Session Information
ERG SES G 07, Education and Secondary Schools
Paper Session
Contribution
The paper presents author´s research-in-progress, which aims at diagnosis of this private tutoring phenomenon in upper secondary schools in Czech Republic. Author´s main research questions are:
1) What is the scale, functions, content of private tutoring and under which conditions is it provided?
2) What kind of students (in relation to their socioeconomic background) make use of private tutoring and why?
The aim of the paper is to present the theoretical framework of the research (established hypotheses) and designed research tool (questionnaire). It also presents further steps of the research.
Private tutoring defined as “fee-based tutoring that provides supplementary instruction to children in academic subjects they study in the mainstream education system” (Dang, Rogers, 2008) is tightly connected to school curriculum and aims to enhance pupils´ academic performance and also to increase their chances of getting to a higher stage of education (e.g. to university). The growth of private tutoring phenomenon worldwide can be seen as a continuing hidden privatisation of public education. As it certainly has advantages (individualized approach to pupils, aimed on their educational needs, investment in human resources etc.), past research already pointed out some disadvantages and possible negative impacts on the formal education system and equity in education. E.g. there might be tensions to the family budget and parental involvement, it might increase the chance of teacher corruption (public school teachers may neglect parts of curriculum and provide it for a fee during paid tutoring sessions), tutored students might disrupt the school climate during regular school lessons etc. (Bray, 1999, 2009).
Author´s research is inspired by multiple foreign studies which solve similar research problem. In particular, it adopts a modified methodological design used in large comparative studies of private tutoring in Central and Eastern Europe (Bray, Budiene & Silova, 2006) and Central Asia (Silova, 2009). Final findings will be to some extent comparable with findings of above mentioned studies.
Paper is divided into two parts. First, based on literature review and comparison with research findings across the world and Europe, author applies the patterns of private tutoring to Czech context and formulates hypotheses about the nature of private tutoring and its role and scale in the final year of high school. Hypotheses concern the scale and intensity of private tutoring in relation to factors found to be generally correlated with the use of private tutoring (socioeconomic status of the family, size of the family, grade of the pupil, the type of attended high school, nature of university entrance exams etc.). Second, the paper presents and analyses the research tool designed to test these hypotheses (a modification of questionnaire used in above mentioned studies).
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Dang, H., & Rogers, F. Halsey (2008). The Growing Phenomenon of Private Tutoring: Does It Deepen Human Capital, Widen Inequalities, or Waste Resources? Oxford: The World Bank Research Observer 23-2, p. 161-200. Bray, M. (1999). The Shadow Education System: Private Tutoring and its Implications for Planners. Paris: International Institute for Educational Planning. Bray, M. (2009). Confronting the Shadow Education System: What Government Policies for What Private Tutoring? Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Silova, I. (Ed.). (2009). Private supplementary tutoring in central Asia: New opportunities and burdens. Paris: International Institute for Educational Planning. Silova I., Budiene, V. & Bray, M. (Eds.) (2006). Education in a Hidden Marketplace: Monitoring of Private Tutoring. Budapest: Education Support Program (ESP) of the Open Society Institute.
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