PARENTS’ PREFERRED ATTRIBUTES

Abstract

The business model of education – which treats parents as customers – has been adopted in order to perform a detailed study of parents’ preferences within the context of School Effectiveness Research. In t h i s study, the attribu tes perceived as important measures of quality in secondary schools, have been explored and identifi e d . The two-phased study applied input from an initial exploratory questionnaire with a variety of stakeholders to a mainly quantitative phase two questionnaire. The identified categories of at t ributes were rated and weighted by conjoint analysis by parents o f s el ec ted high schools. The findings ident i f ied th a t parents perceive tangi b l e a t t r i b u tes as more important than intangible ones. For instance, comprehensive facilities and information resources, as well as strict academic goals, were rated as more important than the quality o f t h e t e a c h e r s . Recommendations have been proposed, linking parents’ perceived attributes of school effectiveness to schools’ r o l e s i n maximising custome r sat i s f a c t i o n