Private Supplementary Tutoring and Socio-economic Differences in Access to Higher Education

Abstract

Private supplementary tutoring in the form of preparatory courses to university entrance examinations, is present in Finland alongside public higher education (HE). We explore the participation in preparatory courses. Our data derives from the university undergraduate subsample (n=2,969) of a larger cross-sectional national survey targeting tertiary students. We found a strong association between the SES of the students and preparatory-course-participation rates. Preparatorycourse participation is also more common in competitive disciplines. Students from higher SES backgrounds get more parental help in financing their participation than their counterparts coming from lower SES backgrounds. Thereby the role of private economic capital in the access to HE in Finland, despite its tuition-fee-free nature, is evident.

Worldwide shadow education and social inequality: Explaining differences in the socioeconomic gap in access to shadow education across 63 societies

“…In these societies SE occupies at best remedial functions and does not support status attainment motives—at least at this point in time. A considerable SES gap in SE access only becomes apparent in Finland shortly before the transition to university, where a socially selective use of test preparatory courses is evident (Kosunen et al, 2020). Prior to such a significant allocation, societies with less selective schooling models sometimes even show a reversed SES gap in SE access, wherefore SE might actually help low-performing students to overcome their status disadvantages and reach higher levels of schooling.…”

Market-Making Practices of Private Tutoring in Finland: Commercialization of Exam Preparation for Admission to Higher Education

“…The focus was on courses targeting the 2017 entrance examinations in four selected fields of study: law, economics, medicine, and education (analysed earlier in Jokila, Haltia & Kosunen, 2019). The first three disciplines were selected 8 ECNU Review of Education because they are defined as status fields with competitive admission processes and these students largely come from upper-middle-class backgrounds (Kosunen, Haltia, Saari, Jokila & Halmkrona, 2020;Nevala, 1999). Education encompasses a more heterogeneous student body, but as the teaching profession is highly valued in Finnish society, the entrance is competitive.…”

“…Finally, the most significant agent operating in the market is prospective customers (i.e., the applicants and potentially their parents). In the Finnish context, the admitted students who participated in private tutoring are more often from higher socioeconomic backgrounds and have their fees paid for by their parents, while their counterparts from lower socioeconomic backgrounds work or borrow money to participate in a course (Kosunen et al, 2020). International studies have found that those students who participate in the courses are already in a good position in terms of gaining access to higher education (Pearce et al, 2018;Smyth, 2009).…”

“…Preparatory courses for the entrance examinations in these fields have become an established phenomenon. Preparatory course participation is the most common in the fields of medicine, law, and economics, where the majority of applicants have parents with higher education backgrounds (Ahola et al, 2017(Ahola et al, , 2018Kosunen et al, 2020). An association has also been found between course participation and university admittance (Ahola et al, 2017(Ahola et al, , 2018.…”

“…The general attitude toward preparatory courses is somewhat disapproving. They are seen as creating inequality within a system that is aimed at reducing the effects of parental income or family wealth on gaining access to higher education (see Kosunen et al, 2020). Private tutoring can also be seen as a controversial market, as the access to higher education is perceived to be grounded in a meritocratic system and not in the purchasing power of the applicant, even though the tutoring itself does not provide any guarantee of success on entrance examinations.…”