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A ‘shadow education' timescape: An empirical investigation of the temporal arrangements of private tutoring vis-a-vis formal schooling in India

A ‘shadow education' timescape: An empirical investigation of the temporal arrangements of private tutoring vis-a-vis formal schooling in India
A ‘shadow education' timescape: An empirical investigation of the temporal arrangements of private tutoring vis-a-vis formal schooling in India
Private tutoring is a globally pervasive phenomenon. While scholars have explored the demand for and supply of private tutoring, how tutoring centres organise their services, and the role of temporality in this, remains underexplored. To address this gap in the scholarship, this article draws on ethnographic data, produced during 2014–15 in Dehradun (India), to discuss four aspects of a ‘shadow education’ timescape: how tutoring services are mapped onto the formal schooling structure (Mapping); how tutorial centres benefit from having more time to allocate to educational services over formal schools (Advantage); how tutorial centres diversify the nature of academic support they offer throughout an academic year (Diversity); and, how tutoring services accommodate changing schooling practices over time (Adaptability). This discussion unveils the specific ways in which the temporal facets of private tutoring help tutoring businesses circumvent the schooling system to secure their space alongside – rather than by attempting to replace – the formal institutions of education within the Indian educational landscape. Although this article is empirically grounded in India, the conceptualisation of temporalities of private tutoring it generates will be valuable to the investigations of organisational framings, structural arrangements and practices of tutoring provisions in other contexts.
India, Private tutoring, Schooling, Shadow education, Sociology of Education, Time
0007-1005
Gupta, Achala
a30fa79d-e9dc-4237-93d4-bdaf8816780a
Gupta, Achala
a30fa79d-e9dc-4237-93d4-bdaf8816780a

Gupta, Achala (2022) A ‘shadow education' timescape: An empirical investigation of the temporal arrangements of private tutoring vis-a-vis formal schooling in India. British Journal of Educational Studies. (doi:10.1080/00071005.2021.2024137).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Private tutoring is a globally pervasive phenomenon. While scholars have explored the demand for and supply of private tutoring, how tutoring centres organise their services, and the role of temporality in this, remains underexplored. To address this gap in the scholarship, this article draws on ethnographic data, produced during 2014–15 in Dehradun (India), to discuss four aspects of a ‘shadow education’ timescape: how tutoring services are mapped onto the formal schooling structure (Mapping); how tutorial centres benefit from having more time to allocate to educational services over formal schools (Advantage); how tutorial centres diversify the nature of academic support they offer throughout an academic year (Diversity); and, how tutoring services accommodate changing schooling practices over time (Adaptability). This discussion unveils the specific ways in which the temporal facets of private tutoring help tutoring businesses circumvent the schooling system to secure their space alongside – rather than by attempting to replace – the formal institutions of education within the Indian educational landscape. Although this article is empirically grounded in India, the conceptualisation of temporalities of private tutoring it generates will be valuable to the investigations of organisational framings, structural arrangements and practices of tutoring provisions in other contexts.

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Accepted/In Press date: 22 December 2021
Published date: 2 November 2022
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords: India, Private tutoring, Schooling, Shadow education, Sociology of Education, Time

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 453472
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/453472
ISSN: 0007-1005
PURE UUID: a06fda0d-cc8c-44cc-a93c-6e48468d2564
ORCID for Achala Gupta: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3172-8198

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Date deposited: 18 Jan 2022 17:36
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:07

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