Entrepreneurs in the Shadow Education Sector: Local, National and International Dynamics in the Digital Provision of Private Supplementary Tutoring

• In Event: Shadow Education in a Digital Age: Evolving Provision, Diverse Function, and Varying Effect

Proposal

This paper focuses on the business world of shadow education, i.e. private supplementary tutoring in academic subjects on a fee-charging basis outside school hours. A 2024 report estimated the size of the global market at US$159 billion, and forecasted expansion to reach US$288 billion by 2030 after a compound annual growth rate of 8.8%. The numbers may be compared with the estimated US$97 billion needed to bridge the financing gap for the fourth of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG4).

The huge expansion of shadow education since the turn of the century, with much further expansion to come, raises major questions for the nature of teaching and learning across cultures. Among the drivers of expansion is use of new technologies. In line with the conference theme, the paper pays particular attention to digital forms of shadow education, noting not only the pedagogical dimensions but also economic and commercial ones. An increasing number tutoring companies have created new modes of delivery with dual-tutor mode, AI tutors, and adaptive learning tools. This has facilitated the massification of tutoring in such countries as China, India, Japan and the USA; yet because parents in other cultures retain strong beliefs in personalized face-to-face tutoring, attempts in those cultures to digitalize tutoring have not had great success. Further, although digital provision may reduce the prices of tutoring, and make group tutoring more interactive and personalized, misgivings arise from the fact that both tutors and tutees are subject to the surveillance of technology.

Conceptually, the paper will contribute a classification of digital provision by actors in the business world of shadow education. Among companies, some are local while others are national and yet others are international with branches and/or franchises. The classification will consider modes of operation, the identities and qualifications of tutors employed by the companies, and dimensions of curriculum.

Authors

• Mark Bray, University of Hong Kong

• Wei Zhang, East China Normal University