Private Tutoring and Social Cohesion

Mastering the public school curriculum is so important to a child's occupational future that in many regions of the world “shadow” education outside of the public system has now become the norm. In one way, this is excellent news because private investment in human capital is a strong contributor to economic and social development. However, private demand is driving a separate and powerful private industry. According to the constitutional standards in many countries, education is supposed to be “free.” This suggests that, in some instances, shadow education might be unconstitutional. The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights also says that education should be free. This suggests that in some circumstances, shadow education may be contrary to the principles of human rights. The question addressed in this article is whether shadow education is wrong. This article summarizes the arguments in favor and against shadow education and ends with a series of recommendations to better manage what has become a worldwide dilemma.     

影子教育提升了学业成绩吗?——来自CEPS的经验证据

本文利用中国教育追踪调查(CEPS2013)数据,运用倾向性得分匹配法(PSM),分析影子教育对学生学业成绩的影响,并基于影子教育参与时间选择异质性视角,构建中介效应模型,进一步考察了影子教育影响学生学业成绩的可能路径.研究表明:(1)总体上看,影子教育能够提高学生学业成绩,而且这种效应在优势学生群体(非流动学生、非留守学生和家庭经济条件较好的学生)中更明显.(2)周一到周五参与影子教育将显著降低学生学业成绩;周末参与影子教育将显著提高学生成绩,并且学生学业成绩与参与时间经历了一个“先上升再下降”的“倒U型”,当参与时间为4.45小时时,学生学业成绩提升程度最高.(3)在周一到周五,参与影子教育通过挤占休闲时间降低了学生的学业成绩;在周末,参与影子教育通过挤出娱乐时间提升了学生的学业成绩.     

The origin of universal shadow education: what the supplemental education phenomenon tells us about the postmodern institution of education

Prodigious growth in out-of-school, private educational activities meant to supplement formal schooling is observed worldwide. Why has shadow education expanded, and what does it mean for the future of education in postmodern society? Illustrated by the historical development and recent changes in the Japanese shadow education industry, it is suggested that shadow education follows the institutional logic of formal education. And as this logic has become more homogenized and expansive globally, so have the forms and goals of shadow education. Because of its focus on learning and achievement, which are central to formal education, it is predicted that shadow education will be increasingly incorporated into the broader culture of education.     

Equalising schooling,unequalising private supplementary tutoring: access and tracking through shadow education in China

The global expansion of mass schooling has greatly increased opportunities for low-income families, and governments have devoted much effort to equalising access and quality in education systems. Alongside regular schooling, the so-called shadow education system of private supplementary tutoring has grown rapidly across the world. The fact that rich families can purchase more and better quality shadow education undermines the achievements of increased equality of opportunities in formal schooling. Drawing on a mixed-methods study in Shanghai, China, the article shows how shadow education has offset school equalisation policies through differentiation of access and through sorting mechanisms. Shadow education occupies a space beyond strict government control in which privileged families and elite schools ignore and mediate the equalisation policies, seeking competitive advantages. Uneven access to shadow education and tracking within it shape, maintain, and exacerbate inequitable schooling experiences at individual and institutional levels.     

“影子教育”之全球扩张：教育公平、质量、发展中的利弊谈

"影子教育"这一术语已被广泛用于描述利用校外时间对学校科目进行的私人补充教育。在世界上的一些地区,"影子教育"已作为一种显著的教育现象历经了几十年,而在另一些地区,则是在近几年才变得突出。"影子教育"在全球逐渐扩张,中国也不例外。它给政策制定者、教师、家庭和学生带来了一系列挑战。"影子教育"在有些方面是有益的,但在有些方面却带来了问题。     

“双减”政策下影子教育的 公益性证成及其法治保障

回归公益性是治理影子教育野蛮生长的关键所在。影子教育作为文化传播活动具有天然的公益性，作为学校教育的延伸具有承继的公益性，作为法律所规定的公益事业具有拟制的公益性。影子教育的公益性表现为办学目的非营利性、办学收益的不可分配性以及办学产品的社会有益性。运用法治思维和法治方式保障影子教育公益性，应以优化非营利性登记制度设计限定办学目的，以构建影子教育行政执法的协同机制规范办学过程，以建立健全影子教育产品质量评估监督机制提升办学质量。     

School socioeconomic compositional effect on shadow education participation: evidence from Japan

While shadow education, organized learning activities outside formal school, has grown greatly around the world, the relationship between formal schooling and shadow education has not been well investigated. This study is therefore intended to empirically test whether formal education’s structure (i.e. tracking) affects students’ shadow education participation by utilizing a nationally representative dataset consisting of 10th-grade students in Japan. Results of multilevel logistic regression analyses show school socioeconomic compositional and cross-level interaction effects on shadow education participation: students in high-socioeconomic status (SES) schools are more likely to seek shadow education lessons than those in schools of lower SES; and higher SES students tend to take shadow education lessons, especially when in high-SES schools. Additionally, the study finds that the school composition effect becomes relatively weak when extra lessons are free of charge, highlighting the importance of family economic capital to obtain additional learning opportunities.     

