Shadow education: a double-edged sword for Czech mainstream schools in the competitive educational market

Abstract

Shadow education is a global phenomenon encompassing various forms and types of private supplementary tutoring. Scholarly literature has mainly focused on fee-based tutoring in academic subjects supplied by individual tutors or tutoring companies outside schools. In the Czech Republic, a specific form of shadow education is offered by mainstream schools that provide compulsory education.The focus of this paper is on paid preparatory courses offered by academic-track schools to prepare pupils for entrance examinations to their study programs. It explores principals' motivations to provide such courses, and associated issues and dilemmas. Its findings are based on a mixed-method research design, and draw mainly from qualitative interviews with principals and other management staff.Findings suggest that in the context of high school autonomy and per-capita school funding, principals perceive this kind of shadow education as a tool to marketize the school and attract more (highachieving) pupils. Principals sometimes conduct tough negotiations with their schoolteachers about their involvement in the practice, and school shadow education may raise ethical and equity-related issues.The paper contributes to a wider scholarly literature by opening a new and significant branch of shadow education research and points out further research directions in the area of school shadow education.

Exploring students’ perceptions of private mathematics tutoring in three countries

“…Private tutoring also improves student examination scores, revision skills, confidence, learning strategies, and complements mainstream education (Bray, 2013;Kawedhar et al, 2020). It also improves equity in education (Šťastný, 2022;Šťastný & Kobakhidze, 2020) and provides avenues for parents to prepare their children for mainstream education, serving as avenues to intensify educational competition (Bray, 2021;Jansen et al, 2023;Zhang, 2020). In other studies (e.g., Zhang & Bray, 2017), private tutoring provides an avenue for high achievers to maintain their advantage over low achievers.…”

Mapping global research on shadow education: Trends and future agenda

“…Furthermore, this curriculum forms the basis for developing the shadow education theme worldwide [20]- [24]. During the first two decades, there was a significant expansion of research on shadow education, which resulted in a greater understanding and awareness of cultural similarities and differences [25]- [30]. Following the initial mapping and identification of demand-shaping factors, work on eco-systems with deeper sociological and economic analyses, as well as a greater focus on research methods, was undertaken [31].…”