Private English tutors’ agency amid China’s ‘double reduction’ policy: a Bourdieusian perspective

Since the Chinese government introduced the ‘Double Reduction’ policy on private tutoring in July 2021, causing significant disruptions in the sector, research on its impact and societal repercussions, particularly for different stakeholder groups, has been limited. This study seeks to contribute to the academic discourse on the policy implications of shadow education by analyzing the agency of stakeholders in this context. Utilizing interview data with 20 private English tutors, collected as part of an ethnographic study, it offers an in-depth analysis of their agentic responses through a Bourdieusian perspective. The findings reveal three dominant forms of agency that private English tutors employ to navigate their professional courses: pragmatic, entrepreneurial, and developmental agency. These practices emerge from a sophisticated interplay between the field’s doxa, the tutors’ habitus, and their symbolic capital. The collective agency of private tutors also reveals an ongoing battle between China’s equity-pursued socialism and profit-driven neoliberalism in the field of education. The study enriches scholarly discussion on shadow education policies, and by applying Bourdieu’s theory to a new context with empirical data, it attests to the theory’s robustness and broadens its scope of applicability. Implications and suggestions for policymakers and researchers are discussed.