The hidden curriculum in a hidden marketplace: relationships and values in Cambodia’s shadow education system

The concept of hidden curriculum has become well established. It addresses the contexts of learning, the actions of students’ peers and teachers, and other domains which shape learning but are not part of official syllabuses. The concept of a hidden marketplace for private tutoring, widely known as shadow education, is less established but also becoming part of general understanding of the complementarities of regular and supplementary instruction. This paper brings the two literatures together to examine the values transmitted, mostly unintentionally, by shadow education in Cambodia. Most of this shadow education is delivered by regular teachers, commonly to their existing students and in their existing schools. The paper considers the impact of shadow education not only on the students who do receive it but also on those who do not. Patterns in Cambodia differ from those in more prosperous countries, but have parallels with other low-income countries. The authors suggest that much more attention is needed to the dynamics and impact of shadow education, including relationships between actors and the values that shadow education transmits as part of the hidden curriculum.     

补习教育的地域延展及其社会效应分析

当前,补习教育主要有非正式组织的家教和机构化的校外培训两种形式。它在全球迅速蔓延,从发达国家到发展中国家,从城市到乡村,都可以看到课外补习现象。它的规模存在地区间的差异,凸显了社会不平等状况。它具有社会复制和社会分层两大负面效应,是维护和加剧社会不平等的一个具体通道。虽然各国政府对补习教育的态度和政策响应各异,但在市场经济条件下,它的发展已不可阻挡,理应得到有效管理。     

Influences of shadow education on the ecology of education – A review of the literature

Shadow education, also widely known as private tutoring or supplementary education, has attracted increasing research attention in the past two decades. The global expansion of shadow education, as well as its penetration to different educational stages and social classes, are believed to have far-reaching implications for the overall educational landscape. However, despite a steadily growing body of literature, no study to date has systematically reviewed the influences of shadow education from an ecological perspective. Therefore, borrowing Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of how shadow education influences different levels of educational ecosystems (i.e. individuals, micro-, meso-, exo-, and macro-system). Based on 74 empirical studies published between 2000 and 2020, the review reveals complex influences exerted by shadow education on multiple systems (e.g., students, mainstream schooling, families, and larger socioeconomic structures), contributing to a more sophisticated understanding of this phenomenon. The paper then discusses how the rise of shadow education creates significant changes to the ecology of education in which it operates, and concludes with implications for future practice and research.     

Does policy matter in shadow education spending? Revisiting the effects of the high school equalization policy in South Korea

In 1972, the South Korean government proposed the high school equalization policy (HSEP) to eliminate high-stakes exams and introduce random school assignment to high school entrance. This policy was intended to reduce a financial burden imposed on families due to the costs of children’s shadow education. Since its first implementation in major cities in 1974, the HSEP has been increasingly expanded to many regions across South Korea. Yet little known is about whether the HSEP has achieved its policy goal in terms of decreasing the demand for shadow education. Using data from a longitudinal survey of a nationally representative sample of South Korean seventh graders, this study assesses the extent to which the HSEP makes a difference in changes in household expenditures on shadow education during the middle school (grades 7–9). Propensity score matching methods are used to remove selection bias and test the heterogeneity of the effects of the HSEP. Results show small effects for the HSEP in reducing the financial burden of shadow education spending on families, particularly for lower income families. The findings suggest that the government intervention by reducing disparities among schools and competition for entering a particular school makes a difference in shadow education spending.     

Private Subtractory Tutoring: The Negative Impact of Shadow Education on Public Schooling in Myanmar

An expanding literature focuses on the so-called shadow education system of private supplementary tutoring, and contributes to understandings of the nexus between in-school and out-of-school learning. This paper, contextualised in broader literature, draws on questionnaire and interview data from students, teachers, principals, parents and other stakeholders in Myanmar, and observes that shadow education may subtract as well as supplement. For some decades, public education in Myanmar has suffered from financial stringency, large classes, and overloaded curriculum. Students and their families have sought private tutoring, particularly from public school teachers, to supplement school education; and teachers and other providers have welcomed the revenue that they can earn. As a result, private tutoring has become embedded in the lives of many students and teachers, and has consumed time and energy supposed to be spent on school education. However, the private tutoring has also helped to keep the school system running.     

