Parents as consumers in a marketised educational environment : the demand for private supplementary tutoring at primary and lower secondary levels in China

Abstract

Confucianism has long been recognised for emphasising the value of education. In recent years this longstanding cultural influence in China has been accompanied by growing household incomes and smaller families due to the one-child policy, as a result of which parents have devoted increased attention to their children’s education. At the same time, various government reforms in the education sector and changes in the labour market have caused parents to worry about perceived insufficiency of mainstream schooling. In this context, private supplementary tutoring has been widely sought by parents to promote their children’s education careers. Using the lenses of parentocracy and consumer theory, this thesis examines the nature of demand for private tutoring. An analytical structure built on the consumer choice model was employed for this task. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was adopted, with a quantitative part to draw a general picture and a qualitative part to interpret and elaborate on the quantitative findings. Nationwide representative data from the 2014 iteration of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) indicated that 29.4% primary and lower secondary students received private tutoring and that the demand varied across different groups of parents. Structural equation modelling confirmed that both parental socioeconomic status (SES, including income, education and occupation) and parental attitudes (i.e. expectations and role-constructions) positively influenced the demand for tutoring. The analysis also confirmed the joint influences of these two types of factors. The qualitative analysis of the interview data from parents, class teachers and tutorial managers in Beijing explored various reasons why parents did or did not demand private tutoring. It noted that demand commonly evolved over time, and that medium- and high-SES parents in particular expanded their investments and sought new forms of tutoring to replace existing ones. Components in their choices included the timing, subjects, types, providers, locations, and schedules for tutoring. The qualitative analysis elaborated on the different patterns of demand among groups of parents, and examined how parental factors contributed to the socioeconomic variations. Low-SES parents’ limited resources not only constrained the extent to which they could afford tutoring but also negatively affected their preferences and consequently their demand for tutoring. In contrast, the strong role-construction but limited self-efficacy of medium-SES parents pushed them to rely heavily on private tutoring to promote their children’s education. In the third category, the abundant resources of high-SES parents strengthened their self-efficacy with more ways to assist children’s education, and thus they were relaxed about the role of private tutoring. Resonating with discussions in the wider literature about educational parentocracy, this study highlighted the parental roles on children’s education through seeking private tutoring. It offered insights into the implications of private tutoring on education inequality, and the negative social consequence as a result of parents’ choices with individual rationality.