For many Saudi families, after-school tutoring is becoming part of the weekly school routine. But does every child need extra lessons, or can supplementary education be used to build confidence, develop skills and get ahead?
As Saudi students settle into another academic year, classrooms, homework and early mornings are once again shaping family routines. For some students, however, the school day continues long after the final bell.
Private tutors, online instructors and other forms of supplementary education can become part of that routine. Some students need help understanding difficult topics. Others want more individual attention, stronger subject knowledge or an early introduction to material they will encounter at school.
Researchers describe this as “shadow education”. Mark Bray and Anas Hajar, authors of “Shadow Education in the Middle East”, define it as fee-paying academic education that supplements formal schooling. It can take place one-to-one, in groups, in larger classes or online.
Importantly, after-school tutoring does not always mean catching up.
Sometimes, it is about getting ahead.
Why Saudi Students Turn To After-School Tutoring
Supplementary education can follow what students are learning at school. However, it can also introduce topics before they are covered in the classroom.
Bray and Hajar’s research highlights this distinction. Some students use tutoring to reinforce material they have already studied. Others work with tutors before the same topics appear in school.
Saudi Arabia is no exception.
Data from the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, found that 50.2 per cent of Saudi Grade 8 students reported receiving extra help in mathematics. Meanwhile, 47 per cent said they received additional help in science.
The reasons behind that support are particularly interesting.
Among Saudi Grade 8 students receiving additional mathematics tutoring, 72.7 per cent said they were doing so to excel rather than keep up. In science, 72.1 per cent reported wanting to get ahead, compared with 27.7 per cent who were trying to catch up with the curriculum.
The TIMSS figures cover both paid and free supplementary tutoring. Therefore, they should not be treated as a direct measure of Saudi Arabia’s private tutoring market.
They do, however, challenge the idea that tutoring is only for students who are struggling.
For many families, after-school tutoring is a deliberate choice. It can provide additional practice, strengthen confidence, develop specific skills or help a student prepare for future academic demands.
A Student’s View, Individual Support Can Build Confidence
For Rawan Fallatah, 16, an 11th-grade student at Jeddah Gifted School, tutoring provides an additional layer of academic support rather than replacing her own study.
She takes private lessons in mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics. Depending on her workload and upcoming examinations, she may also have French sessions. Her parents initially encouraged her to consider private tutoring, but she also recognised that she could benefit from more individualised academic support.
Individual attention is one of the main reasons she values tutoring. Working with a private tutor allows her to learn at her own pace and ask questions that she may not have enough time to raise during a regular class.
Her tutor also sometimes introduces topics before they are covered at school. As a result, Rawan can develop a stronger foundation in advance and feel more confident participating when those subjects are introduced in class.
This reflects the head-start effect identified in research into shadow education. Rather than simply helping students catch up with classroom learning, tutoring can sometimes introduce material ahead of the school curriculum.
For Rawan, the additional support also provides reassurance when academic pressure increases. Having someone available to help her work through difficult topics gives her greater confidence and makes demanding subjects feel more manageable.
For students managing several challenging subjects, that sense of confidence can be just as valuable as the additional academic practice itself.
Parents May See Tutoring As More Than Academic Support
Fallatah’s mother, Taghrid Al-Hajj, is an Arabic and Islamic studies teacher. She challenges the assumption that having a tutor automatically means a child is struggling.
For her, learning from someone older and more experienced can also provide a broader educational experience. She said,
“He is older than you and has more experience than you. He gives you information that you might take much longer to reach in one session, so you save yourself a lot of effort.”
However, she does not believe tutoring should remove the student’s responsibility for learning.
The tutor, in her view, is a “guide”. The student must still make the effort to understand, practise and apply what they have learnt.
Her own children have also used supplementary education outside traditional school subjects.
They attended private mental arithmetic classes and went on to win national and international awards.
For Al-Hajj, this illustrates how additional learning can be used constructively. After-school education does not necessarily have to focus on schoolwork alone.
It can also provide opportunities to develop interests, learn new skills and use free time productively.
What Teachers See In The Classroom
Mohamad Rashad, an English language trainer and private tutor, works with students ranging from young children to university age.
His students seek additional support for different reasons. Some need help with schoolwork, while others want to strengthen their English more broadly, including speaking, reading, writing, listening and examination preparation.
For Rashad, the biggest difference between teaching in a classroom and tutoring privately is the level of personalisation. In a regular classroom, teachers must work towards curriculum targets while supporting students with different abilities, backgrounds and learning needs.
Private tutoring gives him more flexibility to adapt materials to each student’s specific needs. This flexibility is one of the reasons families may choose after-school tutoring.
However, Rashad believes there needs to be a balance. He is concerned that students could become dependent on personalised support if they receive too much individual assistance outside school.
As a classroom teacher, he therefore tries to ensure that students complete as much of their learning as possible during the school day. He also believes students need time for their social lives, interaction with their families and activities outside academics.
This raises an important question for parents. More learning is not necessarily better learning.
Children also need time to rest, play, socialise and spend time with their families.
How Much After-School Learning Is Too Much?
Al-Hajj takes a different view.
Students already have opportunities for social interaction during the school day, she said. School itself is also not entirely academic.
Therefore, she sees some after-school time as suitable for additional learning, particularly when it supports a child’s interests or needs.
The key issue may be balance rather than the simple choice between tutoring and no tutoring.
For one child, an hour of weekly mathematics support could make a difficult subject feel manageable.
For another, additional lessons every evening could create unnecessary pressure.
Parents therefore need to consider why their child needs extra support, how much time they already spend studying and whether the additional learning is producing a positive result.
Access And The Risk Of Widening Education Gaps
The wider research also raises an important concern about access.
Bray and Hajar’s research highlights how wealthier families can purchase more tutoring, and potentially higher-quality tutoring, than lower-income families. This can contribute to differences in educational outcomes rather than simply reducing them.
That makes the conversation around supplementary education bigger than individual family choices.
If additional tutoring becomes increasingly important for academic success, students who cannot access it may face another disadvantage.
However, private tutoring is not the only form of supplementary education available.
Al-Hajj points to online lessons, educational apps, AI tools and social media as other ways students can access learning outside school.
These options can vary considerably in quality, so parents still need to consider whether the resource is suitable, reliable and appropriate for their child’s age and learning needs.
For schools and educators, the issue also raises questions about how additional learning interacts with the classroom.
If students increasingly rely on external support, schools may need to understand why families are seeking it and whether there are opportunities to provide greater support within the school day.
Does Every Student Need A Tutor?
Not necessarily.
After-school tutoring can be valuable when it responds to a genuine need. It can help a student understand a difficult concept, build confidence, practise a skill or prepare for a demanding examination.
However, it should not automatically become another item on a family’s back-to-school checklist.
Fallatah sees tutoring as a personal choice rather than a requirement for every student. She said,
“I don’t think every student needs a tutor. It depends on the individual and what kind of support they need.”
That may be the most useful starting point for parents.
Before arranging another weekly commitment, families can ask what their child actually needs.
Is there a specific subject causing difficulty? Would more individual attention help? Is the child asking for additional support? Or is tutoring being added simply because other students are doing it?
For some children, after-school tutoring may provide the confidence and support they need to thrive.
For others, the best use of the hours after school may be rest, family time, sport, reading, hobbies or simply having time to be a child.
Ultimately, supplementary education works best when it supports a student’s wider learning experience rather than becoming a second school day.
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Further Reading
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