school management
FAMILIES WITH STUDENTS AT STATE
SCHOOLS RECOMMEND BASED ON
TEACHING AND LEARNING
The right choice
What drives parents to send their
child to a particular school?
By Robert Dew
W
hile schools are competing for
student enrolments and the
debate between public and
private schools continues to provoke fierce
passions, we are asking families what they
actually want from schools.
Applying our background in customer
experience and innovation, we turned
our attention to the education sector in
an effort to create schools that are truly
remarkable, that families are drawn to enrol
their children into, and that ensure students
are ready for their future.
To create schools that are truly
remarkable and engaging for our children,
we need to understand what drives a family
to send their child to a particular school.
This research is part of a wider body of work
helping schools to change.
After interviewing and surveying over
400 families with primary and secondary
school-aged children about their views
on the schools their children attend, we
published some of our findings.
Seventy-five per cent of the families were
from fee-paying private schools across
Australia, the remaining 25 per cent were
from state public schools.
We asked respondents how likely they
were to recommend their school to other
families, and how they rated their school on
14 different dimensions. The ratings covered
different areas. Quality ratings included
teaching and learning, student care and
reputation. Management ratings included
values, leadership and communication.
Coverage ratings included the range
of subjects, sporting programs and
extracurricular cultural activities on offer.
Infrastructure ratings assessed classroom
facilities, equipment, grounds and the
convenience of the school’s location.
We analysed the data using a statistical
tool called stepwise linear regression (SLR)
to find out what was most important to
parents generally. SLR works by identifying
patterns relating different variables. In
this case it was used to link ratings with
likelihood to recommend. In the end, SLR
meant we could narrow down to just the
few ratings that really mattered to families.
The results were compelling.
FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN AT PRIVATE
SCHOOLS RECOMMEND BASED ON
STUDENT CARE
For families attending private school,
by far the most important driver of their
likelihood to recommend their school was
how they perceived the care the school
offered their children.
About half as important was the school’s
teaching and learning rating and the
convenience of its location. Values was
the only other thing to really matter.
Surprisingly, fees and reputation were not
significant factors for families in making
the final decision where to send their child.
In combination, the SLR model showed
ratings from the first four variables (care,
teaching and learning, location, values)
explained about almost 75 per cent of the
likelihood to recommend. Statistically, the
chance of this being a random trick of the
data was less than one in 10,000.
The model for state schools was even
more compelling.
Three of the four dimensions most
important to families with children at state
schools were the same as private school
families: care, teaching and learning, and
values. However for state school families,
teaching and learning was about twice as
important as care.
School reputation was also significant to
likelihood to recommend: more important
than values and less important than the
other two dimensions.
In combination, the SLR model showed
ratings from these four variables (teaching
and learning, care, reputation and values)
explained about around 85 per cent of
the likelihood to recommend. Statistically,
the chance of this being a random trick
of the data was again vanishingly small,
suggesting the research was describing
consistent group preferences.
FAMILIES VALUE DIVERSITY
AND INCLUSIVENESS
In order to discover more about what
might attract families to choose a school,
the survey asked what their ideal school
would be like. These questions presented
trade-offs between different options in
eight areas, including different curriculum
focus areas, extracurricular activities,
values, discipline, diversity and status.
The research shows families seem less
focused on an established network and
social status for their children, instead they
prefer their children value diversity and
inclusiveness.
THE SURVEY
We adapt our research to focus on the
local families and community for each
school we work with, so our information
is always improving. The research can give
valuable insights to local communities, in
particular to schools wishing to stand out
from the rest in attracting new families.
The Australia wide survey is open
and you are able to contribute at
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/
australiaeducationsurvey2018.
Findings from the survey will be
published by Coriolis Innovation on a
regular basis and you can reach out for
more detailed information. ■
Dr Robert Dew is the principal of
Coriolis Innovation.
educationreview.com.au | 27