Private tutoring and the role of school : perspectives of parents of children in selected primary international schools in Hong Kong

Abstract

In recent years, private tutoring has become a seemingly ubiquitous part of the education system in Hong Kong and is prevalent across various types of schools. Existing academic research on private tutoring in Hong Kong has limited focus on international schools which are a small but growing sector. This study positions international schools close to the market driven end of the continuum, and adopts a qualitative approach to explore the perspectives of 23 parents on their decision to invest or not invest in private tutoring of their children in academic subjects. The conceptual framework is an intermesh of earlier studies which have highlighted factors influencing private tutoring decision of parents choosing private schools and characteristics of socio-economically advantaged families which populate these schools. Parents’ view on role of school in monitoring use of private tutoring by the students is understood by using Lareau’s interpretation of interconnectedness between high social class families and schools. Mandarin was the most popular academic subject for private tutoring owing to low priority assigned to the language in comparison to the language of country which selected international schools were representing in Hong Kong. Views of parents who did or did not invest in tutoring reflected their beliefs in self-efficacy. Parents also believed that high student-teacher ratio and diverse abilities of students led to ineffectiveness in teaching which further created demand for private tutoring to fill the gap in learning. The findings of the study are encouraging as over half of the parents interviewed were interested in strengthening the interconnectedness between families and schools with the purpose to develop an increased role of school in monitoring the use of private tutoring by its students.