Publication: An investigation of factors affecting Korean parents’ and students’ school choice perceptions
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Date
2014
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Abstract
This research studied Korean parents’ and students’ perception on factors affecting high school choices. A total of 267 students and 253 parents from Hangaram Autonomy Private High School (an independent school) and the students and parents of Bae Myung Private High School (a government subsidized school) participated in a survey which measured the eight dimensions of school choice consisting of Quality of Academic Instruction, Convenience, Extra Curricular Activity (ECA), Facilities, Nurturance, School culture, Selective Considerations and Future Orientation. Rasch Analysis was first used to linearized the measures and comparisons were made using independent t-tests and One-way ANOVAs with Post-hoc tests. The findings indicated that for both Korean parents and students, Nurturance was the most significant factor affecting school choice. Korean parents (in particular, mothers) however place greater emphasis on Nurturance than their children. The findings also show that female students place more emphasis on Nurturance in their educational experience than their male counterparts. In addition, Korean parents and students from independent schools place greater emphasis on Nurturance than those from government-subsidized schools. Further examinations of Wright Maps indicated that Korean parents view Nurturance in terms of ‘friendly environment’, ‘teachers’ care towards students’ and ‘good relationship between teachers and students’, while Korean students view Nurturance in terms of ‘good relationship between teachers and students’, ‘teachers’ care towards students’ and ‘pleasant and friendly environment’. These indicate that the nurturing role of the teacher and the nurturing environment in the school are important to both Korean parents and students when they make school choices which has led to several implications and suggestions recommended to Korean schools in this study.