Private supplementary tutoring has long existed in Bangladesh, as elsewhere in the world, but in recent decades has become much more visible. Much tutoring 'shadows' or reproduces formal schooling as fee-based academic teaching outside school hours. This paper focuses on school factors that shape demand for private supplementary tutoring in English at the secondary level, drawing on data gained from both quantitative and qualitative methods. The paper is especially concerned with urban and rural variations, noting that rates of tutoring are greater in urban areas but that many factors converge to create similarities. Private tutoring in English is highly demanded because English is a compulsory course; and in addition to being a subject in its own right, it assists in the learning of other subjects. While private tutoring may support the academic learning of some pupils, it also has problematic dimensions. As such, the spread of tutoring across urban and rural areas is not necessarily to be welcomed.

Purpose Private supplementary tutoring, common in many countries, has mixed (both positive and negative) dimensions that impact student learning. Private supplementary tutoring runs parallel to mainstream schooling and provides lessons before or after school hours in exchange for additional fees. The purpose of this paper is to focus on how private supplementary tutoring benefits students’ learning in secondary education. It also identifies the drawbacks of tutoring, and shows variations in and between urban and rural locations. Design/methodology/approach The paper employed a mixed methods approach using a survey and individual interview collected from two different research settings: urban and rural. Grades 8 and 10 were purposefully chosen for data collection. A sample of 802 participants, including 401 students and their 401 parents (either mothers or fathers), participated in the survey, in addition to 48 interviewees comprising students, parents and teachers. Findings At times, pupils’ educational perspectives are influenced by the conflicting (positive/negative) standpoints of tutoring issues. The paper finds mixed impacts of private tutoring with a focus on disparities of implications between urban and rural locations. It identifies positive aspects such as learning attainment, exam preparation, relationship growth and lesson practice, as well as negative perspectives, such as an examination-centered aim and hamper of mainstream school learning. Originality/value The study contributes to the awareness of private supplementary tutoring that benefits students’ learning while also bringing disadvantages. It shows implications of fee-charging tutoring which may relate to students’ family socio-economic situations. The paper addresses private tutoring in general (including English and all other subjects) in most cases, and, more specifically, private tutoring in English as a subject in some cases.

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Privatization, marketization, investment, and competition of education have become a global phenomenon with significant implications. While research on demand and patterns of shadow education are increasingly available across the world, very little is known about the scope of parents' investments, family burden, and students' workload. This paper focuses on shadow education in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Shadow education is defined as fee-based private supplementary tutoring that replicates the official school system. The study conducted on shadow education uses an explanatory sequential mixed methods design with quantitative data from questionnaires of 354 participants, involving students and parents, and qualitative data from interviews of 24 participants, including students, parents, and teachers. The aim of this paper is to examine how parents' investments in their children's private tutoring create high expectations and competition that bring financial burden to families in a disadvantaged society. It addresses the experiences of students' workloads due to extra lessons of several subjects in a day, exam preparation pressure, and parents' and peer pressures in the desire not to lag behind. It shows how students deal with time shortages for workloads from extra lessons and deprive themselves of sports and social activities, which are part and parcel of being a mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy human being. The study draws on the theories of educational privatization, competition, investment, and capability approach, which are then associated with the research contexts of this paper.

The article examines family socioeconomic determinants that stimulate students’ demand for private supplementary tutoring in English in urban and rural areas. It identifies the scale disparities of tutoring demand factors between urban and rural settings. Usually private supplementary tutoring is called shadow education that parallels mainstream school education before or after school hours on extra fee basis. This study found in a 2014–2015 survey that 84.7% urban and 60.7% rural secondary students received private supplementary tutoring in English. The research employed an explanatory sequential mixed method design including quantitative and qualitative data collected from a survey and individual interview. In spite of emergence of tutoring demand, a few students could not be capable to receive private English tutoring. Family socioeconomic standpoints shake forms of students’ claims for learning through tutoring. The study draws on Bourdieu’s theory of capital, which is then linked with family ability for children’s tutoring.