Re-centring the Middle Tier: A Systemic Approach to Foundational Learning in India

Large-scale education reforms frequently falter not at the level of policy intent or classroom practice but in the intermediary spaces where policies are interpreted, negotiated, and enacted. This chapter examines the middle tier of education governance at district-, block-, and cluster-level officials and mentors as a critical locus of reform implementation in foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN). Drawing on theories of street-level bureaucracy and distributed leadership, this chapter argues that these actors function as agents who mediate between centralised mandates and local realities, shaping both the reach and the equity of systemic reforms. Using India’s recent national push for foundational learning as an empirical anchor, this chapter analyses how middle-tier bureaucratic practices balance accountability and support, translate targets into everyday routines, and influence outcomes for children from marginalised communities often described as ‘invisible citizens’. Situating India’s experience within comparative perspectives from other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), this chapter identifies unresolved questions around motivation, professional norms, and governance design. It concludes by outlining future research directions that foreground the middle tier as central to understanding the politics, durability, and equity of education system reform in the context of India.