The effects of private tutoring on students’ perception of their parents’ academic involvement and the quality of their parent-child relationship

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to investigate the impact of private tutoring on parental involvement and the parent-child relationship. Seventy-six students voluntarily participated in the longitudinal study (38 students newly signed up for private tutoring and a matched control group). Data were collected with a student questionnaire that was applied twice (right before tutoring started; 4 months later). We replicated former research by showing significant correlations between parental variables and students’ motivation and achievement, indicating family variables to be very relevant for students’ academic outcomes. Repeated measures analyses of variance showed no effect of the intervention on students’ perception of parental involvement. However, tutored students reported an enhanced parent-child relationship whereas it declined in the matched control group. These findings provide evidence for differential effects of tutoring on parental involvement and parent-child relationships that imply a number of theoretical and practical implications.

Keywords:

• Private tutoring
• shadow education
• parental involvement
• parent-child relationship
• learning context at home

Disclosure statement

The authors certify that they have NO affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers’ bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.