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39
Journal of Research and Reflections in Education
June 2020, Vol.14, No 1, pp 39-52
http://www.ue.edu.pk/jrre
Shadow Teaching and Actual Disparity: A Study from the Perspectives of
Grade 9 Students in Pakistan
Muhammad Abid Malik1*, Muhammad Anwer2, Baocun Liu3
1Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Virtual University of Pakistan, Lahore, Pakistan
2Assistant Professor, Department of STEM Education, University of Education, Lahore, Pakistan
3 Professor, Institute of International and Comparative Education, Beijing Normal University, China
Corresponding Author’s Email: m_abidmalik7@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Shadow education stands for those for-profit activities which are to improve students’ academic
learning in school-taught subjects. Shadow teaching is a subcategory of shadow education which
stands for paid private supplementary tutoring. It is assumed that such activities cause disparities as
those students who do not receive them, might be a disadvantage. This paper investigates disparities
caused by shadow teaching through the lenses of actual disparity. Actual disparity occurs when one
stays away from advantage or facility due to unfavourable circumstances and feels deprived for not
having it. Data was collected from grade 9 students belonging to eight schools in Multan, Pakistan.
394 questionnaires were analyzed. Additionally, 5 one-to-one and 6 focused-group interviews were
conducted from 35 of those students who had not received shadow teaching. The findings show that
out of 394, 117 students did not receive shadow teaching. Out of those 117, only 40 cited
unfavourable circumstances. Others claimed to have stayed away by their own accord. During
interviews, most of them said that they did not have any sense of deprivation for not receiving it.
Many pointed out various strategies which they had been using instead of shadow teaching. They
claimed that those strategies were more beneficial in their learning than shadow teaching. As a result,
in most cases, shadow teaching did not cause actual disparity.
Keywords: shadow education, shadow teaching, actual disparity, private tutoring,
Introduction
Shadow education is a term employed for
paid activities which are used to help
students in improving their learning and
performance in school-taught, examinable
subjects (Stevenson & Baker, 1992; Bray,
1999, 2009; Aslam & Atherton, 2012;
Buchmann, Condron & Roscigno, 2010;
Zhang, 2011). Other than paid private
tutoring, shadow education may also
include a wide range of other activities
such as online lectures, solved and
unsolved exercises, helping books and
CDs etc. (Stevenson & Baker, 1992;
Buchmann, Condron & Roscigno, 2010).
Malik (2017) divided shadow education
into three subcategories: shadow teaching,
shadow curriculum and pre-recorded
academic aids (Malik, 2017, p. 21).
Shadow teaching stands for paid private
supplementary tutoring. The issue of
disparities caused by shadow education is
likely to be more prominent in the case of
shadow teaching as it is usually more
expensive than the other two. Also, its
impact is more direct and immediate upon
the students. The teacher/tutor knows who
are receiving extra coaching from him/her
and who are not, making the students more
prone to favouritism or biased treatment.
Shadow education is a growing
phenomenon which has affected countries
all over the world, but it appears to be
more prevalent in the countries from the
South than from the North (Bray, 1999).
Researchers and policymakers are divided
JRRE Vol.14, No.1 2020
40
over its impact and effects. Some credit it
for uplifting the overall quality and
effectiveness of education system in exams
performance (Stevenson & Baker, 1992;
Liu, 2012; Suleman, Aslam, Hussain, &
Ali, 2013), improving students’ efficacy
(Montebon, 2016), improved class
performance and income for the teachers
(Benveniste, Marshall, & Santibañez,
2008), and helping the parents in ensuring
better future opportunities for their
children (Lee, 2014). On the other side,
several researchers and scholars have
pointed out that it may promote various
social evils such as malpractices by
teachers (Dawson, 2009; Zhang, 2014),
lack of participation and attention in the
formal classroom by the students who
receive it (Yung & Bray, 2017), and social
inequalities and disparities (Dang &
Rogers, 2008; Borodchuk, 2011; Bray &
Lykins, 2012; Entrich, 2018). It is also
perceived to widen the chasm between
haves and have-nots as one group of
students is provided with it (presumably
because of better access, permission and/or
resources) while other being left out
(presumably for the lack of them) (Bray,
1999). Bray (2009) also mentioned that it
put an extra financial burden on the
families, and sometimes they had to cut
down expenses on other necessities of life
to pay for it. Bray and Lykins (2012) said
that the inequalities caused by shadow
teaching are a “recurrent theme” and “self-
evident” (Bray & Lykins, 2012, p. 44).
