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An investigation of parents' school choice attitudes and perceived value of primary schools in Singapore
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Type
Thesis
Author
Ng, Wai Hin
Supervisor
Goh, Jonathan
Abstract
School choice is a global phenomenon. In most contexts, school choice arose from dissatisfaction with the public school system and parents’ demands for better schools. Singapore is different as the mainstream educational system comprises mainly public schools, which are known to produce good educational outcomes in international examinations. An investigation of how parents choose in the context of a well-run public school system will help in the theorising of school choice.
In this study, parents’ school choice attitudes (namely towards quality of academic instruction, convenience, extra-curricular activities, facilities, future orientation, nurturance, school culture, and selective considerations) and perceived value (functional, emotional, social, and epistemic value), were investigated.
A survey was conducted among 478 parents whose children were in Kindergarten 2 and going onto Primary 1 the following year. Two rating scales were designed to assess their attitudes towards primary school choice and perceived value in the survey. This was complemented by four focus group discussions. Each focus group discussion comprised four to six participants, and the discussion lasted about one hour. The raw score responses on the survey items were converted to linear measures by using Rasch analysis. Data were also cleaned by way of examining the fit statistics from the Rasch analysis. Comparisons of parents’ school choice attitudes were done using parametric tests such as the t-test and ANOVA tests. The relationships between components of school choice attitudes and perceived value were investigated using Pearson product-moment correlation tests.
The results show that parents favour schools that provide a holistic education for their children, together with structures that support this development. From parents’ positive attitudes towards quality of academic instruction, nurturance, and extra-curricular activities, they want their children to be developed in the cognitive, social, affective, and psychomotor domains. They acknowledge that holistic education must be complemented by components such as facilities, school culture, and convenience. Parents also hold positive attitudes towards future orientation as they want this holistic development to prepare their children for the future. Parents derive mainly functional and epistemic value from school choice, as shown by the significant and relatively stronger correlation coefficients between school choice components and the components of perceived value. They are less likely to choose schools for its social value, as only school culture, selective considerations, and future orientation were correlated with social value.
The study found significant differences in school choice attitudes based on characteristics, such as parents’ social class, gender of the children, and the schools that they plan to send their children to. Middle class parents have significantly more positive attitudes towards nurturance and quality of academic instruction compared to working class parents. Parents of boys are more likely to value convenience compared to parents of girls. When compared to parents who plan to send their children to government schools, those who plan to send their children to faith-based schools have more positive attitudes towards nurturance and future orientation.
In this study, parents’ school choice attitudes (namely towards quality of academic instruction, convenience, extra-curricular activities, facilities, future orientation, nurturance, school culture, and selective considerations) and perceived value (functional, emotional, social, and epistemic value), were investigated.
A survey was conducted among 478 parents whose children were in Kindergarten 2 and going onto Primary 1 the following year. Two rating scales were designed to assess their attitudes towards primary school choice and perceived value in the survey. This was complemented by four focus group discussions. Each focus group discussion comprised four to six participants, and the discussion lasted about one hour. The raw score responses on the survey items were converted to linear measures by using Rasch analysis. Data were also cleaned by way of examining the fit statistics from the Rasch analysis. Comparisons of parents’ school choice attitudes were done using parametric tests such as the t-test and ANOVA tests. The relationships between components of school choice attitudes and perceived value were investigated using Pearson product-moment correlation tests.
The results show that parents favour schools that provide a holistic education for their children, together with structures that support this development. From parents’ positive attitudes towards quality of academic instruction, nurturance, and extra-curricular activities, they want their children to be developed in the cognitive, social, affective, and psychomotor domains. They acknowledge that holistic education must be complemented by components such as facilities, school culture, and convenience. Parents also hold positive attitudes towards future orientation as they want this holistic development to prepare their children for the future. Parents derive mainly functional and epistemic value from school choice, as shown by the significant and relatively stronger correlation coefficients between school choice components and the components of perceived value. They are less likely to choose schools for its social value, as only school culture, selective considerations, and future orientation were correlated with social value.
The study found significant differences in school choice attitudes based on characteristics, such as parents’ social class, gender of the children, and the schools that they plan to send their children to. Middle class parents have significantly more positive attitudes towards nurturance and quality of academic instruction compared to working class parents. Parents of boys are more likely to value convenience compared to parents of girls. When compared to parents who plan to send their children to government schools, those who plan to send their children to faith-based schools have more positive attitudes towards nurturance and future orientation.
Date Issued
2019
Call Number
LB1027.9 Ng