Introduction : situating private tutoring

Abstract

Although private tutoring has a long history, prior to the present century it attracted very little professional discussion or academic research. Ministries of Education preferred and were allowed to ignore the phenomenon, chiefly on the grounds that tutoring was provided in a marketplace beyond their remit as supervisors of formal schooling. Faculties of Education in universities showed little interest, since their primary responsibilities were also with formal school systems. Likewise, international agencies mainly busied themselves with activities that focused on schooling. They paid little attention to out-of-school tutoring even though in some countries it was a major activity. Relegated to the ‘private’ sphere, as its name indicates, private tutoring has often been perceived by educators and policy makers as falling outside the purview of ‘public’ education and its equitable provision