Shadow education as a form of oppression

Conceptualizing experiences and reflections of secondary students in Hong Kong

Bibliographic Data

ID21485167
AuthorsKevin Wai Ho Yung (0000-0001-5252-9422, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The Education University of Hong Kong, Taipo, Hong Kong SAR, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume41
Issue1
Pages115-129
Publication date2021-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAsia Pacific Journal of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0218-8791 • E-ISSN: 1742-6855
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02188791.2020.1727855
OpenAlexW3009416211
LanguageEN
Citations received28
References cited42

Private tutoring is one of the unintended outcomes of high-stakes testing and has become a widespread global phenomenon. It is called shadow education because it mimics the mainstream curriculum. From the critical perspective, this study investigated the role of private tutoring in a context of high-stakes testing through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. It explored 18 Secondary Six (Grade 12) students’ reflections on their learning experiences in private tutoring in Hong Kong for one year. Conceptualized with Freire’s Pedagogy of the oppressed, the findings reveal that while students are being oppressed in the washback of high-stakes testing under neoliberalism, shadow education further oppresses the students by (1) intensifying the “banking” concept of education, (2) teaching as the “authority”, (3) emphasizing performativity and (4) offering “false generosity”. The findings provide implications for potential educational change in contexts where education systems increasingly rely on accountability and selection through high-stakes testing. By problematizing the role of private tutoring through the conceptual lens of oppression, the study calls for research to take a closer look at the impact of shadow education on learners’ experiences in the current neoliberal era

Accountability · Critical pedagogy · Curriculum · Mainstream · Oppression · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Transformative learning · Global Educational Reforms and Inequalities · Psychology