The rapid expansion of shadow education has transformed private supplementary tutoring from a largely informal practice into an increasingly marketised and commercially organised sector. While existing research has examined the growth, marketisation, inequality and educational consequences of shadow education, comparatively little conceptual attention has been given to the relationship between the commercialisation of tutoring and the educational aspirations that generate demand for it. This paper addresses that gap by proposing the concept of an “aspiration market” to explain how desirable educational and occupational futures become connected to commercially provided educational products and services. Drawing on the literature on shadow education, educational marketisation, educational aspirations, social comparison and consumer-oriented educational choice, the paper develops a conceptual framework linking the marketisation of shadow education with aspirational marketing, social comparison, perceived competitive need and educational consumption. The framework proposes that educational aspirations generate demand for shadow education, while commercial and digital marketing practices simultaneously amplify and channel these aspirations towards particular educational products and pathways. Social comparison is conceptualised as a mechanism through which competitive educational environments strengthen perceived needs for supplementary education, while socioeconomic resources condition the extent to which aspirations can be translated into educational consumption. The paper contributes theoretically by extending the understanding of shadow education from a market for educational services to a potential market for desirable futures, and offers implications for providers, policymakers and researchers concerning responsible marketing, inequality and the wider social consequences of increasingly commercialised educational aspirations. It concludes by proposing directions for empirical research to test and refine the aspiration-market framework across different educational and cultural contexts.
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