This contribution examines the emotional experiences of schoolteachers who also work as private tutors, elaborating on the evolving role of private tutoring in contemporary education. Private tutoring, also called shadow education, is a tutoring in academic school subjects, that is provided for a fee in addition to a regular school instruction (Bray, 2023). The increasing commercialization of education has led many schoolteachers to supplement their income through private tutoring (Bray, 2022), a phenomenon that raises important questions about professional identity, emotional labor, and the broader implications of shadow education (Kobakhidze, 2018).

While teacher emotion has been extensively studied in formal school settings (Chen, 2021), research on emotion in private tutoring remains scarce, despite its growing global prevalence. Emotional issues in shadow education have thus far been investigated in relation to students (e.g., Li & Liu, 2023; Zheng et al., 2020), only scarcely in relation to tutors (e.g., Li, 2022), and predominantly within a Chinese context.

Thus, this study aims to fill this gap in knowledge by exploring how teacher emotions are shaped in private tutoring settings and how these experiences differ from those in the traditional classroom. In addition, the study has also a comparative dimension as it focuses on the Czech Republic and Israel, two countries where private tutoring is widespread (in both countries, more than a third of students report experience with this type of education (Šťastný, 2024, Addi‐Raccah, 2019) but situated within distinct policy environments and cultural contexts.

The literature has identified an array of factors that precede the emergence of specific emotion(s) in teachers, including personal antecedents, contextual antecedents and emotional capacity (Chen, 2021). The present study focuses on the contextual antecedents that exhibit differences between school teaching and tutoring. While both school teaching and (private) tutoring consist of targeted instructions to primary or secondary students, their nature differs considerably in their structure, delivery, purpose or objectives (Zhang & Bray, 2021). For example, the formal schooling process fosters holistic development and standardized learning outcomes, while shadow education focuses on specific academic goals and chiefly centers on exam preparation.

Unlike universally mandatory and publicly funded schooling, private tutoring is voluntary and market-driven, with families deciding their level of investment based on their financial resources and availability. Schoolteachers must meet strict professional qualifications and adhere to institutional regulations, whereas private tutors come from diverse backgrounds with fewer formal requirements. Shadow education offers flexibility in class size, scheduling, and teaching methods, allowing for more individualized instruction, often leveraging innovative technologies. In contrast, formal schooling follows a standardized curriculum and prioritizes stability, making it more resistant to rapid changes compared to the adaptability of tutoring institutions (Zhang & Bray, 2020, Bray, 2023).

This research is situated within a wider discourse on the privatization of education and its impact on teachers’ professional lives. As shadow education continues to expand globally, it is essential to examine how it affects those who provide these services. Understanding the emotional dimensions of private tutoring offers valuable insights into the professional challenges faced by teacher-tutors and the evolving role of education in a market-driven world. The paper engages with international debates on teacher professionalism, educational equity, and the regulation of private tutoring, making it particularly relevant for discussions on the future of education policy in Europe and beyond.

This study employs a qualitative research design to explore the emotional experiences of schoolteachers who also work as private tutors. Given the subjective and context-dependent nature of emotions, a qualitative approach allows for an in-depth, interpretive exploration of teacher-tutors’ emotional experiences in their dual professional roles. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 teacher-tutors—seven from the Czech Republic and eight from Israel. Participants were selected using purposive sampling (Patton, 2015) to ensure diversity in teaching experience, subject specialization, and school level. The interviews aimed to capture teachers’ emotional experiences, the factors influencing these emotions, and how they compare between school teaching and private tutoring. The interview guide, developed through several stages of internal discussion and two pilot-tests, included questions about participants' motivations for tutoring, their emotional responses in different professional settings, and the ways in which they regulate emotions in their dual roles. The interviews were conducted in the participants' native languages, either in person or online, and subsequently transcribed. Following the guidelines proposed by Gibbs (2007), the researchers began by familiarizing themselves with the data, then applied inductive codes to segments relevant to the research questions. These codes were subsequently grouped into categories and organized into a coherent hierarchical structure. A detailed summary of the main themes and subthemes for each country was prepared by the authors and then compared. The authors reviewed each other's analytical summaries, and after several rounds of discussion, they reached a consensus on the main themes and subthemes that emerged in both countries. Throughout the whole process, both authors were taking analytical notes and writing analytical memos that helped them better understand their data.

An analysis of the dataset identified three key themes regarding how shadow education shapes the emotional experiences of Czech and Israeli teacher-tutors. First, the majority of respondents in both countries emphasized that the market-driven nature of private tutoring significantly influenced their emotions, both positively and negatively. While the additional income brought happiness and satisfaction, it also created a heightened sense of responsibility for the quality and outcomes of their tutoring compared to classroom teaching. On the negative side, some tutors experienced guilt, either for not paying taxes on their earnings or for accepting payments from parents with lower socioeconomic status. Second, differences in relationships with parents and students triggered distinct emotional responses. Respondents generally felt a stronger emotional connection and attachment to their students in the classroom, making them less likely to feel indifferent in that setting. Despite receiving payment for their services, tutors did not feel stressed or pressured by parents, which contrasted with their experiences in school teaching. Third, instructional and organizational factors made tutoring a more relaxed environment. In both countries, disciplinary issues were the most common source of anger and frustration in the classroom. However, respondents found it much easier to maintain discipline in private tutoring, allowing them to remain calm. Additionally, the flexibility and lack of regulations in private tutoring contributed to a more relaxed experience, with frustration occurring only rarely. These findings suggest that both teaching and tutoring elicit positive and negative emotions, but for different reasons. Future research should further investigate not only the antecedents but also the consequences of emotions in private tutoring settings.

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