Magda Nutsa Kobakhidze

Measurement Issues in Research on Shadow Education: Challenges and Pitfalls Encountered in TIMSS and PISA

Expanding numbers of researchers are focusing on the scale and impact of private supplementary tutoring. Such tutoring is widely called shadow education, since much of its curriculum mimics that of regular schooling. Although shadow education has expanded significantly worldwide and is now recognized to have far-reaching significance, research faces methodological and conceptual challenges. This article focuses on analyses of shadow education data from the Third (or Trends in) International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). An initial problem arises from definitions of shadow education and therefore from research focus. Further challenges arise from the initial phrasing and then translation of items in international questionnaires. The article notes that some studies have been grounded in problematic data, which has led to misleading pictures. Methods and approaches are maturing, but much refinement remains necessary for an adequate understanding of the nature and implications of shadow education.

Teacher Certification Examinations in Georgia: Outcomes and Policy Implications

Purpose – The chapter explores the newly launched Teacher Certification Examinations (TCEs) in one of the post-Soviet countries, Georgia, and describes the experiences and perceptions of Georgian teachers going through the process of teacher certification. The qualitative study develops an in-depth understanding of the perceived strength and weaknesses of TCE in Georgia.Methodology – This case study was carried out in the spring of 2012 in 17 Georgian schools. School teachers and school principals from public and private schools were interviewed. A convenience sampling technique was used to recruit all participants. In addition to data obtained from research participants, various policy documents, laws on general education, ministers decrees, and statistical databases are analyzed and incorporated into the study.Findings – The data analyses showed that while the certification policy, in some way, increased teachers’ social status and prestige in the society, it failed to meet teachers’ expectations regarding remuneration policy and professional development opportunities. The TCE, without an adequate compensation policy as well as other types of incentives to increase teacher motivation, creates only a technical threshold for teachers to obtain a teacher certificate to secure jobs, rather than being a catalyst for a genuine professional development opportunity.Value – The study is the first attempt to empirically examine the teacher certification process in Georgia, thus it fills a knowledge gap that exists in the field. The Georgian TCE is the first TCE in south Caucasus; thus, the study of the implementation and outcomes of the Georgian reform provides a unique opportunity for the region and for the rest of the developing world to learn from the successes and failures of the reform process.

The Global Spread of Shadow Education

This chapter focuses on the shadow education system of private supplementary tutoring, addressing the nature and implications of extra lessons in academic subjects for pupils attending primary and secondary schools. We are here only concerned with extra lessons that are provided in exchange for a fee, in contrast to lessons provided free of charge by family members, community bodies and schools as part of their regular duties.

Researching Private Supplementary Tutoring in Cambodia: Contexts, Instruments and Approaches

Cambodia is widely known as a country with a long history exemplified by the Angkor Wat temple, that greatly suffered in the 1970s under the Khmer Rouge regime led by Pol Pot, and that has since developed at remarkable albeit unsteady speed as a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Society and Education in Georgia

This chapter provides background information on Georgia, including its key political and socio-economic indicators. It begins with a short historical note that reviews recent developments in the country that shaped the current context.

Teachers as Tutors

The purpose of this chapter is to explain the socio-economic and educational contexts in which the teachers addressed in this study work and live.

Economic Sociology of the Shadow Education Market

The previous chapter examined the varieties of market actors’ behavior, arguing that market relations through shadow education created opportunities for unethical competition among teachers and accentuated corrupting risks in schools. This chapter will look at the economic sociology of shadow education and discuss core aspects of economy, such as the price of tutoring, price formation, verbal contracts, and different means of compensation including barter economy and gift-giving. The chapter shows how both economic and social factors influenced the shadow education market structure and dynamics.

Research Design, Methods and Methodology

In this chapter, I will describe the ways in which I designed my study, collected data and analyzed findings. The chapter commences with discussion about the chosen research design, methodology and rationale for using qualitative approach.

Free Market of Education

In the previous chapter, I discussed mixed identities and roles of the teachers acting as providers in the free market of education. In particular, the chapter referred to teachers’ own conceptualization of professionalism, commitment and responsibilities in two parallel education systems. Findings highlighted how teachers struggled to fulfill double roles and demonstrated some consequences of juggling between teaching and tutoring related to teachers’ personal lives, families and health. The previous chapter mainly focused on how the teachers saw themselves in the profession and everyday life. This chapter moves further to discuss how the teachers behaved in schools and in tutoring settings, and offers insights into motivations behind varieties of behavior.

The Hidden Curriculum in a Hidden Marketplace: Relationships and Values in Cambodia's Shadow Education System.

ABSTRACT The concept of hidden curriculum has become well established. It addresses the contexts of learning, the actions of students’ peers and teachers, and other domains which shape learning but are not part of official syllabuses. The concept of a hidden marketplace for private tutoring, widely known as shadow education, is less established but also becoming part of general understanding of the complementarities of regular and supplementary instruction. This paper brings the two literatures together to examine the values transmitted, mostly unintentionally, by shadow education in Cambodia. Most of this shadow education is delivered by regular teachers, commonly to their existing students and in their existing schools. The paper considers the impact of shadow education not only on the students who do receive it but also on those who do not. Patterns in Cambodia differ from those in more prosperous countries, but have parallels with other low-income countries. The authors suggest that much more attention is needed to the dynamics and impact of shadow education, including relationships between actors and the values that shadow education transmits as part of the hidden curriculum.