About
I'm Rukmani.
I'm a Child Learning & Development Specialist and Educational Consultant with over 13 years of experience working with children, teachers, schools and education organisations.
My work has taken me from classrooms to teacher development, early childhood programmes, curriculum and resource design, and one-to-one work with children. Different roles. Different settings. But one question has stayed with me throughout: what does this look like for the child who is actually experiencing it? That question continues to shape the way I work today.
In one line
Rukmani Vishwanathan is an independent Child Learning & Development Specialist based in Chennai, India, working online with families and schools across India and beyond. She works with children aged 3 to 12, their families, and educators, combining psychology, pedagogy and play-based tools to help children overcome learning friction, build self-regulation, and learn with confidence. She holds an M.A. in Education (Azim Premji University) and a B.A. in Psychology (Fergusson College), is a certified Art & Movement Therapy practitioner, and has 13+ years of experience with Teach For India, Thermax Foundation, Flintoclass and Freshworks.
Credentials
- M.A. in Education, Azim Premji University, Bangalore
- B.A. in Psychology, Fergusson College, Pune
- Certified Art & Movement Therapy practitioner: a play-based method I use in sessions, not a clinical therapy
- 13+ years in education
- 90+ educators mentored
I've been on different sides of learning
I started my career working directly with children in classrooms. That gave me my first understanding of something I still believe strongly today: children can be in the same classroom, hear the same instruction and experience completely different levels of understanding.
From there, my work expanded to supporting teachers and school leaders, developing early-years programmes, designing curriculum and learning experiences, creating educational resources and working across larger education initiatives.
Each role added another layer to how I understand learning.
Working with children taught me to observe. Working with teachers taught me that good practice needs to be practical enough to use tomorrow morning. Working with curriculum taught me to start with what we want the child to understand or be able to do, not with the activity or worksheet. And working across programmes taught me to think about how good ideas translate into something that can actually be implemented.
Today, I bring those perspectives together in my independent work with families, children, teachers and education organisations.
The road here
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Independent practice · today
Child Learning & Development Specialist
Today, I've returned in many ways to where I began: the child and the learning experience.
I work directly with children and parents around learning and development. I create personalised learning and engagement resources. And I work with schools and education organisations through one-to-one teacher coaching, curriculum and content design, and resource creation.
The scale of the work may change, from one child to an entire set of learning materials, but the way I approach it doesn't. Start with who is going to use it. Understand what they need. Then build from there.
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Education programmes · 2023 – 2026
Freshworks: Lead CSR, then Manager, CSR
My work later expanded into larger education programmes, where I worked across programme design, implementation and education initiatives.
This added another perspective: how to take an educational idea and build the structures, content and processes needed for it to work beyond one classroom.
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Early childhood · 2020 – 2023
Flintoclass: Operations Manager, then Senior Manager
Working in early childhood brought me closer to how much learning happens through play, exploration, movement, language and everyday experiences. My work included early-years programmes and setting up preschools from the ground up, bringing together curriculum, learning environments, resources and implementation.
It strengthened something I had already begun to see in classrooms: a well-designed learning experience can do much more than simply telling a child what they need to know.
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Teacher & school development · 2017 – 2018
Thermax Foundation: Program Manager
My work expanded from supporting children to supporting the adults and systems around them. I worked with teachers and school leaders, including government-school educators, on classroom practice, teaching and learning.
It gave me a much wider view of education: what happens with a child is influenced not only by the teacher, but by the curriculum, resources, expectations and systems surrounding that classroom.
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Classroom teaching · 2013 – 2015
Teach For India: Teaching Fellow
My earliest years were spent where I still believe some of the most important learning happens: directly with children.
Teaching showed me that when a child isn't learning, the answer isn't always to explain it again, give more practice or assume they aren't trying hard enough. Sometimes we need to change how we're asking the child to learn.
How I work
I observe before I intervene.
When a child gets something wrong, I'm interested in what happened before the wrong answer.
- Did they understand the instruction?
- Could they remember all the steps?
- Did they know the concept but struggle to express it?
- Were they rushing?
- Was there simply too much information on the page?
Those details help us understand what support might actually make a difference.
The same thinking guides my work with teachers and organisations. Before creating a resource, I ask what it needs to achieve. Before designing curriculum, I ask what we want the child to understand. Before suggesting a strategy to a teacher, I want to understand what is actually happening in their classroom.
I don't begin with the solution. I begin by understanding the need.
What I bring to the work
- 13+ years across education and child development
- Experience spanning classroom teaching, early childhood education, teacher development, curriculum design, learning resources and education programmes
- Certified Art & Movement Therapy Practitioner
- Training and experience in cognitive and attention enhancement, sensory integration and self-regulation strategies
- Experience working with children across early childhood through the primary and middle-school years
And importantly, I continue to work directly with children. That keeps my understanding of learning grounded in what children actually do, not only in what theory says they should do.
What I believe
I don't believe every child who struggles needs more tuition. I don't believe every learning goal needs a worksheet. I don't believe an activity is valuable simply because a child is busy doing it. And I don't believe children need to fit one particular way of learning.
I believe in understanding what we're trying to achieve, what is getting in the way and what might help this particular child move forward.
- Sometimes that's a different explanation.
- Sometimes it's a game.
- Sometimes it's movement.
- Sometimes it's a carefully designed resource.
- Sometimes it's slowing everything down and looking at the problem differently.
The method can change. The purpose should always be clear.
Work with me
If you're a parent trying to understand or support how your child learns, I can help you work out what might make a difference. Explore parent support.
If you're a school or education organisation looking for teacher coaching, curriculum and content design, or learning resources, we can build something around what you need. For schools & organisations.