The impact of after-school programs on educational equality and private tutoring expenses

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how the implementation of after-school programs in Korea's public schools is related to educational equality and private tutoring expenses. The analyzed data was from the Survey on the Status of Private Tutoring and the Study of the Policy Measures to Reduce Private Tutoring Expenses conducted by KEDI (Korea Education Development Institute) in (International conference for exploring the ways to activate the after-school program, KEDI, Seoul, 2007). The Chisquare test was employed to investigate (a) the relationship between after-school participation and family income and residential location of students (b) the association between after-school engagement and the reduction in private tutoring expenses. The study found that: (a) in general, lowincome and rural students participated more than higher income and urban peers in after-school programs and (b) after-school participation was generally negatively associated with private tutoring engagement and the impact of after-school participation on the reduction in private tutoring expenses was stronger for low-income students in elementary and high schools and rural students in high schools.The overall findings provide further research issue regarding whether after-school programs can help foster educational equality by offering more opportunities for learning and achievement improvement for disadvantaged students. The results also imply the potential of after-school programs in reducing private tutoring expenses, particularly for low-income families.

Shaping education policy research in an Asia-Pacific context

“…More specifically, research articles describing and analyzing theoretical issues and perspectives surrounding education policies are classified into the first group, theoretical research (e.g., Kim 2005;Lee 2005;Romano, et al 2005). In contrast, those articles examining the changes and effects of particular education policies on outcomes are categorized into the other group, empirical research (Bae et al 2010;Chang 2008;Mok and Xu 2008). Figure 2 describes how theoretical and empirical research has moved over time.…”

“…In the Asia-Pacific region, many countries have tried to clarify how to reduce household expenditure for private tutoring. A few key policy instruments including after-school programs, which are school equalization programs, have been introduced for this purpose (Bae et al 2010). Another issue related to shadow education is the relationship between private tutoring and formal education system in Asia-Pacific countries.…”

Social Stratification and Out-of-School Learning

“…This study relates to a great extent to the growing field of literature on the effects of after‐school programmes (see Bae et al. (2010) and Lauer et al.…”

“…This study relates to a great extent to the growing field of literature on the effects of afterschool programmes (see Bae et al (2010) and Lauer et al (2006) for reviews). After-school programmes were established in the USA in the early 1900s as a way to increase the safety and care of children who lived in unsafe neighbourhoods.…”

Out-of-School Time-Use Portfolios and Taiwanese Children’s Reading Achievement

“…In addition to the out-of-school activities mentioned above, the phenomenon of students attending after-school private programs and its linkage to students' academic achievement have been attracting increasing researchers' attention in East Asian countries (Bae, H. Oh, Kim, Lee & B. Oh, 2010;Bray, 2014;Chen & Lu, 2009;Kwok, 2004;Lee, Yang, & Lin, 2012;Song, Park, & Sang, 2013;Tse, 2014). Similarly, as a pervasive daily activity for youth nowadays, online practice, as well as its association with academic achievement, is emerging as a research trend among Taiwanese researchers (e.g., Chen & Fu, 2009;Chen & Lu, 2009;Lee & Wu, 2014).…”