Factors affecting weekday-to-weekend sleep differences among Korean adolescent students: Focus on extracurricular tutoring time

Objectives Discrepancy in weekday-weekend sleep induces negative effects on physical health, obesity, psychological disorders, and academic performance; this particularly affects adolescent students through extracurricular tutoring, including evening self-study, private tutoring, and home studies. The present research aimed to clarify sociodemographic and economic factors, including extracurricular tutoring time, associated with weekday-to-weekend sleep differences using longitudinal data. Study design Data from the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS) data were analyzed. Weekday-to-weekend sleep differences and extracurricular tutoring, as well as other covariates, were measured using adolescent’s self-report questionnaires. Multilevel regression and structural equation modeling (SEM) of repeated measures were used to test the hypothesized relationship between variables. Results The time spent in weekly extracurricular tutoring was negatively associated with weekday-to-weekend sleep differences. However, increased tutoring time was positively associated with bedtime, and bedtime was in turn positively associated with differences in Korean adolescents’ weekday-to-weekend sleep patterns. The SEM analysis result showed a significant indirect effect of tutoring time on sleep differences via bedtime. Conclusions Limiting weekly extracurricular tutoring time is important to early bedtime and reducing weekday-to-weekend sleep pattern differences. Policymakers should develop alternatives to private tutoring to improve the sleep duration and reduce weekday-to-weekend sleep differences among adolescents.

Private tutoring in Bangladesh: evolution, expansion, and policy responses

PurposeThis study explores the development trajectory of private tutoring in Bangladesh. Specifically, it illustrates how private tutoring has emerged and expanded in the country's education system and examines how governments have responded on this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopted a case study methodology for this study. Data were gathered from different secondary sources such as books, official documents, scholarly articles, and newspaper reports. The data analysis process consists of three-phases of activities: data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing/verification.FindingsPrivate tutoring historically existed in Bangladesh. It is rapidly expanded in the country's education system – from primary to higher secondary level. Currently, it has reached an industrialization stage, where commercial coaching has become a major type of tutoring. The expansion of private tutoring is the inevitable result of the continued privatization and marketization of education. To bring the private tutoring under a framework, the government has taken some regulatory measures that can be characterized as “laissez-faire.” The existing measures are largely ineffective, as the policy makers followed an “top-down” approach when framing the policies.Originality/valueThis study, to the best of the authors' knowledge, is the first to target the historical aspects of private tutoring in Bangladesh. It has potential to fill out the literature gap on private tutoring by analyzing its policy aspect.

Intensity and content of private tutoring lessons during German secondary schooling: effects on students’ grades and test achievement

Private supplementary tutoring is a widespread phenomenon. However, evidence that private tutoring has positive effects on academic achievement or about the specific conditions of successful private tutoring is rare. Adapting Carroll’s (1963) model for school learning to private tutoring, we expected to find positive effects of tutoring duration, tutoring intensity, and students’ motivation to attend private tutoring. In a sample of eighth-grade students in German secondary schools (N = 8510, 18.6% currently being tutored), we conducted regression analyses with multiple covariates and did not find a positive main effect of private tutoring attendance in any of the school subjects examined. Moreover, within the subsamples of tutored students, we were not able to identify positive effects of tutoring duration, tutoring intensity, tutoring content (such as a focus on homework completion, test preparation, or study behavior), or students’ motivation to attend private tutoring. Given these disillusioning findings, we primarily derive suggestions for future research.