Capitalising shadow education: A critical discourse analysis of private tuition websites in Singapore

Abstract

Shadow education, or supplementary private tutoring, has expanded to become a multi-billion-dollar industry worldwide, capitalising on the desires of parents and their children to succeed and excel in education. In doing so, shadow education draws upon and reproduces cultural capital represented by knowledge, skills and educational credentials and symbolic capital constituted in the prestige, privilege and legitimacy of educational achievement. The study on which this article is based adopts a critical discourse analytic approach to examine the websites of five leading private tuition centres in Singapore as seen through the lens of Bourdieu’s concept of capital. The aim is to identify specific forms of cultural capital, examine how they are harnessed for promotional purposes, and show how this reflects and reproduces the forms and representations of educational achievement and success valued in Singapore. Findings offer a deeper understanding of the marketing discourse of shadow education that pivots on the quality of private tutors, success beyond examinations and school, and concrete representations of social distinction and achievement. More significantly, the study contributes to research situated at the nexus of shadow education and Bourdieu’s concept of capital to shed light on how shadow education reflects and magnifies broader socio-cultural orientations and socio-economic structures.

Keywords:

• Shadow education
• cultural capital
• Bourdieu
• online marketing practices
• Singapore

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peter Teo

Peter Teo is an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research and teaching converge in the areas of discourse analysis, critical literacy and language education. He has published in journals including Discourse and Society, Critical Discourse Studies, Visual Communication, Discourse and Communication, Linguistics and Education, Language and Education and Teaching and Teacher Education.

Dorothy Koh

Dorothy Koh is currently a language educator in a private school. She holds a Master of Education from the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.