Schoolteachers in Out-of-School Hours Education: Blurring Professional Ideology in Recent Times

Abstract

Teachers’ professional ideology and their involvement in out-of-school hours (OoSH) practices have been questioned in recent times. This study explores how schoolteachers understand their professional ideology in relation to their OoSH practices and how they explain their participation in private tutoring in addition to formal schooling. This study deploys a qualitative approach using in-depth semi-structured interviews with nine secondary school teachers in Bangladesh. The thematic analysis highlights a substantial gap between Bangladeshi school teachers’ professional ideologies and their involvement in private tutoring. The findings from the study reveal that the respondents perceive their dual roles as schoolteachers and tutors as controversial and detrimental to discharging their professional duties in an ideological way. They recurrently struggle to justify the dual roles that contribute to the dilemma of professional ideologies. As such, private tutoring does not just create a problem in classroom teaching but affects professional ideology and commitment to teaching principles. The study recommends policymakers and professionals look into these issues to gain a deeper insight into the existing private tutoring literature concerning teachers’ professional ideologies.