In many countries, tutoring has become a system parallel to the public education. It accompanies the formal education at almost every stage of learning. This raises concerns of
many environments and organizations. According the European Commission report “The
Challenge of Shadow Education”,every year parents all over Europe spend billions for private
tutoring. The consequences of this growing tendency affect many areas: stratification,
socializing, educational, didactic and ethical. Activities undertaken to limit this phenomenon
does not seem effective. One of the reasons is the fact that tutoring plays more than just one,
educational role.
The objective of the research was to describe the latent functions of the “shadow
education” (Bray 2013). The study refers to the theories by E. Durkheim and R. C Merton.
Identifying the non-educational factors that contribute to the popularity of tutoring will enable
implementation of more efficient activities to reduce it.
Method: The qualitative strategy was adopted: individual interviews were conducted
with 15 private tutors and the statements made by teachers and parents in online media
messages were analyzed.
The results show that private tutoring plays many, not always recognized roles, and
private tutors fill the gaps in school and family systems.
Conclusion: The development of the tutoring market is actually supported by all the
participants of the educational process: parents, school teachers and tutors. We need to
monitor the mechanisms and conditions which sustain the phenomenon of private teaching
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