Unpacking private tutors’ critical incidents for professional development in shadow education: A complexity theory perspective

Critical incidents (CIs) link closely to teacher reflection and development. This study explores CIs experienced by nine private tutors in the shadow education context of Mainland China. Informed by complexity theory, the study unpacks their various categories, occurrence pathways, and impacts on tutors’ professional development (PD). Based on three rounds of narrative interviews exploring each tutor’s career experience, the findings show that : 1) Tutor participants’ CIs were oriented by multiple categories of contextual components, including students, parents, peers, and the ongoing ‘Double Reduction’ policy, displaying both positive and negative inherent attributes; 2) Certain features of complexity theory were highlighted in these incidents to demonstrate their pathways of criticality, including emergence, disequilibrium, and adaptation; and 3) These CIs were perceived by tutors to either facilitate or restrain their PD. Grounded in these findings, a theoretical model is established to comprehensively illustrate the occurrence and impact of CIs in shadow education. This study sheds light on the dynamic and situated nature of private tutors’ CIs, and provides implications on developing PD opportunities and circumnavigating setbacks for tutors on a daily basis. Copyright © 2025 The Author(s).