Do government-led online after-school tutoring program help improve students’ non-cognitive abilities? – A comparative analysis with extracurricular commercial tutoring

In order to meet students’ increasingly personalized learning needs, the Chinese government has begun to try to carry out online after-school tutoring program. This study used the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to analyze whether government-led online after-school tutoring program help students to improve their non-cognitive abilities, and further analyzed the factors influencing students’ choice of different forms of tutoring and the difference in the effect of students’ participation in different forms of tutoring. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 1833 7th-8th grade students in China. The results showed that disadvantaged students are more likely to participate in government-led online after-school tutoring program, and such program can effectively promote students’ non-cognitive abilities, while extracurricular commercial tutoring has a negative impact on students’ learning emotion. These findings can provide new ideas and suggestions on promoting the high-quality and balanced development of education.