Blurring Boundaries: The Growing Visibility, Evolving Forms and Complex Implications of Private Supplementary Tutoring

Abstract

Recent decades have brought major intensification of what in some settings has been called the shadow education system of supplementary private tutoring. Pupils in regular fee-free public schools attend supplementary fee-paying classes after school, at week-ends and during vacations. This practice is especially evident during the period leading up to major examinations, but for some pupils occurs at all levels of their education systems. The practice blurs conceptual boundaries: it is no longer a question of public or private education, but increasingly a question of public and private education. The practice has long been ingrained in the cultures of east Asia, and is now increasingly evident in west and central Asia, in Europe, in North America, and in Africa. Moreover, new types of tutoring over the internet are being provided across national boundaries. In this respect, tutoring is blurring geographic as well as conceptual boundaries. This paper describes and analyses the phenomenon. It notes the different types of tutoring that dominate in different cultures and income groups, and remarks on the forces of technology and globalisation. It suggests that the shadow is likely to become increasingly evident. Shadow education brings complex implications for policy-makers and practitioners. It has positive as well as negative dimensions, and requires sophisticated analysis and greater attention from researchers in both East and West, and North and South.