Some philosophers and researchers even
called it a social issue and asked it to be
ruthlessly eliminated from the face of the
earth (Sen, 2002; Kim, 2016).
While talking about the disparities
caused by shadow education, most of the
researchers focus on the numbers only
(those who are provided with shadow
education and those who are not), or base
it on theoretical assumptions. Malik and
Liu (2018), while researching shadow
education in Beijing, suggested that the
issue of disparities caused by shadow
education should be investigated more
deeply. They presented the idea of actual
disparity. Unlike disparity which focuses
on numbers (one group has something, and
others does not), actual disparity focuses
on the causes for not receiving/ having
that, and the feelings of those without it.
According to this concept, only if those
without a facility or advantage have been
kept out, and feel depressed or deprived
because of not having it; should it be an
issue and a social evil hence causing actual
disparity (Malik & Liu, 2018, p. 55, 56).
Their findings showed that most of the
students stayed away from shadow
education because of their own choice
hence did not have any negative feeling or
sense of deprivation.
Zhang (2013), in her PhD
dissertation, researched shadow education
in Chongqing, China. She also
investigated the main reasons for not
receiving shadow education. There were
thirteen reasons cited for not receiving
shadow education (including “other
reasons”). She did not categorize them.
But if they are categorized into
“unfavourable circumstances” and “one’s
own choice” categories, eight reasons may
fall in the category of one’s own choice
(already good in studies 27, the school
provides enough training 54, can turn to
my teacher 153, help from family etc. 103,
private tutoring not worth it 137, do not
think it can improve academic
achievements 178, it would take up my
spare time 139, teacher does not
Malik, Anwer & Liu
41
recommend it 15). All in all, those reasons
were reported 806 times. Three may fall
into the category of unfavourable
circumstances (my parents do not want it
33, too expensive 109, available centres do
not meet my needs 154). These reasons
were reported 296 times. Two reasons
could fall into the neutral category which
may be interpreted in either way (so much
work that no time is left for it 163, other
reasons 25). These were reported 188
times (Zhang, 2013, p. 119). This study
also shows that most of the students did
not receive shadow education due to their
own choice.
There has not been a lot of research
exclusively about the students without
shadow teaching to see the causes behind
it, and how they feel. It is important to use
mixed methods so that their feelings can
be probed more deeply. This paper tries to
reduce some of this research gap by
focusing upon the students without
shadow teaching and their feelings through
mixed-methods research.
Methodology
This paper uses mixed research methods.
Mixed methods research should be used
when combining quantitative and
qualitative research answers the research
question better (Newman, Ridenour,
Newman & DeMarco, 2003). In this
paper, students’ background information,
the spread of shadow teaching, and causes
for not receiving it are investigated
through the quantitative method. For
investigating the causes more deeply, and
exploring the feelings of those who do not
receive it; qualitative research method is
employed.
Research Design
This paper uses a sequential explanatory
design. In sequential explanatory design,
first quantitative data is collected. After
that, qualitative data is collected to further
interpret and explain the findings of
quantitative data (Creswell, 2003). First,
the students were asked through the
questionnaire a variety of questions
including the reasons for not receiving it,
and then the same questions (and others
about their feelings) were probed at length
through interviews.
Participants and Sampling
As the research is from students’
perspectives, the data was collected from
grade 9 students. They belonged to eight
public high schools in Multan, Pakistan.
Four of those schools are boys’ and four
girls’. The schools were selected using a
stratified sampling technique (Teddlie &
Yu, 2007).
The basic unit was school. The
strata for this research were the
geographical location (suburban,
cantonment and downtown areas),
financial status (schools in posh areas and
poor areas), and gender (boys’ and girls’
schools). Two schools (one boys’ and one
girls’) were taken from suburban, posh,
low-income and cantonment areas each. It
was done to get a more balanced and
comprehensive picture.
