The impact of different types of off-campus training on primary and junior high students’ higher-order thinking dispositions

This study conducted an empirical investigation using a questionnaire survey to examine the impact of basic education off-campus training on higher-order thinking dispositions. The sample consisted of 101,673 third-grade students and 117,010 eighth-grade students. The analysis employed two statistical techniques, namely Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Propensity Score Matching (PSM). Findings indicate that, first, attending academic tutoring can dampen the development of the higher-order thinking dispositions. The higher-order thinking dispositions of primary students who attend academic tutoring is 0.027 lower than that of primary students who do not attend it, and the size of this disparity continued to increase during junior high school to -0.083. Second, attending tutoring for non-academic subjects can heighten the development of the higher-order thinking dispositions. The higher-order thinking dispositions of primary students who attend non-academic training is 0.015 higher than that of primary students who do not attend it, and the size of this disparity continued to increase during junior high school to 0.073. Third, higher socioeconomic status, with greater parental involvement and higher educational aspirations, the students are more inclined to engage in non-academic training, and positively predicted the higher-order thinking dispositions. This article discusses these findings and provides recommendations for educational leaders and policymakers: establishing multivariate evaluation system; advertising home educational perceptions; creating of free course resources platforms, establishing distance education system; developing differentiated and personalized curriculum. This study investigated whether primary and junior high students attend academic tutoring and non-academic tutoring matters for their higher-order thinking dispositions. We found that attending academic tutoring can dampen the development of the higher-order thinking dispositions, on the contrary, attending non-academic tutoring can benefit it. Hence, sometimes less is more.