Parents' perceptions of a private school: a case study of parents at Leribe District, Hlotse Town.

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate and describe parents’ perceptions of the private community school at Hareeng Enghs/i Medium Community School in Leribe district. The study uses the conceptual framework of parental choice of school. This is done with a view that parents’ choice of schooling is related to the assumption that the private community school has a good learning environment. Because the parents assume that the school is good, the study shifted to explore the question of what makes a good learning environment. In order to obtain an exhaustive examination, data was derived from three sets of questionnaire. Data was obtained using openended questionnaires from a sample of Hareeng English medium Community school parents and teachers, andPhelane public school teachers. The results show that the parents’ choice in this study is not informed by the idea that the school is either public or private. Instead the study found that parents’ choice is influenced by the idea that the school has a good learning environment. When analysis of parents’ understanding of a good learning environment is done, the study discovered that parents’ understanding though educational, is not consistent with the literature on school quality.