The students were not selected
randomly, but the whole classes were
selected using a cluster sampling technique
(Teddlie & Yu, 2007). It was done
because the school principals did not allow
selecting students randomly as that would
have disturbed the working of multiple
classes.
For the qualitative part, 5 one-to-
one, and 6 focused-group interviews were
conducted. One focused group consisted
JRRE Vol.14, No.1 2020
42
of five students each. All the interviews
were face-to-face. They were audio-
recorded as the recording of the interviews
“have been accepted in a rather matter-of-
fact way” now (Lee, 2004, p. 879).
Tools Development and Data Collection
Quantitative data was collected through
questionnaires which were originally
designed in English and later translated
into Urdu. It consisted of three parts:
personal and background information,
feelings about shadow teaching, and
causes for not receiving shadow teaching.
With the permission of the school
heads, self-administrated questionnaires
method was practised as it leads to a
higher response rate. Also, sampling is
much more accurate, and the chances of
confusions are mitigated greatly with this
technique (Oppenheim, 2000). As a result,
a 100% return rate was achieved (although
some students left some questions
unanswered).
Interviews were semi-structured as
they give the researcher a choice of
wording which helps in the process of the
probe (Barriball & While, 1994). An
interview guide was developed consisting
of research questions, interview questions
related to each research question and some
suggestive supplementary questions.
Further probe and questioning were done
based on the answers of the participants.
Focused-group interviews were less
structured, and the participants were
allowed to support or counter each other’s
opinion. The researcher was there to
ensure that the focused-group interviews
did not go beyond the research boundaries.
On average, one-to-one and focused-group
interviews were 17 and 58 minutes long
respectively.
Reliability and Validity
For reliability of the questionnaires, the
test-retest strategy was used. The
questionnaires were given twice to the
students with a gap of 10 to 15 days. The
test-retest reliability value was 0.92. 394
is the number of students who replied both
times. In total, 867 questionnaires were
distributed on two occasions- 425 the first
time and 442 the second time. 100%
response rate means that all the students
present at that time returned the
questionnaires.
The questionnaire and the
interview guide were created in English
and shown to quantitative and qualitative
research experts at a Chinese university.
They were also sent to one shadow
education expert for content validity.
Once in Pakistan, the Urdu version was
shown to educationists and experienced
head-teachers for their expert opinion.
Appropriate changes were made as per
their suggestions.
Data Analysis
Descriptive statistics were used through
SPSS 16 to analyze questionnaires.
Interviews were transcribed and then
analyzed. As there were only eleven
interviews, this task was done manually as
suggested by literature (Bleck et al. 2015).
Marshall and Rossman’s (2006)
model for qualitative data analysis was
followed by using coding and
categorization. Verbatim quotations were
also used frequently as often the emphasis
of the argument cannot be depicted by
picking words or phrases only. Verbatim
quotations also improve the quality of
research (Corden & Sainsbury, 2005,
2006).
Findings from Quantitative Data
Findings from the quantitative data were
as follows.
Malik, Anwer & Liu
43
Background Information
Out of 394 respondents, 195 (49.49%)
were boys and 199 (50.51%) girls. The
mean age of the participants was 14 years
and 6 months. As the research was
conducted in the city area, most of the
students (n=366, 92.89%) reported having
come from urban areas. Similarly, an
overwhelming majority (n=295, 74.81%)
were from science group and only 95
(24.11%) from humanities.
Answering the question about
family support for academic learning and
homework, 171 (43.4%) said that they had
been receiving family support in this
regard; while 212 (53.81%) said that they
did not.
Spread and Type of Shadow Teaching
Out of 377 students who had answered this
question, 260 (68.96%) said that they had
received shadow teaching during the last
12 months. A slightly higher number of
boys said to have received shadow
teaching as compared to the girls (137
boys and 123 girls). The geographical
location of the schools did not appear to
have much influence on the percentage of
the students receiving shadow teaching.
Most of the students who belonged
to the schools in suburban and downtown
areas reported having received shadow
teaching form the higher class students,
and their class teachers. On the other hand,
the majority of the students from the
schools in cantonment and posh areas said
that they received shadow teaching form
other school teachers or went to the
academies.
