Social identity and learning: Adult literacy program in India

Sakshi Bhardwaj and Abu Shonchoy

Economics of Education Review, 2024, vol. 99, issue C

Abstract: The paper examines the effect of social identity on adult learning within a hierarchical social setting— an important yet often understudied issue for effective adult education. We leverage the random matching of students and teachers from a randomized controlled experiment in India, where illiterate adult female learners aged 18–45 were randomly assigned to a literacy program. We find a positive and significant impact of matching an upper caste teacher with a lower caste adult student on literacy scores. We also find suggestive evidence of an increase in students' confidence measures when matched with an upper caste teacher, indicating a plausible impact mechanism. Our findings highlight the need for future research on social identity and its influence on adult learning, particularly in countries with existing deep-rooted hierarchical social constructs.

Keywords: Adult education; Social identity; India; Caste (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I24 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:99:y:2024:i:c:s0272775724000013

DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2024.102507

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