Mixed implications of private supplementary tutoring for students’ learning

Abstract

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.

Inequalities in Private Tutoring of English: A Phenomenological Qualitative Study Based on Bangladeshi Higher Secondary Students

“…Participants in this study were aware of this situation, and some spoke about it and asserted their understandings that PT-E would be responsible for deterioration of the education as a whole in Bangladesh. Therefore , Mahmud, (2019), in a study, concluded PT-E tutors did not pay much attention to their classroom practice, could not interested to creating good interaction with students, and sometimes could not complete syllabus within the academic year. Similarly, studies including De Silva (2015) and Zhan et al (2013) reported negative effects private tutoring on the students' education, but the present study goes further to report that private tutoring is not only damaging but also unfair for all disadvantaged learners in terms of equality of opportunities in education.…”

“…Education is a crucial sector, and the delivery of good education is very critical for the development of this developing nation. Unfortunately, very little literature is currently available (see e.g., Nath, 2008;Hamid et al, 2009;Mahmud, 2019;Mahmud & Bray, 2017) that examines English teaching-learning beyond the formal school classroom and their dynamics in the urban and rural part of Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi people have been shifting to coaching centre business through the government ban on private tuition by the schoolteachers.…”

“…Obviously, there is a gap in access to English skills acquisition between urban and rural learners of English. It is in this context that situation of teaching-learning English has been worsened through the practice of PT-E (Mahmud, 2019). The present scenario shows PT-E is on the increase throughout Bangladesh.…”

“…PT-E in Bangladesh shows different characteristics and nature from those in Asia Pacific and Europe (Hamid et al, 2009). Although over one-third of about 160 million citizens of Bangladesh do not have formal literacy (Hamid & Honan, 2012), PT-E has been popular among many guardians here Mahmud, 2019). It has drawn substantial media attention in the last decade.…”

Private Schooling and Tutoring at Scale in South Asia

“…Similarly, ASER data analyses for Pakistan and India find that private tuition improves learning outcomes more in poorer children than richer children, narrowing some of the wealth disparity in learning (Alcott and Rose 2015). Mixed methods analysis on the effects of private tutoring in Bangladesh finds that there are positive effects on learning attainment and test preparation, but it increases teaching to the test (Mahmud 2019).…”