, New Delhi, India  

Early Childhood Education and Postcolonial Theory

Program and Curriculum in Early Childhood
Social Studies in the Early Childhood Curriculum

Observing and Recording the Behaviors of Young Children
Supervision of Student Teaching in Early Childhood
Developmental Issues in Early Childhood

Dr. Gupta’s research interests are interdisciplinary and draw upon the fields of the history, philosophy and sociology of education; postcolonial theory; urban education; international and comparative education; and early childhood teacher education. Her scholarship is focused on teacher preparation with an emphasis on the themes of cross-cultural perspectives on teaching, learning, and development; socio-cultural-historical constructivism in teaching and learning; and the impact of globalization on teacher preparation and practice. The integration of these themes also appears in her teaching at the Masters and Doctoral levels.  As a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar in 2009-10 she has conducted a multi-country examination of current directions in early education and urban teacher preparation policies in response to the effects of globalization in South Asia.

Books

Gupta, A. (2006). Early Childhood Education, Postcolonial Theory and Teaching Practices in India: Balancing Vygotsky and the Veda. Palgrave Macmillan.

Gupta, A. (2007). Going to School in South Asia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Book Chapters

Gupta, A. (2012). Neoliberal globalization and pre-primary teacher education policy and practice in India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. In D. Kapoor, B. Barua & A. Datoo (Eds.) Globalization, Culture and Education in South Asia: Critical Excursions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Publishers.

Gupta, A. (2011). Play and pedagogy framed within India’s historical, socio-cultural and pedagogical context. In S. Rogers (Ed.) Rethinking Play and Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education: Concepts, Contexts and Cultures. Oxford, UK: Routledge.

Gupta, A. (2007). Introduction: culture, curriculum, and points of intersection. In A. Gupta (Ed.) Going to school in South Asia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Gupta, A. (2007). Going to school in India. In A. Gupta (Ed.) Going to school in South Asia.  Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Latheef, M. & Gupta, A. (2007). Going to school in Maldives. In A. Gupta (Ed.) Going to school in South Asia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Articles in Published Journals

Gupta, A. (2008). Tracing global-local transitions within early childhood curriculum and practice in India. Research in Comparative and International Education. 3(3), pp. 266-279.

Gupta, A. (2007). Vygotskian perspectives to enhance children’s development and balance creativity with structure in the early childhood classroom. Early Child Development and Care. 179 (8), 1041-1054.

Gupta, A. (2006). Early experiences and funds of knowledge and beliefs of immigrant and minority teacher candidates dialog with theories of child development in a teacher education classroom. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education. 27(1), 3-18.

Gupta, A. (2004). The challenge of working with large class size: Dispositions of early childhood teachers in India. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. 5(3), 361-377.

Gupta, A.  (2003). Socio-cultural-historical constructivism in the preparation and practice of early childhood teachers in New Delhi, India. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education.  24(3), 163-170.

Gupta, A. (2001). Implementing Change at the Pre-Primary level in a School in India. International Journal of Early Childhood.  33(1), 34-42.

Book Reviews

Gupta, A. (2010). Book Review: Liberalization’s children (R.A. Lukose). Comparative Education Review. 54(4), pp 605-607.

Gupta, A. (2009). Book Review: History of Multicultural Education, Volume 6: Teachers and Teacher Education (Carl A. Grant and Thandeka K. Chapman). Teachers College Record, Date Published: December 01, 2009.

Gupta, A. (2007). Book Review - The economics of elementary education in India: The challenge of public finance, private provision and household costs. The International Journal of Early Years Education. October 2007.

Other Publications

Gupta, A. (2011). Learning to Teach, Teaching to Learn. Editorial: EECERJ.

Gupta, A. (2010). Head Start. In T. C. Hunt, J. C. Carper, T. J. Lasley II, & C. D. Raisch (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Educational Reform and Dissent. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Gupta, A. (2007). Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development. In R. New & M. Cochran (Eds.) Early Childhood Education (Four volumes): An International Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Praeger. Volume 2, pp. 347-348.

Gupta, A. (2007). Erik Erikson: a biography. In R. New & M. Cochran (Eds.) Early Childhood Education (Four volumes): An International Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Praeger. Volume 3, pp. 674-677.
 

Invited Presentations

Columbia University Seminar series on Law and Politics (Jan. 2012):
Transforming education in India: Excellence, Expansion and Inclusion: Current challenges and reforms in the climate of globalization and neo-liberalism.

Columbia University, Teachers College (Nov. 2010). Speaker, Emerging Education Issues in South Asia.

Zhejiang University, China (Oct. 2010): Speaker, The Quest for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Asia and Pacific Region: Strategies and Responses of Higher Education. International Conference at the College of Education.

Birmingham University, UK (Sept. 2010): Keynote Speaker, Knowledge and Voice in Early Childhood: Who knows, who speaks, who listens? Annual conference for EECERA (European Early Childhood Education Research Association).

Columbia University, NYC (April 2010). Speaker, International Development Seminar Series: Current trends in early education and teacher education policy and practice in South Asia.

USIEF-Fulbright-Lady Irwin College Seminar on Early Childhood Education (2009): Preparing the Early Childhood Teacher to Effectively Address the Needs of the 21st Century: Perspectives from India and the US. New Delhi, India

Fulbright Annual Conference (2009): Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood Education and Teacher Education. Pondicherry, India.

EduRtreat/Multiple Intelligence Institute Video-Conference Panel with Howard Gardner (2009): Engaging with the Multiple Intelligence Theory for the 21st Century. Ahmedabad, India.

Cornell University: NYCAS Teacher Training Conference on Education (2009): Factors influencing teaching and learning within traditional and contemporary educational contexts in India and South Asia.

Cornell University: NYCAS Teacher Training Conference on Education (2009): An alternative curriculum for early education: Classrooms that attempt to combine academic teaching with values teaching in child-centered ways.