The attitude of the Teachers
Another point that is often made is that the
students without shadow teaching might
face unfavourable or even hostile attitude
from the teachers. Out of 326 students
who answered this question, only 94
(28.83%) agreed to this. Out of those 94
students, 66 were receiving shadow
education, and 28 were not.
Students without Shadow Teaching
Out of 117 students who said that they had
not received shadow teaching for the last
one year, 110 cited different reasons for
staying out of it. 70 out of 110 (63.64%)
cited reasons which showed that it was
their own choice (not satisfied with the
quality of shadow teaching- 6, prefer self-
study- 45, the family helps me- 19). Only
a little over one-third of them (40 out of
110, 36.36%) reported unfavorable
circumstances for not receiving shadow
teaching (financial problems 17, too far
from home 23).
Out of those 117 students without
shadow teaching, only 27 (23.08%) said
that they were not happy with the situation
and would have loved to get extra
coaching while a much larger number of
the students (n=67, 57.26%) reported
being quite content with the situation and
said that they would not go for shadow
teaching even if an opportunity was
presented to them. Another 23 (19.66%)
said that although they were content with
the situation, they would go for the
shadow teaching if given an option.
Shadow Teaching and Number of Hours
Spent on Self-Study
As it may be seen in the figure i, students
without shadow teaching seemed to spend
a lot more time on the self-study than
those with shadow teaching. Although, it
is unclear if they spent extra time because
they had more free time or because they
felt that they could be lagging behind if
they did not spend extra hours on study.
44
Figure i: Number of hours spent on self-study
Findings from Qualitative Data
5 one-to-one and 6 focused group
interviews were conducted from 35
students who had not received shadow
teaching for the last one year. The
interviews were focused on the reasons for
not receiving shadow teaching, and how
they felt about it.
Causes for Not Receiving Shadow
Teaching
The causes cited by the students for not
receiving shadow teaching were divided
into two main categories: external factors
or due to unfavourable circumstances (lack
of money, access, permission etc.); and
internal factors or those based on one’s
own choice and decision.
External Factors/ Unfavorable
Circumstances
11 out of the 35 interviewees (3 who gave
face-to-face interviews, and 8 who were
part of different focused groups) said that
they did not take shadow teaching mainly
due to external factors which were not
under their control. They included poverty,
cultural issues, lack of resources, the
remoteness of the good academies and
gender bias (resources/ permission given
to boys, but not to girls).
A boy from one of the focused
groups, who belonged to a middle-class
family said that his family was not able to
pay for the tuition fee for the home tutor.
He further added that the academies in his
locality were not up-to-mark. He reported
that most of the good academies were in
posh areas which were too far from his
house. He couldn't go there as he did not
have a motorbike or even a bicycle. His
family was too poor to get personal
conveyance for him, hire private transport
or get a home tutor. As a result, he would
stay at home and do his studies by himself
despite his upmost desire to do otherwise.
Another girl also pointed out
financial issues, but she said that it was not
that her parents did not have money; it was
that their priority was on the boys. She
told that all of her brothers (three to be
exact) had been receiving shadow
teaching, but her parents did not pay for
her (despite her being the only daughter).
24.2
46.9
12.3 6.5
12
59.8
18.8
6
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Up to 1 hour a
day
1-3 hours a day 3-5 hours a day More than 5
hours a day
Studen
ts with
ST
Studen
ts
wtihou
t ST
Malik, Anwer & Liu
45
They instead asked her to study by herself
and take help from her elder brothers. She
explained it in these words.
“They (my parents) have money,
but not for me. All of my brothers
go to an academy and take all the
subjects. I have asked for it many
times, for English only; (but) my
father says, ‘stay at home, help
your mother. If there is any issue
with studies, your brothers will
help’.” (translated from Urdu).
Although she said that her brothers
would help her whenever she would need,
she would prefer to go to the academy.
She expressed disappointment that most of
her classmates were going to the academy,
but she was not.
Another girl who gave one-to-one
interview said that her family was poor.
She also said that her parents did not allow
her to go out of the house to any academy.
Also they would not “trust the
environment in the academies”. They
could not afford home tutors. Although
there were a few university students
available who were willing to provide
home tuition at a very low cost, her parents
would not permit.
