The expansion and roles of private tutoring in India: From supplementation to supplantation

This paper analyses relationships between private supplementary tutoring and mainstream schooling in urban Maharashtra, India. The role of private tutoring progressively expands from the lower to the higher grades, and is especially visible in Classes 11 and 12 when it seems to supplant rather than supplement mainstream schooling. The paper notes the complex interplay of social, economic and educational factors in the shifting relationships, and has relevance not only for other parts of India but also other countries. The dynamics of private tutoring should be considered when conceptualising educational processes and devising policies for schooling, especially in relation to social inequalities and the efficiency of school systems

Variegated Roles of and Relationships Between Private Tutoring and Schooling: Insights From the State of Maharashtra, India

Purpose The relationship between private tutoring (PT) and mainstream education is among the complex themes characterizing PT discourses in the literature. This study examined the complications of practices and processes in tutoring and schooling to elucidate different roles played by PT and its relationship with mainstream education. Design/Approach/Methods This study used qualitative data from a diverse set of 37 PT providers from the State of Maharashtra, India, to delineate their roles and explore their relationship with schooling in this context. Findings The classification of PT providers’ roles into complementary, accommodating, competing, and substitutive ones demonstrated a diverse range of relationships between PT and mainstream education. Further analysis showed that these relationships are dynamic in nature, and the boundaries between them are blurred. Originality/Value Research in the field of PT has been consistently pointing toward a perplexing mixture of positive and negative outcomes resulting from its relationship with mainstream education. This study transcended the positive vis-à-vis negative binary approach by contributing to the deeper understanding of PT relationships. Furthermore, it exemplified how future studies can disentangle the complexities of such relationships by deploying flexible, context-specific theoretical approaches

From supplementation to supplantation : expansion and role of private tutoring in urban Maharashtra, India

The rampant proliferation of private supplementary tutoring (PST) in India has made it a natural part of the social fabric as well as the educational process of many students’ lives. Educational planners and policy makers have failed to show much interest in the field despite the backwash on mainstream schooling and exacerbation of social inequalities. There is a dearth of in-depth studies in populations with high PST participation rates, particularly with focus on relationships between private tutoring and mainstream schooling. This dissertation aims to reduce the gap by investigating the role of PST vis-à-vis mainstream education in the lives of Class 12 Science students in a part of urban Maharashtra. The mixed, purposefully selected sample in this qualitative study comprised students, parents, PST providers and a mainstream teacher. Data was collected using questionnaires and semi-structured and unstructured interviews. While the educational experiences of the 12 student participants over their two years of higher secondary schooling formed the crux of this study, data concerning their PST experiences in the earlier years of schooling was also collected. The findings indicated the increasing role of PST in the educational journey of the students. Private tutoring played a supplementary role in the primary and secondary years and gained importance as a way of preparation for the Maharashtra State Class 10 examinations. The last two years of higher secondary showed a much stronger emergence of PST pointing to an erosion in the role of mainstream as parameters of PST took precedence over those of mainstream institutions. The indications are therefore that PST seems to supplant mainstream education, disestablishing mainstream as the dominant medium for delivering formal education. The fact that PST seemed to be having its own shadow also indicated its larger-than-mainstream role. The study has also shown that the shifting of roles between mainstream and PST are dictated by a complex interplay of social, economic and educational factors and are in turn likely to have implications in all these three aspects. On this basis, it may be inferred that the dynamics of PST need to be included into both academic and political discourses so that educational policies targeting social equality do not end up getting negated by PST sector.published_or_final_versionEducationMasterMaster of Educatio

Private Tutoring and Mainstream Education Linkages in India: A Political Economy Approach

Global private tutoring (PT) research points to a complex mix of both drivers and outcomes of tutoring that are highly context dependent. In India, students and families perceive PT as a panacea for dealing with mainstream educational deficiencies, leading to its extensive usage. Understanding of the phenomenon, however, is not commensurate with its high participation across the diverse sections of society. This study addresses this void to understand how an uncontrolled and unregulated PT sector is likely to worsen educational quality and exacerbate social inequalities, thus afflicting mainstream education in a potentially negative feedback loop. It explores the processual aspects and practices of PT provision that make receiving PT unequal for students and families. It simultaneously extricates the complex interlinkages between PT and mainstream education against the backdrop of India’s stratified schooling system. This qualitative study employs a political economy approach to understand who benefits, who loses and why, as a result of PT entrenchment. Findings suggest that (i) PT, similar to schooling in India, is heterogenous and hierarchical in both access and provision; (ii) the way educational policies get interpreted and translated to actions give a further boost to PT, while simultaneously weakening and nullifying the objectives of some of these reforms; (iii) transactions and negotiations between PT and mainstream education actors open up several new avenues for educational corruption; and (iv) numerous ideas emanating from social, cultural, economic factors, in addition to educational ones, normalise PT as an integral part of school education. The stronger conceptualisation of the complex interplay and resulting dynamics between key political economy features of PT and the diversity of institutional arrangements provide useful pointers for PT reforms that could mitigate the unequalising outcomes of tutoring. Conceptually, the study advances PT literature positioned within larger educational and social inequalities for countries at various educational development stages

