Author: Junyan Liu

Series Title: Curriculum Reform and School Innovation in China

Series Editors: Yunhuo Cui, Lee Shulman, Shuangye Chen

Year: 2023

Published by: Springer

ISBN: 978-981-99-2201-7

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2202-4

Can be ordered from https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-99-2202-4

Recent decades have witnessed global expansion of the so-called shadow education sector of private supplementary tutoring, and China is among countries in which patterns have been especially dramatic. Many parents relied heavily on private tutoring to support their children’s education although school education has improved a lot.

This book combines the ideologies of parentocracy and consumer theory as theoretical lenses to view private tutoring with a focus on the demand at primary and lower secondary levels in China. It first explains parents’ motivations of seeking private tutoring and their decision-making dynamics, and then explores the evolving micro-level process of demand that has changed over time. It further investigates how demand for private tutoring varies across parental socioeconomic status. This book also discusses parents’ attitudes towards the Double Reduction policy and corresponding changes in their demand for tutoring. It concludes with some implications for regulating private tutoring and for improving school education. This book has pertinence in other countries as well as in China. Unpacking the demand for tutoring improves understanding of the global expansion and changing shapes of the phenomenon.