New cross-cultural review sheds light on private tutor identities in global shadow education

Shadow education, commonly understood as private supplementary tutoring outside regular schooling, has become a worldwide phenomenon. Yet research on the identities and self-perceptions of private tutors remains limited. The new cross-cultural review synthesizes 18 qualitative studies from Asia, Europe, and North America to examine how tutors understand their professional roles and how these identities vary across contexts.

In this study, published online on June 2, 2025, in ECNU Review of Education, Lyu and Lam highlight how tutors perceive themselves as educators, service providers, and entrepreneurs and how these identities are shaped by socioeconomic conditions, political ideologies, cultural traditions, and institutional practices.

“It is crucial to acknowledge that private tutors, much like their counterparts in formal education settings, engage in a dynamic process of identity construction,” emphasize Lyu and Lam. “Therefore, it is crucial to situate private tutors in specific contexts when examining their construction of identity.”

The review underscores that private tutor identities are multi-dimensional and context-dependent. Institutional discourses and cultural values significantly shape tutors’ self-perceptions. Therefore, the global expansion of shadow education calls for nuanced policy responses that consider local sociocultural dynamics. The study also notes that scholarly attention should be further extended to regions that have thus far been under-researched.

The authors argue that understanding tutor identities is essential for developing effective policies in the shadow education sector. As global tutoring markets continue to expand, policymakers must consider the contextual forces shaping the profession. “By examining private tutors’ identities and the forces driving their spread, policymakers can gain insights to better address the industry’s growth,” Lyu and Lam conclude.

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Reference
DOI: 10.1177/20965311251331639