Czech Research Group for Shadow Education (CRGSE)

Welcome on the webpage of Czech Research Group for Shadow Education affiliated with the Institute for Research and Development of Education, Faculty of Education, Charles University. The research group aims to advance research and knowledge exchange on shadow education in the Czech Republic and anywhere else in the world.

About the research group

The research group aims to advance research and knowledge exchange on shadow education (private supplementary tutoring) in the Czech Republic and anywhere else in the world. Our research foci include, but is not limited to:

• Nature of shadow education (including new forms of shadow education)
• Determinants of shadow education (educational, social, economic, geographic, demographic…)
• Implications of shadow education (for students, families, schools, teachers, education system…)
• Relationships and interrelations between formal and shadow education
• Specific issues related to shadow education and other types of extracurricular education

Members of the group publish their research in highly reputed journals (see Publications) and collaborate with external researchers (see International collaboration).

In cooperation with Hong Kong University, Comparative Education Research Center, the research group is also responsible for maintaining the bibliographic database of shadow education resources (see the Shadow Education Resource Center).

Czech Group

The chair of the research group is Vit Stastny (vit.stastny@pedf.cuni.cz). Members of the Czech Group are shadow education researchers affiliated to the Faculty of Education, Charles University.

Members of the group

Publications

The following list contains selected publications about shadow education (co-)authored by the team members. The list is sorted chronologically, with the newest publications on top.

• Šťastný, V. (2024). The expansion and diversity of shadow education: Global perspectives, local contexts. Faculty of Education, Charles University.
• Zhu, Y. (2024). “There is Demand, There is a Market”: Implementation of the Prohibitive Chinese Double Reduction Shadow Education Policy—From the Tutors’ Perspective. International Journal of Educational Reform, 10567879241268035.
• Šťastný, V. (2023). Shadow education in the context of early tracking: between-track differences in the Czech Republic. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 53(3), 380-398.
• Šťastný, V. & Chvál, M. (2023). Different subjects, different incentives: Private tutoring and perceived instructional quality in Czech lower-secondary schools. International Journal of Educational Development, 98, 102737.
• Šťastný, V., Chvál, M., & Walterová, E. (2023). School Partnerships with Private Tutoring Providers: Weighing the Risks and Benefits by Czech School Principals. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 22(2), 463–479.
• Šťastný, V. (2022). Shadow education: A double-edged sword for Czech mainstream schools in the competitive educational market. Research Papers in Education, 37(6), 1042–1063.
• Šťastný, V., Chvál, M., & Walterová, E. (2021). An ordinary moonlighting activity? Determinants of the provision of private tutoring by Czech schoolteachers. International Journal of Educational Development, 82, 1–11.
• Šťastný, V. (2017). Private tutoring lessons supply – Insights from online advertising in the Czech Republic. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 47(4), 561-579.
• Šťastný, V. (2016). Private supplementary tutoring in the Czech Republic. European Education, 48(1), 1-22.

International collaboration

Our international partners include:

Shadow Education Resource Center

Shadow education resource center is a joint project of the Faculty of Education, Charles University, and Comparative Education Research Centre, University of Hong Kong.

The Shadow Education Resource Centre (SERC) is a database in the form of a bibliography that focuses on studies in shadow education. The goal of the bibliography is to create a comprehensive resource center on available research about shadow education, facilitating further research in this area.  

The main function of SERC is to provide up-to-date information to shadow education scholars, including students. While the target audience primarily consists of those studying shadow education in various contexts, this database may also be relevant and useful for scholars researching the privatization of education.

The Centre is maintained by a team comprising scholars from both CERC and IRDE, who regularly update the bibliography.  

SERC serves as an initial reference point for those interested in conducting research on shadow education. As this page is a work in progress, we encourage readers to help us locate additional references. Although the main language of SERC is English, we welcome bibliographic information on sources in languages other than English. As more users provide additional citations, the bibliography will expand, serving as a developing resource for those wishing to conduct further research on shadow education.