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ERIC Number: EJ1315074
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Sep
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2096-5311
EISSN: N/A
The Private Tutoring Industry in Denmark: Market Making and Modes of Moral Justification
Christensen, Søren; Grønbek, Thomas; Baekdahl, Frederik
ECNU Review of Education, v4 n3 p520-545 Sep 2021
Purpose: The article focuses on the emergence of a private tutoring industry in Denmark over the last decade. Specifically, it explores how private tutoring companies legitimize themselves in a social and cultural context where education has for long predominantly been understood in egalitarian terms. Design/Approach/Methods: The article takes inspiration from Viviana Zelizer's work on morally controversial markets. It explores the "moral labor" performed by private tutoring companies to redefine the exchange of private tutoring services as a socially wholesome activity. It does so through a close analysis of business information, company websites, and news media articles on private tutoring. Findings: The article argues that, generally, the marketing material of tutoring companies focuses more on social equality and student well-being than on academic success. Thus, the companies predominantly legitimize themselves in terms of long-standing Scandinavian ideals of education. Increasingly, these are also the terms in which the companies criticize mainstream schooling. Originality/Value: The article contributes new knowledge of private tutoring in a Scandinavian context where very little research on the issue has so far been conducted. Theoretically, it relates previous research on "legitimation projects" of private tutoring companies to broader sociological theories on market making.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Denmark
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A