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The Family Socioeconomic Effect on Extra Lessons in Greater China: A Comparison between Shanghai, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao

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Abstract

Spawned by the heightened competition in mainstream education, supplementary tutoring outside regular school time has rapidly expanded as a common practice of students seeking to gain a competitive edge in school. It is widely known that students from low socioeconomic status (SES) families lag behind their high-SES peers in academic performance. This study examines whether extra lessons reinforce or weaken the family effect on educational inequality. We use the Programme for International Student Assessment 2009 data to analyze the effect of family SES on the likelihood and intensity of students’ extra lesson attendance in four Chinese regions: Shanghai, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), Hong Kong, and Macao. The research confirms that (1) high-SES students are more likely than low-SES students to receive extra lessons, and (2) among the students who participated, high-SES students also invested more time each week in such lessons. However, the study has also found substantial regional differences.

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Notes

  1. The Georgian number refers to the percentage of respondents in the sample of university students who claimed they received some form of private tutoring.

  2. We use only items with the same wording from previous cycles to maintain consistency.

  3. Proper sampling weights were used to create the SES dummy variable.

  4. This index is constructed by the PISA team on a continuous scale. The positive value indicates a better attitude toward school (OECD 2010, p. 295).

  5. In Shanghai and Taiwan, the test language is Chinese. In Hong Kong, students can choose English or Chinese, depending on the test given to the students. In Macao, students can choose English, Chinese, or Portuguese, depending on the test given to the students.

  6. The participation rate is calculated by subtracting the proportion of students who chose “Do not attend” from 100 %.

  7. The survey item first appeared in PISA 2003, which focused on students’ math learning. Students were asked to provide out-of-school learning information for math only. Starting with PISA 2006, hours of participation in science and test language classes were also included in the survey.

  8. We acknowledge that this is a rough estimate and do not claim statistical significance.

  9. A recent study in Hong Kong observes such a hike in participation between grade 9 and grade 12 students (Zhan et al. 2013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, University of Macau, Taipa, Macao, SAR, China

    Yisu Zhou

  2. Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, SAR, China

    Dan Wang

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  1. Yisu Zhou
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  2. Dan Wang
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Correspondence to Yisu Zhou.

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See Table 5.

Table 5 Description of independent variables
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Zhou, Y., Wang, D. The Family Socioeconomic Effect on Extra Lessons in Greater China: A Comparison between Shanghai, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 24, 363–377 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-014-0187-0

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