“Some boys, students themselves
in our neighborhood, give tuition in
evening. Fee also low; but my
parents say no, especially my
father and elder brother. They
think it is bad, immoral. Those
boys are young. They do not trust
them.” (translated from Urdu)
Due to all these reasons, she said
that she had to stay at home and study by
herself. Although she said that her elder
brother helped her, but it was “not good
enough” and he did not have time to teach
her on daily basis.
Nine out of those eleven students
said that they would love to receive
shadow teaching if given an opportunity.
Internal Factors/ By Their Own Choice
Interestingly, majority of the students who
were interviewed stated that they stayed
away from shadow teaching by their own
choice. 24 out of 35 students who were
interviewed said that they opted to stay
away from shadow teaching by their own
choice. Moreover, most of them said that
they did not feel any frustration,
depression or sense of deprivation for not
receiving it.
Ten out of those twenty four
interviewees, who did not go for shadow
teaching by their own choice, stated that
they had found self-study a lot more
beneficial for learning than shadow
teaching. When a student was asked if he
did not take shadow teaching due to
financial problems or any other reason
imposed upon him, he rebutted that very
emphatically, saying,
“No, not at all. My parents are
willing to pay me the money. I
have bicycle. I can go there. I
took shadow teaching classes in
grade 8, but I don’t think it (is)
good. I travel for 40 minutes to go
to the academy, take classes for
two hours and then come back,
again forty minutes. I travel for 80
minutes to study for 120 minutes.
It is not worth it. I try to
understand the concept in the class
and then practice at home. That is
it. If I have any problem, I can talk
to them (the teachers) in the school.
Often they explain.” (translated
from Urdu)
A lot of them said that they liked to
study by themselves in their house. They
JRRE Vol.14, No.1 2020
46
pointed out that it was possible to prepare
the subjects by themselves if the students
wanted to. A girl said that her weak
subject was mathematics, but she did not
take any shadow teaching. She explained
her studying strategy and why she thought
shadow teaching was not essential in these
words,
“There are some key books for
mathematics. All the questions are
solved over there step by step. Not
only questions are solved step by
step, but also they explain them.
As a result, it is kind of a full time
teacher that you have in your bag.”
(translated from Urdu)
Most of the students expressed the
same feelings, and said that in the presence
of guide books and ainas (a kind of guide
book commonly used in Pakistan); the
students could prepare their lessons easily.
Another girl pointed out the Pakistani
education system which emphasized on
rote learning and cramming. She said that
in such situation one could easily prepare
by oneself. She pointed out that for all the
subjects, questions were given in the text
and guidebooks, and the papers were made
from those given questions. She especially
talked about English, saying,
“Even in English translation, we
have some paragraphs. Paragraphs
for translation will always come
from them. One can easily
memorize them. Even essays…
there are twenty or thirty essays. If
a student learns by heart first
fifteen of them, one of them will
always be in the exams. We have
choice.” (translated from Urdu)
This point is very important.
Education system varies from country to
country, even from one stream to another
within the same country. The education
system which is used in matriculation
schools is based on cramming and rote-
learning. The contents and questions are
given in the textbooks or the key books.
The students only have to learn them and
write them down in the examination. If
the examination system is conceptual (like
the one in Hong Kong of China or even in
Pakistan for O and A levels), key books
and guides may not be able to play such an
important role; but in an examination
system like that in Pakistan, one can sit at
home, cram from key books and obtain
good marks.
Two boys (one from focused group
and one from one-to-one interview, but
from the same class) said that they did not
attempt receiving shadow teaching classes
as they had a better alternate. They said
that five students from their class would
get together and study every day. They
would help each other in different subjects,
and give each other a leg up. He explained
that in these words,
“It is like cooperative society. One
of us is really good at English. I
am good at maths. Some are good
at one subject, other in other so we
work together, and help each other
out” (translated from Urdu)
One of those boys made an
interesting point about the advantage of
this method. He said that he planned to
offer shadow teaching in the future after
intermediate (grade 12) or maybe even
matriculation (grade 10). Such study
group not only helped him in learning, but
also in knowing how to teach and explain
the concepts- something that would help
him in his future profession as well.
