Abstract: The development of the private tutoring market is one of the most urgent problems of education which should become a subject of international theoretical debate. Therefore, the article will take a closer look at different types of private lessons which appear in the Japanese, Polish, and Canadian systems of education. Each of them displays certain distinct characteristics ranging from individual tutorials to group lessons in the form of courses offered by tutorial educational centers. The main aim of the article is to present an overview of studies on the subject and a comparative analysis of the private tutorial phenomenon in the Japanese, Polish, and Canadian educational systems based on its principal categories and the directions of its further development: the scale of the phenomenon of private tutoring in particular countries, organizational aspects of the private lessons market, the reasons for seeking help of a private tutor, and the results of using such services.
Keywords: private tutoring phenomenon, shadow education, private tutor, juku schools, private tutoring center, shadow education center, learning center
