Parental preferences and choice of school

Abstract

This paper provides a UK high resolution microeconometric study of parental preferences and the choice process for secondary schools. Given the particular geographical features of the region, first preference almost entirely related to one of two state schools, which is a situation that perhaps better reflects the real nature of the options faced by most parents in the UK. In contrast to earlier work, distance and access considerations were explicitly incorporated in the preference and choice models estimated and found to be a significant influence on parental decisions. Further significant factors were found, dependent upon the parents' actual choice of school.

Effect of the School Facilities Factor and Sport Activities Factor on Parents in terms of Private and Public School Choice at Riyadh City Saudi Arabia

“…For instance, Parent 2.3 stated that: These results of this study correspond with prior studies, such as, Reference [7] who found that parents certainly gave a great deal of consideration to the provision of physical education and sport in their choice of private school in the KSA, in the expectation of increasing their children's academic achievement, along with the practice of sports activities, which are considered to be very helpful in developing positive qualities in children and protecting them from ill-health. The above notwithstanding, the result of this present study disagrees with some previous studies, especially that of Collins and Snell [23] This present study's results indicate the importance of sporting activities in the school in terms of health, as children need to practice sport in order to ensure that they reduce the incidence of diseases like obesity and high blood pressure. In addition, the practice of sporting activities in school was perceived as being very helpful and supportive of children in terms of their physical and psychological health.…”

“…In the results of this study, the most frequently cited reason parents offered was that physical education would increase their children's academic achievement. These findings reinforce previous studies conducted in the US by [42 ,40,56] Despite the strong relationship between physical activity and cognitive performance suggested in the present study and by some previous researchers, however, some prior studies disagree, including Collins and Snell's [23] Thus, they concluded that there was no significant enhancement of academic attainment from involvement in physical education.…”

“…Collins and Snell [23], meanwhile, found from their study in Hampshire, England, that the most important reason for selecting a school was its reputation. "Parents did not consider child mix, sports facilities, access or building quality to be determinants of a school's reputation.…”

Predicting parental intentions behind public school selection using the theory of planned behaviour

“…Of greater interest to this research is the role of perceived behavioural control parents have in choosing a school. In particular, these control beliefs can be seen as perceived difficulties preventing parents from choosing a particular school such as level of school fees (Jackson and Bisset 2005), proximity of school from home (Collins and Snell 2000;Denessen et al 2005) school availability (Bagley 1996), child care availability (Goldring and Hausman 1999) and special needs required (West et al 1995).…”

An Investigation Into Reasons Influencing Kingdom of Saudi Arabian Parents’ Choice of Selecting School Related to Quality of Instruction, Class Size, and Student-Teacher Relationships

“…While Collins and Snell (2000) indicated that 64% of parents in the United Kingdom choose a school on the basis of the school's good examination results, making this the most important factor in school choice.…”