Parentocracy within meritocracy: parental perspective on lecture-style English private tutoring in Hong Kong

Figures & data

Table 1. Profiles of participants.

	Participant	Gender	Educational background	Whether the tuition fee is a burden
1	Anna	Female	Senior secondary	No
2	Chloe	Female	Senior secondary	Yes
3	Daisy	Female	Lower primary	Yes
4	Helen	Female	Junior secondary	Yes
5	Ivy	Female	Senior secondary	No
6	Jane	Female	Senior secondary	Yes
7	Kate	Female	Upper primary	Yes
8	Lily	Female	Junior secondary	No
9	Nina	Female	Senior secondary	No
10	Samuel	Male	Junior secondary	No
11	Tess	Female	Undergraduate	Yes
12	William	Male	Upper primary	Yes
13	Yasmine	Female	Postgraduate	No
14	Zara	Female	Senior secondary	Yes

Table 2. Coding scheme.

Broad themes	Sub-themes	Codes
Parents’ backgrounds	General family profile	• Parents’ education background • Family structure
	Parents’ wealth	• Self-evaluated family economic status • Perceived pressure from paying the tuition fee of EPT • English learning environment at home
Parents’ motives for supporting children to enrol in EPT	Parents’ wishes and their beliefs in the importance of English	• English as an important subject for children’s future study and career • English as an important tool for communication • Parents’ expectation on children’s studies and career
	Parents’ views on tutoring compared to mainstream schooling	• Parents’ comparison between mainstream schooling and EPT • Parents’ views on mainstream schooling • Parents’ understanding on the necessity of EPT
Parents’ attitudes toward children’s enrolment in EPT	Parents’ opinions on the effectiveness of EPT	• The positive side of EPT • The negative side of EPT • Unsure about the effectiveness of EPT
	Parents’ feelings on the tuition fee paid	• EPT as an economic burden • Worth paying the tuition of EPT • Parents’ expected return of paying the tuition fee of EPT

Table 3. A summary of the motives and attitudes of the participants.

Participant	Parents’ motives for supporting children to subscribe to EPT						Parents’ attitudes toward children’s enrolment in EPT
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Anna	√		√	√	√			√	√			√
Chloe	√		√	√	√	√	√			√		√
Daisy		√							√	√	√	√
Helen	√			√					√	√		√
Ivy	√				√			√	√
Jane	√		√	√	√	√		√	√	√		√
Kate		√		√	√	√	√		√	√		√
Lily	√				√		√					√
Nina	√		√		√				√		√	√
Samuel	√		√						√		√	√
Tess	√	√	√		√	√	√	√		√		√
William	√								√	√
Yasmine		√	√			√	√				√	√
Zara	√			√			√		√	√	√	√
	11	4	7	6	8	5	6	4	10	8	5	12

Motives

1. English learning is very important for children’s future study and career.

2. English learning is important for international communication.

3. I wish my child to be admitted by university and EPT helps my child in preparing for the public examination.

4. I cannot help my child’s English learning, and EPT could offer help.

5. I believe mainstream schooling is not good (enough) and EPT is supplementary to mainstream schooling.

6. Children who do not attend EPT are disadvantaged, because many others are doing so.

Attitudes

7. EPT is effective (raising examination scores, psychological comfort).

8. EPT has negative sides (too examination-oriented, lowering children’s learning motivation).

9. I am not sure whether EPT is effective.

10. EPT is an economic burden to my family.

11. It is worth supporting children to subscribe to EPT.

12. I’m willing to pay the tuition fee, but I don’t expect much return from EPT.