The increase in the number of selective high schools by the NSW Liberal government under the initiative of the then Minister of Education and Youth Affairs in 1988 attracted widespread community and professional attention. Over 9,000 families applied for admission to Year 7 in the 17 selective high schools in the first year of operation of the new selective high schools. Why parents and students applied for admission is the subject of this study. Data were collected from students and their parents in eight of the selective high schools as to their reasons for accepting an enrolment offer. Factor analyses revealed that there were two main factors that accounted for the reasons advanced by students and parents. These factors were labelled as Academic and Choice~Reputation and the analyses of these scales by gender and type of schools suggested that there were significant differences between the reasons advanced by students and their parents.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.