Multiple systems, multiple shadows: Diversity of supplementary tutoring received by private-school students in Dubai

Abstract

Dubai has a unique overall structure of educational provision in which 89% of students attend private schools serving multiple nationalities. About half these students receive supplementary tutoring, widely known in the literature as shadow education. Different school systems within Dubai have different shadows, shaped by various factors including curricular demands and the cultures of the learners. Some supplementary tutoring is received within the schools, and some externally. Patterns of school-provided tutoring are shaped by the operators’ business models. Some schools charge high fees and include supplementary tutoring within their packages, while others charge lower fees and require separate payments for tutoring. Further variations are caused by the policies of school principals, thus indeed forming multiple systems with multiple shadows. Particularly employing interview data from 18 schools, the paper draws on Dubai’s unique features to make conceptual contributions to wider literature about the ways in which curricula, cultures, business models, and school-level administrations shape shadow education provision.