（別紙様式６）(Attached Form 6)

学位論文の要旨（論文の内容の要旨）
Summary of the Dissertation (Summary of Dissertation Contents)
論 文 題 目Dissertation title
Factors Influencing Engagement of Private Tutoring at Cambodian Upper SecondarySchools

広島大学大学院国際協力研究科
Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation,
Hiroshima University
博士課程後期
教育文化専攻Doctoral Program
Division of Educational Development andCultural and Regional Studies
学生番号Student ID No.
D192448
氏
名Name
SOEUNG SOPHA
SealIntroduction
Private tutoring (hereafter PT) has gained popularity across continents in different forms and scales. Somestudies pointed out that PT expansion is prominent in Asia—especially in countries driven by Confucian
culture—under competitive educational environments (e.g., leaving/standardized examination and university
entrance examination). Specifically, Cambodian students have been facing challenges in learning the entire
curriculum by studying only in public schools. Thus, students invested their financial capital in PT before orafter official school hours to be able to continue the school syllabus in effective or appropriate teaching. Thispushed students who could not afford the same at a disadvantage, especially in the secondary school leaving
examination. In this regard, studies and media reports criticized the quality of public education, including
teacher unprofessionalism and inequity issue in Cambodian society.
Cambodian authorities succeeded in expanding school access to all geographical areas, yet its education faced
other hindrances such as equity and quality of education. Studies and media criticized the government’s low
educational expenses, which imposed financial burden on individual households, including PT expenses. Parents
and students invested both money and time before and after the official school hours through PT to continuelearning to ensure academic success. It also compelled schoolteachers to look for additional job(s), including
offering PT to their own students to supplement their family’s daily needs. Due to insufficient salaries,
Cambodian schoolteachers engaged in PT with their own students. Their engagement has been unfortunately
categorized as unprofessional and oppressive. The Royal Government of Cambodia (hereafter, RGC) and theMinistry of Education Youth and Sport (hereafter, MoEYS) have launched a series of programs (i.e., abolishedschool fee and informal payment including PT, increased schoolteachers’ salaries, amended professional ethic
code of conduct which was known as “discouragement” scenario to regulate PT in literature, and been throughsome educational reforms); nonetheless PT practices are prevalent. Furthermore, the rate of students whoundertook PT outside school hours was approximately 76% from 2015 to 2020, according to the national surveyof Cambodia’s Socio-Economic Survey. Therefore, the question to be posed is why PT is still in demand at
Cambodian upper secondary schools. In response to this, this study aimed to answer two research questions:(1) Why did schoolteachers continue to offer PT at Cambodian upper secondary schools?
(2) Why did students and parents continue to invest in PT at Cambodian upper secondary schools?
To answer these research questions, the study employed both interview and survey approaches for datacollection and analysis to gain insights into the issue of PT at Cambodian upper secondary schools. Narrative

