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Supplementary education and the coronavirus pandemic: Economic vitality, business spatiality and societal value in the private tuition industry during the first wave of Covid-19 in England

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posted on 2021-10-18, 08:44 authored by Helena Pimlott-WilsonHelena Pimlott-Wilson, Sarah HollowaySarah Holloway
This paper challenges geographers to examine the lucrative, but vastly understudied, global supplementary education sector (e.g. private tuition; learning centres; cram schools). It marks a break from research in Geographies of Education on locational, socio-cultural and political-economy issues, by concentrating directly on the economic geography of this metaphorically monikered ‘shadow education’ sector. Centred on the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the paper’s aim is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economic vitality, business spatiality and societal value of private tuition in England. Methodologically, it utilises in-depth interviews with tutors providing one-to-one instruction in English, maths or science in the regionally-differentiated tuition market. The findings demonstrate business vitality was impacted: COVID-19 related disruption to schooling produced a profound economic shock for the tuition industry, though new opportunities also emerged from the crisis. Business spatiality was fundamentally rewritten, not only in terms of delivery but also as local markets became national ones. The social value of the industry was drawn into question, as the service was both vital and regressive in its distribution. In conclusion, the paper argues geographers of education must: (i) Embrace research on supplementary education in its own right and as it articulates with state education provision; (ii) Pursue economic analyses which consider both how markets work to produce unequal outcomes for potential consumers, and how they emerge as a space of educational entrepreneurship for those seeking to make a living; and (iii) Urgently examine how the coronavirus pandemic is rewriting processes across the education system.

Funding

Levehulme Trust under Research Project Grant RPG-2018-335

History

School

  • Social Sciences and Humanities

Department

  • Geography and Environment

Published in

Geoforum

Volume

127

Pages

71 - 80

Publisher

Elsevier BV

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Rights holder

© Crown Copyright

Publisher statement

This paper was accepted for publication in the journal Geoforum and the definitive published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.09.009.

Acceptance date

2021-09-20

Publication date

2021-09-23

Copyright date

2021

ISSN

0016-7185

Language

  • en

Depositor

Prof Sarah Holloway. Deposit date: 14 October 2021

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