And then there were three: (re-)distributing educational responsibilities in response to the growing use of shadow education in the Netherlands

Abstract

ABSTRACT Over the past two decades, as in many countries, the use of private tutoring (‘shadow education’) has increased substantially in the Netherlands. Educators and policy makers are raising questions regarding the role that shadow education may play in relation to the traditional configuration of the home and school being assigned the responsibility for children’s education. In five mixed focus groups (n = 43), the authors explored what key players – teachers, parents and tutors – consider to be their own and each other’s pedagogical and educational responsibilities. Results show that two related tensions arise during role allocation: first, the normative question of whether a tripartite configuration which includes tutoring should be accepted or defied; and, second, concerns about tutoring not being equally accessible to students from all social classes. The study indicates that stakeholders’ explication of mutual perspectives on individual and shared roles may yield new schemes of cooperation that are based on collaborative responsibility, rather than competition about individual responsibilities, for student learning.