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Shadow Education in Thailand: Thai and International Perspectives

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Education in Thailand

Part of the book series: Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects ((EDAP,volume 42))

Abstract

“Shadow education,” known as “for-profit” private supplementary tutoring or coaching, has operated all over the world, in both Western and non-Western countries, including many Asian countries such as Korea and Japan. In Thailand, this kind of “educational industry” has grown and spread rapidly since the early 1990s. While the mainstream or regular schooling aims to impart to students’ traditional knowledge and skills officially stated in the curriculum and courses set by an authorized party, private tutoring, which appears in various forms, provides students with additional information and coaching or training to prepare them well for a variety of examinations or to become well equipped with some specific skills, such as other languages, mathematics, performing arts, or sports. At present, many students or parents have interest in additional tutoring or invest more in this industry despite having been already burdened with heavy workloads from the system of formal schooling. Apart from sharing some intriguing data on the popularity of shadow education and its growth in Thailand, this chapter probes into the reasons behind such a phenomenon, its pros and cons, and also explores some policy strategies and guidelines to cope with private tutoring issues.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

    Nantarat Charoenkul

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  1. Nantarat Charoenkul
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Correspondence to Nantarat Charoenkul .

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  1. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Gerald W. Fry

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Charoenkul, N. (2018). Shadow Education in Thailand: Thai and International Perspectives. In: Fry, G. (eds) Education in Thailand. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 42. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7857-6_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7857-6_25

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-7857-6

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