Les syndicats d’enseignants au xxie siècle

Dans la plupart des pays, la mise en place d’un système scolaire public s’est accom­pagnée de la création de syndicats d’enseignants, qui se sont développés au xxe siècle, au fur et à mesure que l’offre éducative de l’État s’étendait et s’universalisait. Aujourd’hui, les syndicats d’enseignants restent souvent au centre de la discussion sur les changements éducatifs, étant considérés par certains comme un obstacle aux réformes nécessaires, tandis que d’autres voient en eux des défenseurs de valeurs et d’intérêts qui ne sont pas spécifiques aux enseignants, et un bastion de l’éducation publique. S’éloignant de cette logique polarisée, ce nouveau dossier de la Revue internationale d’éducation de Sèvres se propose de cerner, à travers 10 études de cas, les évolutions du syndicalisme enseignant en ce début de xxie siècle. Est-il affaibli, en retrait, ou connaît-il un processus de renouvellement et de recherche de nouvelles formes d’expression qui correspondraient aux transformations éducatives en cours ? À la lecture des articles, on constate une désaffection certaine des enseignants pour leurs syndicats, non seulement dans les pays en développement, marqués par de fortes inégalités sociales dans l’accès à l’éducation, mais aussi dans certains pays développés. Les revendications traditionnelles, en vue de meilleures conditions de travail, de rémunération et de défense des acquis sociaux, ne semblent plus suffire à susciter une adhésion durable. Mais on observe aussi une dynamique nouvelle : dans certains contextes, les syndicats proposent des réformes du système scolaire et du rôle des enseignants. D’autres formes de représentation et d´organisation émergent. Ces changements, encore embryonnaires, permettront-ils, dans les années qui viennent, de donner une nouvelle voix aux enseignants dans les écoles et dans la société ? In most countries, the founding of a state school system went along with the creation of teachers' unions, which developed in the twentieth century as state provision expanded and offered education for all. Teachers' unions tend to remain central to the issue of educational change, being seen by some as an obstacle to necessary reforms, while others see them as defenders of values and interests that are specific to teachers, and as a bastion of public education. Moving away from this polarised logic, the latest dossier of the Revue Internationale d’Education de Sèvres examines 10 case studies to identify changes in teacher unionism at the beginning of the 21st century. Is it weakened and taking a back seat, or is it undergoing a process of renewal and searching for new forms of expression to better fit current educational transformations? The articles highlight a certain disaffection of teachers for their unions, not only in developing countries where access to education is marked by strong social inequalities, but also in certain developed countries. Traditional demands for better working conditions, pay and the defence of existing employment rights no longer seem sufficient to generate lasting support. But a new dynamic is also evident: in some contexts, unions are proposing reforms of the school system and the role of teachers. Other forms of representation and organisation are emerging. Could these changes, still in their infancy, give teachers a new voice in schools and wider society in years to come? En la mayoría de los países, la instauración de un sistema escolar público se ha acompañado de la creación de sindicatos docentes que se han desarrollado a lo largo del siglo XX, conforme se extendía y universalizaba la oferta educativa del Estado. Hoy en día, los sindicatos docentes se mantienen a menudo en el centro de la discusión sobre los cambios educativos, siendo considerados por algunos como un obstáculo para las reformas necesarias mientras que otros ven en ellos unos defensores de los valores y de los interes que no son propios de los docentes, y un bastión de la educación pública. Alejándose de esta lógica polarizada, este nuevo dossier de la Revue internationale d’éducation de Sèvres se propone examinar, a través de unos diez estudios de casos, las evoluciones del sindicalismo docente en este principio del siglo XXI. ¿Se ha debilitado, hecho más discreto o conoce, por lo contrario, un proceso de renovación y de búsqueda de nuevas formas de expresión que correspondrían a las transformaciones educativas en curso? Al leer los artículos del presente número, podemos constatar una desafección creciente de los docentes para con sus sindicatos, no solo en los países en vía de desarrollo, marcados por unas fuertes desigualdades sociales en el acceso a la educación, sino también en algunos países desarrollados. Las reivindicaciones tradicionales para mejorar las condiciones de trabajo, de remuneración y de defensa de los derechos sociales no parecen bastar ahora para suscitar una adhesión duradera. Pero observamos también una dinámica nueva: en algunos contextos, los sindicatos proponen unas reformas del sistema escolar y del papel de los docentes. Otras formas de representación y de organización emergen. ¿Permitirán estos cambios, todavía en ciernes, en los años que vienen, dar una nueva voz a los docentes en las escuelas y en la sociedad