Shadow Education: Comparative Perspectives on the Expansion and Implications of Private Supplementary Tutoring

Recent decades have brought intensification of what in some settings has been called the shadow education system of supplementary private tutoring. Pupils in regular fee-free public schools attend supplementary fee-paying classes after school, at week-ends and during vacations. This practice has received official comment in China as well as in other countries. Tutoring is especially evident during the period leading up to major examinations, but for some pupils occurs at all levels of education systems. The practice has long been ingrained in the cultures of East Asia, and is now increasingly evident in West and Central Asia, in Europe, in North America, and in Africa. Moreover, new types of tutoring over the internet are being provided across national boundaries. In this respect, tutoring is blurring geographic boundaries.