Parentocracy within meritocracy: parental perspective on lecture-style English private tutoring in Hong Kong

Abstract

The shift from meritocracy to parentocracy in contemporary societies has resulted in a situation where children's educational success increasingly depends on parents' wealth and wishes rather than children's ability and efforts. Better-off parents can afford extra learning activities to increase children's competitive edge. This phenomenon is fuelled by 'English fever' in many non-English-speaking contexts, driving parents to subscribe to English private tutoring (EPT), or shadow education, for children. This paper reports on the findings from a larger year-long study on lecture-style EPT involving Hong Kong secondary students and their parents, schoolteachers and tutors. With a focus on the parental perspective, it expands the notion of parentocracy to EPT with qualitative empirical evidence from 14 parents. The findings unveil parents' complex, ambivalent and contradictory attitudes toward EPT. These parents played a supporting rather than a dominant role in children's education at the senior secondary stage. Despite their aspirations for their children, they did not have high expectations on the returns from their 'investment' in EPT because they believed children's success ultimately depended on their own ability and efforts. This study reveals the subordinating role of parentocracy in a meritocratic curriculum where academic success is largely determined by results in high-stakes examinations.

Theoretical Perspectives on the Role of Parents in Shadow Education

“…Liu (2019) used a theoretical lens of parentocracy to understand Chinese families' demand for tutoring based on data from the 2014 iteration of the China Family Panel Study (CFPS). Other scholars in England (Reay, 2002), Canada (e.g., Davies, 2004;DeWiele & Edgerton, 2016), Singapore (Tan, 2017), and Hong Kong (Yung & Zeng, 2022) also found this conceptual tool helpful in understanding parental investment. Many of these scholars have used sociological analyses of social class and capital, often drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's social theory.…”

“…The identification and critical exploration of the parental perspectives behind private tutoring deserve greater attention from scholars and policymakers both in Europe and internationally. Previous literature on shadow education has focused more on exploring the perspectives of students, teachers, and tutors; few scholars have studied parents as key actors (e.g., Ireson & Rushforth, 2014;Kobakhidze et al, 2023;Liu & Bray, 2020;Yung & Zeng, 2022).…”

“…Given that the specific theme of this special issue of the journal is parental involvement and the subtheme is parents as customers of learning and educational processes, the focus on parents' roles in shadow education is a natural fit. Specifically, this article explores the theoretical perspectives of parents in academic literature and aims to review key concepts and theories, such as parentocracy (DeWiele & Edgerton, 2016;Tan, 2017;Yung & Zeng, 2022), concerted cultivation (Lareau, 2011;Matsuoka, 2019), intensive parenting or tiger parenting (Ball, 2003;Ishizuka, 2019;Kobakhidze et al, 2023;Vincent & Maxwell, 2016), and parental decision making (Entrich, 2015;Jokić, 2013;Liu & Bray, 2020;Luplow & Schneider, 2014). The article critically evaluates the use of these concepts, explores their usefulness in explaining parents' involvement in buying shadow education, and offers an overview of the commonalities and differences in the concepts.…”

Responding to uncertainty: examining Hong Kong parents’ perceptions of private tutoring through the lens of timescapes (Responder ante la incertidumbre: un análisis de las percepciones parentales de las clases privadas en Hong Kong a través de la lente de los cronopaisajes — timescapes)

“…Hong Kong is a highly competitive city where families from all socioeconomic backgrounds use various types of tutoring (Bray & Kobakhidze, 2015). Scholarly studies on shadow education emerged in the 1990s (e.g., Lee, 1996), and since then, Hong Kong has attracted the attention of shadow education researchers (see, e.g., Bray et al, 2014;Koh, 2014;Yung & Zeng, 2022). Serving various purposes and a diverse pool of families, different forms of tutoring and interest classes are available, even for infants and preschoolers, as parents seek to provide their children with a strong foundation in a competitive educational environment (Kobakhidze & Hui, 2023).…”

“…Hong Kong es una ciudad muy competitiva en la que familias de todos los niveles socioeconómicos hacen uso de diversos tipos de tutorías (Bray & Kobakhidze, 2015). En la década de 1990 surgieron los primeros estudios académicos sobre la educación en la sombra (e.g., Lee, 1996) y desde entonces, Hong Kong ha atraído la atención de los investigadores en este campo (véase, e.g., Bray et al, 2014;Koh, 2014;Yung & Zeng, 2022). Con distintas finalidades y en distintos grupos familiares, existen diversas formas de tutorías y clases de interés específico, incluso para preescolares, puesto que los padres tratan de dotar a sus hijos con una base sólida en un entorno educativo altamente competitivo (Kobakhidze & Hui, 2023).…”