Compensatory Advantage and the Use of Out-of-school-time Tutorials: A Cross-national Study

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Huang Min-Hsiung

Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 2020

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Abstract: Using data from several dozen countries, this study investigates the possibility that out-of-school-time (henceforth, OST) tutorials in academic subjects are used in a way that corresponds to theoretical predictions of the compensatory advantage model. I distinguish between fee-based and non-fee-based OST tutorials. Results suggest that fee-paying OST tutorials are used in a way that is predicted by the compensatory advantage model in many countries. This conclusion is based on the findings that low-ability children from socioeconomically advantaged families are more likely to use fee-paying OST tutorials than (a) those with a similarly low level of ability from less advantaged families, or (b) those with higher ability from similarly advantaged families. Such patterns, however, are rarely found in the use of fee-free OST tutorials.

About the author: Huang Min-Hsiung was a HYI Visiting Scholar from 2012-13.