Paying for private tuition on top of a child's standard schooling is growing increasingly popular. But its use is creating a two-tier system, with wealthier families able to pay to secure their children advantages that poorer families simply cannot afford. For almost two decades, Sutton Trust research has highlighted the growth of private…

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted unprecedented school closures in England, which quickly generated widespread concern at the impacts of missed schooling: 'lost learning' became the dominant motif of these concerns and 'catch-up' emerged as the received solution. This article focuses on the central pillar of the government's post-pandemic response:…

In highlighting the changes in demands on personal tutors as part of university support networks, this paper identifies how to improve the personal tutor experience for both the personal tutor and the student. Drawing upon the experiences at Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University, England, this paper explores the importance of the…

The importance of teacher subject knowledge as key professional knowledge has been emphasised in successive studies over the past thirty years, yet there are very few empirical studies which address either content or pedagogical knowledge for teaching writing. At the same time, in a number of international jurisdictions, writing attainment lags…

Personal tutoring as an academic role is neither innovative nor one-dimensional. Engagement in the personal tutoring system correlates to student retention and ultimately achievement. Today the role is considered extensive with the Personal Tutor endeavouring to provide students with both academic and personal support. Whilst literature recognises…

This paper explores the experience of acting as a personal academic tutor (PAT) at a medium sized University in the West Midlands. The researchers aimed to establish the robustness of the PAT system, with a focus on wellbeing of both staff and students. This research took place within the context of growing concerns for student and staff…

Private supplementary tutoring, widely known as shadow education, has become a global phenomenon. It has a range of providers, including commercial companies, university students desiring extra pocket money, and regular school teachers who provide tutoring as a sideline activity. This paper focuses on the last category. Governments are commonly…

The COVID-19 pandemic and the public health restrictions that followed changed the structure and experiences of education for young people in the UK. School closures, home schooling, online learning and exam cancellations were some of the consequences of the public health measures taken. School closures were intermittent between March 2020 and…

A growing literature, much of it with cross-national comparisons, employs geographic lenses to secure insights into educational studies. Most of this literature focuses on schooling, though parts address kindergartens and higher education. The present paper, by contrast, employs geographic lenses to focus on the shadow education system of private…

England has experienced recent growth in the prevalence of private tutoring (PT). The qualitative study reported in this article aims to explore the perceptions of 14 Year 6 pupils and their teachers from three state-maintained primary schools in East Kent on PT participation and its impact on grammar school admissions. Data were collected through…

As part of a wider study into perceptions that different university stakeholders have of tutorials, we investigated the UK Open University model for tuition through a process of semi-structured interviews with a self-selecting set of STEM tutors. The aim of the study was to elucidate perceptions that tutors have of the role and purpose of…

The personal tutor plays a key role in the student experience at university, and personal tutoring embodies the student relationship with the university, suggesting that it has the potential to provide insights beyond that specific relationship to the institution and higher education context. A focus session with first year undergraduate students…

There is strong evidence that peer tutoring, as a form of cooperative learning, has a positive impact on tutor and tutee outcomes. However, little previous research has been reported as to the differential effects of engaging in cooperative learning in dyads for peer tutors and peer tutees, respectively. A randomised controlled experimental study…

Extended education flourishes all over the world. Within different cultures and sociopolitical backgrounds, it takes different terms, forms, and developments across nations. Without identifying the common concepts of extended education, we may not expect further developments in extended education research. This study examined the terms that are…

The National Tutoring Programme (NTP), introduced in the academic year 2020-21, is an important part of the Government's COVID-19 recovery response, supporting schools to respond to the disruption to education caused by the pandemic and subsequent school closures, offering targeted tuition support to disadvantaged pupils who have been hit hardest…