Some students also mentioned that
their family members helped them in
Malik, Anwer & Liu
47
academic learning and homework thus
eliminating the need for shadow teaching.
Attitude of the Teachers
During the interviews, only three students
said that there were a few teachers who
would tell the exam and test questions to
those who would take shadow teaching
from them. Most said that it was more
prevalent in earlier classes (up to grade 8)
when the exams were held internally by
the school. They said that it played much
less part in grade 9 and 10 as the exams
were held externally by the board, and
even the students knew that such unfair
means would only be counterproductive.
Feelings of the Students without
Shadow Teaching
Most of the points and questions lead to
the key question if the students without
shadow teaching suffered from actual
disparity i.e. felt bad for not taking it. The
students without shadow teaching were
asked extensively to tell how they felt for
not taking shadow teaching. It was also
linked to the causes for not going for
shadow teaching. The supposition was
that if a student had opportunity, but did
not go for shadow teaching due to his or
her own choice, he or she should not feel
actual disparity. Contrary to this, if a
student wanted to receive shadow
teaching, but did not have opportunity, he
or she was more likely to feel depressed
and frustrated (Malik & Liu, 2018).
One interesting revelation was that
the students without shadow teaching were
mostly aware that they were competing
against those who were taking extra
classes so they put in extra efforts. One
female student said,
“I know I do not take shadow
teaching. I spent that time at home
studying by myself. I use notes;
points I took in the school lecture
and help books to study by myself.
I know I do not take extra classes
so I need to work harder by myself
to compete with my classmates and
get good marks.” (translated from
Urdu)
Majority of them said that they did not feel
bad for not receiving shadow teaching as it
was their own choice. One girl when
asked if she felt bad for not going for
shadow teaching, said, “Why should I feel
bad”. She said that she had all the
resources and permissions; it was her
choice. She made it clear that she was
perfectly glad with that. She further
elaborated the reason behind her choice,
“When I study by myself, I learn
more. When teachers explain, they
just use one method to explain that,
but when I try to do self-study, I
often find so many new things that
the teacher did not explain because
they are not directly related.”
(translated from Urdu)
Another boy said that his eldest
sister was a college student. She would
help him in his lessons especially in maths
as she had selected mathematics as her
major. He echoed the same opinion that
the lack of shadow teaching did not make
him lose heart or hope. He was content
with the situation and did not have any
regrets for not attending shadow teaching
classes.
There was a long discussion with a
girl who was interviewed one to one about
the impact of not taking shadow teaching:
both academically and psychologically.
She said it very clearly that she did not feel
bad for not taking shadow teaching. She
pointed out that it was her decision and her
JRRE Vol.14, No.1 2020
48
parents had actually asked if she wanted to
join an academy in the neighborhood, but
she declined. She added that she was
happy to do self-study and it actually made
her more knowledgeable than the most.
Another girl also said that she did
self-study. Her family did not help her,
but it did not bother her.
“I am used to it now. Even as a
child, my parents would not help
me in my school work. I used to
go to a neighbor’s house when I
was in junior school, I remember,
but now I study by myself. I have
developed this habit of learning by
myself which I think really works
for me. I focus on the lecture fully
and then revise it in my house. I
am used to it. I am happy with it.”
(translated from Urdu)
She said that shadow teaching
could help a student in the learning, but if
the student wanted to study and use that
time for self-learning, the results might be
even better. She also pointed out the
curriculum which was based on cramming,
and guide-books. She further pointed out
her position in the class as a proof that
shadow teaching was not compulsory for
good academic learning.
“I am one of the top five students
in the class. Sometimes, among
top three. It has worked for me. I
have been able to learn well,
perform well. Why should I go for
shadow teaching? I spend that
time in a better way, in my
opinion.” (translated from Urdu)
The two boys who had formed
study group with their peers also expressed
their contentment at their situation.
Actually, they said they felt a lot more
excited and thrilled with their method of
learning. One of them stated that it gave
them “feelings of power as a teacher and
fun as a student”. He said that he would
not go for extra teaching even if it was
offered “free of cost”.
Even some of the students who
said that they could not attend shadow
teaching due to unfavorable circumstances,
did not feel deprived for not receiving
shadow teaching. One girl said that
although she wanted to attend shadow
teaching classes, she was not upset about
it. She said that it would have been good
if she could attend it, but still she could do
her work with the help of her brothers.
