Laela Adamson

In the context of aspirations that firmly position education as the key to multiple global development goals, we raise concerns about how education is experienced by many children, particularly in low‐income, postcolonial contexts. Drawing from two, in‐depth qualitative studies in Tanzania, we demonstrate that existing pedagogical practices, including the use of an unfamiliar language of learning and teaching, constitute a ‘hidden curriculum’ that powerfully undermines the vision of education embedded in the sustainable development agenda. We argue that research that foregrounds children's experiences should have a more prominent role as it enables us to understand the lived implications of global policy‐making.