The Journey of a Middle School Student: Explorations of Mathematics Private Tutoring in School Life

Abstract

Many developing countries have experienced a growth in private supplementary tutoring over the last 20 years. In most countries, participation to private tutoring is more prominent around the transition points in educational system. Students who attend private mathematics tutoring have an opportunity to learn practical test taking technique about algebra and geometry questions as well as having an opportunity to learn how to use time efficiently. On the other hand, students who do not take any private math tutoring use only the materials, guidance, or knowledge that their school provides for them. Thus, students who do not take the private preparatory math courses are disadvantaged. Unfortunately, there are many students whose parents' income level is not prosperous to provide their private mathematics tutoring expenses. Students who come from this group may give up their hope at an early stage, and they decide not going further because of the idea that they never get far enough in the education system. From this regard, I would like to explore how students' experiences of being unsuccessful at the high school entrance examination due to not participating any private mathematics tutoring. I conducted an open-ended interview with the student and took notes about my observations. The interview was semi-structured. As a result, the participants' experience with this failure is associated with the four main themes; success expectation from the entrance examination, the disparities between the mainstream school's curriculum and the entrance examination's content, the private tutoring necessity, and SES background differences of students.