Shadow Education in Indonesia: Is It Relevant to Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Chemistry Learning?

Abstract

Private tutoring, also known as shadow education (SE), is significant in the view of Indonesian society. It attains public reliance on children’s success at school. Although SE seems to be promising to elevate students’ achievements in school, this still needs to be proven. With the development of 21st-century skills, can SE make itself worthy of being a part of proper supplementary education? This research aims to reveal how relevant SE is to develop students’ 21st-century skills, especially critical thinking (CT) skills. This study involved 193 students from 3 different ranks of schools in Surakarta, Indonesia. This mixed methods explanatory research used a computerized testlet instrument to obtain quantitative data about students’ CT skills in Chemistry. Open-ended questionnaires and open-ended interviews were used to obtain qualitative data about students’ tendencies in their SE. Interviews were also performed to hear SE tutors’ voices about the SE field in which they worked. The quantitative data were analyzed using Rasch modeling to reveal the interaction between the items and students’ CT skills. The modeling results showed that SE still seems less significant in responding to the community’s wishes about their children’s success at school, especially as related to CT skills. However, the results also showed that SE can aid those with moderate cognitive ability. Furthermore, the qualitative results are worth considering by those who will take or build SE in future. Thus, SE can be a proper supplement for formal education.

Systematic Literature Review: Analysis of Student’s Critical Thinking Skills towards Chemistry Learning

“…Positive feedback from students indicated that this approach was successful in achieving the desired goals. (Kawedhar et al, 2020) This study aims to uncover how relevant shadow education is for developing students' 21st century skills, especially critical thinking skills.…”

Shadow Education and Its Academic Effects in Bangladesh: A Vygotskian Perspective

“…Students with excellent critical thinking skills will be better equipped for a future full of challenges and opportunities. Private tutoring neglects the essence of students’ actual learning ( Kawedhar et al, 2020 , pp. 225–226) as it promotes rote learning.…”

Mapping global research on shadow education: Trends and future agenda

“…The analysis also shows that shadow education is a theme that involves many authors and citations. These relationships become an This study also emphasizes that the role of government policies in drafting education regulations related to shadow education is very important for the development of shadow education [39]- [42].…”