Supplementary education and the coronavirus pandemic: Economic vitality, business spatiality and societal value in the private tuition industry during the first wave of Covid-19 in England

Abstract

This paper challenges geographers to examine the lucrative, but vastly understudied, global supplementary education sector (e.g. private tuition; learning centres; cram schools). It marks a break from research in Geographies of Education on locational, socio-cultural and political-economy issues, by concentrating directly on the economic geography of this metaphorically monikered ‘shadow education’ sector. Centred on the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the paper’s aim is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economic vitality, business spatiality and societal value of private tuition in England. Methodologically, it utilises in-depth interviews with tutors providing one-to-one instruction in English, maths or science in the regionally-differentiated tuition market. The findings demonstrate business vitality was impacted: COVID-19 related disruption to schooling produced a profound economic shock for the tuition industry, though new opportunities also emerged from the crisis. Business spatiality was fundamentally rewritten, not only in terms of delivery but also as local markets became national ones. The social value of the industry was drawn into question, as the service was both vital and regressive in its distribution. In conclusion, the paper argues geographers of education must: (i) Embrace research on supplementary education in its own right and as it articulates with state education provision; (ii) Pursue economic analyses which consider both how markets work to produce unequal outcomes for potential consumers, and how they emerge as a space of educational entrepreneurship for those seeking to make a living; and (iii) Urgently examine how the coronavirus pandemic is rewriting processes across the education system.

Evaluating Learning Management Through Online Mode During the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…Even students, of course, have more complex problems dealing with changes in the teaching and learning process pattern, starting from needing a cell phone (Movassaghi et al, 2021). For less able student, of course, they think about how to buy their quota and how to download the application ordered by the teacher because they have an old cellphone with memory limited (Pimlott-Wilson & Holloway, 2021). As for all online learning using the WhatsApp application, they do not use other applications due to limited internet quota, so parents and students object to using several applications.…”

Impact of the COVID 19 pandemic in the productivity and enrollment in a Postgraduate school from Peru

“…Existen trabajos que ya estiman el impacto por COVID 19 como la tesis Plan estratégico de marketing para las ventas en tiempos de pandemia covid-19 [6], donde se muestra que el mayor desafío económico al que se enfrentan muchas industrias es cómo responder al shock causado por la pandemia del coronavirus: esto llevó a que, ante la reducción de la demanda, algunas universidades inicialmente mantuvieran la paciencia, con la esperanza de que las cosas volvieran a la normalidad, pero más tomaron medidas a medida que pasaba el tiempo y se hizo evidente la profundidad de la crisis económica provocada por el COVID-19 [7], esto generó que diversas empresas se adapten, una de estas adaptaciones fue el de generar Planes de adecuación de ventas.…”

Informal Self-Employment in the Market of Tutoring Services: International Experience of State Regulation

“…Многие высококлассные репетиторы и большинство действительно нуждающихся в их услугах потребителей сочтут дополнительные вмешательства ненужной бюрократией, усложняющей их деятельность, в которой они предпочитают полагаться на собственное мнение [2, с. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Это прежде всего касается оценки компетентности и квалификации репетитора, когда важную роль играют неформальные каналы поиска и передачи информации, в том числе социальные сети.…”