Another girl, on the other hand, reported to
feel depressed for not receiving shadow
teaching. Although she revealed that the
bad feelings were not due to lagging
behind academically, but for not having an
opportunity to go out and have fun like her
classmates had. She said,
“I want to go to the academy like
my classmates. Not just for studies
but for fun as well. I want to go
out, talk with my friends, and
maybe do some shopping on the
way back. My friends tell me
stories about the academy.
Sometimes they have birthday
parties; they order pizzas and other
things. I miss them. I want study
too, but I miss those activities
more.” (translated from Urdu)
Discussion and Conclusion
It has been commonly assumed by the
researchers that shadow education creates
disparities amongst the students as those
with better resources and access are able to
gain an advantage over those who do not
have (Dang & Rogers, 2008; Bray, 1999;
Malik, Anwer & Liu
49
Borodchuk, 2011; Bray & Lykins, 2012;
Entrich, 2018); but some of the researchers
challenged this, saying that it is better to
find out the feelings of those without it
than assume automatically that not
receiving shadow teaching would be a
cause of stress and sense of deprivation
(Malik & Liu, 2018). Also, it is important
to see how those without it feel. Actual
disparity occurs only if the one without
that facility, does not have it because of
unfavorable circumstance (not by one’s
own choice), and feels deprived or stressed
because of not having that.
The findings of this paper suggest
that contrary to the general perceptions,
shadow teaching may not cause that much
actual disparity among the students as
most of them stayed away because of their
own choice. Malik and Liu (2018) also
suggested the same during their research
on the same topic in Beijing, but their
findings were not conclusive as they only
used quantitative method and did not use
interviews to probe the feelings further and
deeper. Zhang (2013) did not investigate
the issue of shadow education from this
perspective directly, but her findings also
showed that the students without shadow
education mostly did it by their own
choice. (p. 119)
Both quantitative and qualitative
data collected in this research support this.
There were 110 students in this research
who did not take shadow teaching, but
majority of them (n=70, 63.64%) said that
they stayed away because of their own
will. Qualitative data reflected the same
thing with majority of the students
showing no regret or sense of deprivation
for not taking it. This is quite contrary to
what most of the research has been
suggesting; but then again most of those
studies were not focused upon the students
who did not take shadow teaching, but
theoretical assumptions (shadow education
gives unfair advantage to some, likely
those with much better resources; those
who do not take it, are at disadvantage; it
is social evil; the students divided into
haves and have nots etc.). Although some
students reported teachers’ favoritism for
those who would take shadow teaching
from them (which would cause actual
disparity), majority did not think so. The
students suggested that different reasons
such as external examinations did not
allow teachers to have that much influence
over the marks or the grades. Also most of
the students took shadow teaching from
persons other than their class/subject
teachers. One may assume that the
students from the lower grade could be
more vulnerable to teachers’ bias or
favoritism where the teachers have a lot
more control over the students’ academic
achievements and grades. As such, it may
be assumed that shadow teaching could
cause more actual disparity in those
grades.
There is a great need to investigate
and analyze the issue of disparities caused
by shadow teaching through this approach,
focusing on those who are supposed to be
left out. What really matters is what the
people without a facility or advantage
think and feel rather than others’
assumptions and perceptions. One should
focus on the actual feelings of the ones
supposed to be at disadvantage, instead of
judging based on the surface level
situation (who has it and who does not).
Shadow teaching is not one of basic
human needs, it is add-on. Absence of it
should not make one assume automatically
that the group without it is deprived or at
JRRE Vol.14, No.1 2020
50
disadvantage (Malik & Liu, 2018). One
should focus on the reasons and the
feelings to understand the situation better.
Further Research
As it has been suggested by some of the
participants in the study, disparities caused
by shadow teaching, and the feelings of
those without it may vary from grade to
grade. This issue should be investigated
from the students from different grades
(especially with school based annual
examination) to see if the situation is
different there. Additionally, it might be
interesting to investigate the issue of
disparities caused by shadow teaching
through the lenses of actual disparity in
different parts of the world to see if the
pattern is the same or different.
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