Coached habitus: Mapping the role of shadow education in shaping students' educational trajectories

Abstract

Studies have shown how family (typically parents) and formal institutions (specifically schools and universities) shape individuals' dispositions—or habitus. However, other sites of academic socialisation, such as tutoring centres and coaching institutions (collectively forming a shadow education system), are seldom scrutinised for their role in this process. To address this gap in scholarship, this paper draws on interviews with 30 Indian students who narrated their experiences of shadow education in its diversified form, from schooling and higher education to moving to the United Kingdom for advanced education. The discussion of the research findings unveils how shadow education experiences impact students' (academic) dispositions throughout their scholastic lifespan, thus aiding in nurturing academic selves (in early schooling years), cultivating competitive selves (during the transition to university), harnessing enterprising selves (when transitioning within and from university education) and developing transnational selves (as students prepare for international mobility). A synthesis of these empirical realities culminates in introducing a new concept of coached habitus that accounts for the role of shadow education in orchestrating the practices by which students may inculcate specific values, beliefs and habits aiming to prepare them to navigate increasingly competitive educational fields throughout their academic trajectories successfully. The paper argues that shadow education is a key site for habitus formation, particularly in contexts such as India and other Asian countries where non‐formal education is inextricably entwined with everyday schooling experiences.