Parent, Student and Tutor Perspectives on Shadow Education in Australia

Private tutoring is an increasingly normalised part of schooling. Yet, little is known about how families experience and understand it. This study investigated how tutoring is used by families in Australia to manage risk and secure advantage for their children. Based on interviews with parents, students, and tutors, this research shows how tutoring operates behind the scenes of formal schooling. While it can support individual goals, it also shifts responsibility onto families, and may deepen inequalities in an educational system that is notionally committed to fairness.