Abstract
<jats:p>The article examines the phenomenon of tutoring in modern Russian education as a significant socio-pedagogical practice influencing the quality and outcomes of learning. The concept of tutoring is characterized as a pedagogical phenomenon with a multidimensional structure that performs compensatory, developmental, and motivational functions. The main types of tutoring services, the specific features of their didactic impact, and the role of the tutor as an independent professional actor within the educational services market are outlined. The contradictions associated with the spread of private tutoring practices are identified, including unequal access for students, the absence of unified quality assessment criteria, and the risk of substituting essential school functions, thereby compensating for systemic contradictions of public education. The positions of researchers regarding the influence of tutoring on the functioning of the educational system are clarified, and the prospects for its development as a social and pedagogical institution are presented. Based on the findings, conclusions are drawn about the need to develop a balanced model of soft regulation of tutoring and to use its potential to improve education quality and expand its variability.</jats:p>