data were collected from 89 interviewees, including different educational stakeholders (i.e., schoolteachers,
Grade-12 students and their parents, school principals, (vice-)directors of the Provincial Office of Education, andstaff at the policy level), and 198 schoolteachers and 862 paired students and parents through a self-reported
survey. These data were collected from 12 upper secondary schools in Phnom Penh and four different provinces
through online applications due to the school closure following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key findings and discussion
The first research question aimed to gain insights into why schoolteachers at upper secondary schools continue
offering PT to their Grade-12 students. Overall, shortage of instructional time to complete the school syllabus,
low salaries, teacher specialization, and parents’ and school principals’ requests, were the primary reasons
influencing Cambodian schoolteachers to continue engaging in PT with their students. The study unexpectedly
found that anti-cheating examinations ironically impacted schoolteachers to continue PT in response toincreased demand because students and parents feared failure in their baccalaureate examinations.
The second question intended to investigate why Cambodian Grade-12 students and their parents continue
investing in PT. The study yielded some key findings, such as schoolteachers’ uncaring pedagogies andoppression in school and feeling of fear caused by the anti-cheating examination. Additionally, peer influenceand inability to provide academic support at home were reasons parents continued investing in PT for theirchildren. This current study also observed the association of students’ learning tracks (science and socialscience) with their PT engagement rather than only observing the rates of students taking PT of each academic
subject as the previous studies did. This insight could contribute toward the understanding of the policy
development as well as MoEYS on the challenges in promoting science track at upper secondary school. As aresult, the study unveiled that students’ learning track significantly impacted their decision to engage in PT.
Both data analyses consistently revealed that students in science were more likely to undertake PT than theirpeers in social science because their mathematics and science tests were more challenging. However, somestudents in social science who switched their track at university also invested in PT of subjects not for theirbaccalaureate examination but for their university entrances.
Although the anti-cheating examination policy provides Cambodian Grade-12 students with an equitable
opportunity, it was ironically found to expand PT engagement and burden some students and parents,
particularly students who followed science track in this study. Students and parents feared failure at theirbaccalaureate examination since they did not trust in only learning in school. PT remained in demand due to theinsufficient instructional time to complete all contents of the MoEYS syllabus. Additionally, PT was the only
available additional education choice. Contradictorily, from leadership positions’ viewpoint, they criticizedschoolteachers’ lateness and absenteeism in their daily teaching as a cause of lack of instructional time. In thisaspect, they viewed the shortage of instructional time as a malpractice/trick of schoolteachers to blackmail theirstudents for PT, as discussed in the literature. This could imply that lack of school accountability and monitoring
system and poor school leadership of school principals were why schoolteachers could engage in PT, as studies
found in different developing countries.
Students’ learning track was also found to impact their continuation with PT. Students in science track faced
more financial burdens and challenges gaining passing grades. On the contrary, students in social science wereless likely to do these because they did not need to undertake PT for their core examination subjects. They could
learn most of those subjects through memorization skills while their peers required more practice (i.e.,mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology). About 90% of social science also took mathematics and Khmer
composition, compulsory subjects for both learning tracks. Nevertheless, they received less burden in terms offinances and tests. These fewer burdens might affect the declined rates of students enrolled in science at upper
secondary school. For example, the rates of Cambodian upper secondary school students enrolled in science
track dropped from about 96% in 2014 to over 36% in 2021, according to Cambodia’s Department of General
Education. The decline in science track showed the great concern for MoEYS when attempting to promotescience and mathematics. Nonetheless, some students may return to the science track when enrolling inuniversity, as shown in this study. However, local studies pointed out only a small percentage; for example,
about 10% of students in social science at upper secondary schools enrolled in science-related fields atuniversity.
Conclusion
PT for Grade-12 students, in particular, remained in great demand among schoolteachers and students and theirparents in Cambodia due to factors such as fear of failure in the anti-cheating examination and students’ learning
track. PT played a role in the continuation of the school syllabus and the supplementation of what was excludedin the school, especially practical skills. Ironically, implementing an anti-cheating examination, one of the 2014
educational reform agenda, contributed toward the PT growth in Cambodia, although it could give the nation theequitable opportunity in the Grade-12 baccalaureate examination. This expansion was associated with thelimited trust in the teaching and learning quality during public school through the common excuses ofinsufficient instructional time. This was considered a “teacher trick” from the leadership position’s viewpoint.
This growth in PT demand imposed financial burdens upon students’ families, especially science track.
Although the PT fee remained affordable for many Cambodian households, its expansion developed aninequitable opportunity for particular disadvantaged groups. This expansion would push them into debt and shiftsome students from a science track to social science to gain social mobility through their baccalaureate
examination.

備考

論文の要旨はＡ４判用紙を使用し，4,000字以内とする。ただし，英文の場合は1,500語以内とする。
Remark: The summary of the dissertation should be written on A4-size pages and should not exceed 4,000
Japanese characters. When written in English, it should not exceed 1,500 words.