Market Professionals in the Private Tutoring Industry: Balancing Profitability with the Humanistic Face of Schooling.

Based on interviews with private-tutoring-business entrepreneurs, this paper provides a qualitative analysis of some organizational and ideological transformations in the teacher profession with the advent of market professionals within the private-education sector. No longer simply a means to generate additional income, the private-tutoring industry today promises full-time business opportunities and careers for well-educated investors from a variety of educational and occupational backgrounds. Initial research suggests that the enormous popularity of these businesses rests on the organizational and environmental fit between their services and increased consumer demands for individualized education. The goals of the paper are twofold. First, the paper examines the effects of market professionalism on the education sector based on a 2-year pilot study of private-tutoring businesses in Ontario, Canada. Second, the paper examines how market professionals reconcile shifting social purposes (social betterment vs. profit) with broader culture ideals. The increased popularity of these businesses signals not only the diffusion of market professional services but also parents' increased reliance upon professionals located outside the public-education sector. (Contains 68 references.) (Author)