School systems as breeding grounds for shadow education: Factors contributing to private supplementary tutoring in West Bengal,India

In the academic literature, private supplementary tutoring is widely known as shadow education, in part because it is commonly indistinct and because much of its content mimics that in mainstream schooling. Around the world, shadow education has become an important part of students' lives and in some places it diminishes the body that it mimics. This paper builds on studies that have focused on relationships between schooling and shadow education. The paper uses the conceptual lens of privatisation-by-default, and employs qualitative methods to understand the roles of both government and private schools in promoting tutoring in West Bengal, India. It finds that substantial proportions of shadow education emanate from and are fostered by school systems. On the one hand private tutoring as a form of privatisation-by-default gives freedom of choice, but on the other hand it limits choice. Further, school-bred tutoring can have a negative backwash on school systems. As such, private supplementary tutoring is not just a neutral shadow but affects the body that it imitates. The study recommends researchers to look back at schools to gain a deeper understanding of private supplementary tutoring.     

Behind the façade of fee-free education: shadow education and its implications for social justice

Most governments, at an official level, espouse the principles of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Among its statements is that education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Yet while the façade of government education systems presents an image that instruction is free of charge, families across the world increasingly find it necessary to invest in the so-called shadow education system of private supplementary tutoring. The spread of shadow education, which is no longer confined to relatively prosperous families, has far-reaching implications for social inequalities and therefore social justice. It is a hidden form of privatisation behind the façade of public education systems; and the fact that shadow education is seen by many families as unavoidable appears to be incompatible with the spirit of the Universal Declaration. The question then is whether the spirit of the Universal Declaration should be abandoned, or whether it should be protected—and, if so, how.     

Conceptualizing shadow curriculum: definition,features and the changing landscapes of learning cultures

This article presents a new conceptualization of ‘shadow curriculum’, one component of the worldwide phenomenon of shadow education, i.e. learning outside of school. Traditional conceptions of curriculum are not applicable to shadow education, and so this article begins by exploring how shadow education practices qualify as a new focus of curriculum studies. Based on existing scholarship and our own field experience in South Korea, we propose that shadow curriculum can be defined as supplementary curriculum out of schooling provided by educational business industries that are aimed for individual students’ academic success in formal education. The following discussion explores the characteristics of shadow curriculum and shows that incorporating shadow curriculum as a new area of focus in the field of curriculum studies can broaden existing understandings of student learning and the concept of curriculum. Our hope is that this discussion will open a new intellectual space for analysis of the complex phenomenon of shadow education within the field of curriculum studies.     

中国与韩国科学影子教育时间对科学素养的影响研究——基于PISA2015测评数据分析

随着知识经济时代的到来,教育竞争越来越激烈,影子教育系统也不断扩张,尤其是在中国、 韩国等东亚国家,但其时间投入如何影响学生的核心素养却不明晰,尤其是针对我国基础教育阶段影子教育的实证研究比较缺乏,科学领域的影子教育研究更是鲜见,导致政府干预科学影子教育缺乏指导依据.基于中国与韩国PISA2015的测评数据,在充分考虑...     

当前我国农村地区影子教育的价值研究

近些年来,影子教育在我国农村地区蓬勃发展,对农村地区教育事业的发展产生了重要的影响。农村地区影子教育有助于增加农村子女的知识储备量,加快知识的传播,有助于提高学生学习的积极性,有助于促进主流学校教育的进步和发展。教育的发展要顺应人的发展,影子教育的发展离不开政府的监督和管理,农村地区整个教育事业的发展离不开影子教育的协助。     

欧盟“影子教育”初探

基于《影子教育的挑战:欧盟家教及其对政策制定者的影响》报告,发现:主导文化的变迁、全民教育运动的推动、教师工资足额支付结构的崩溃、政府教育公共投入的紧缩、对家庭和个人需求的满足促使影子教育在欧盟兴起,且规模化、产业化特征明显。同时它在需求方呈现出阶层差异性,地域分布呈现出城乡和国别差异性、供方师资来源和补习形式呈现出多样性、补习科目呈现出考试取向性。它的发展不可阻挡,但对公平、教育和经济亦有影响。     

基于DEA视窗分析理论的普通高中教育效率研究

合理、准确的进行普通高中教育效率评价有利于引导教育投资方向,提高教育效率,推进教育改革。利用DEA模型,在假设规模收益不变条件下,采用基于投入的视窗分析方法研究1999-2009年我国各省市区普通高中的教育效率发现：同一时间段不同省份之间的教育效率差别很大,但同一省份不同时间段间的效率差别不大;与经济发展情况不同,中西部地区的教育效率高于东部地区;经济发达地区的各种投入的影子价格均低于欠发达地区。针对各地教育效率现状,政府应针对不同地区实际,制定鼓励民间资本投资普通高中的优惠政策,扩大对自然条件恶劣或少数民族聚居区异地教学支持的帮扶,加大财政转移支付,改善欠发达地区教育投入不足的现状,从而从总体上提高全国普通高中教育的效率水平。