Why Parents Choose Private Schools in Uganda

Why Parents Choose Private Schools in Uganda

Introduction

Assumptions have often been made about what parents are looking for in the school they select for their children but there has been little evidence to support these assumptions. Uganda National Association of Private Schools and Institutions (UNAPSI) looked into the reasons behind the drift away from public schools in Uganda and asked what parents really think of our schools. To remain competitive in today’s complex school marketplace, it is essential for private schools to identify their core audiences, understand why their audiences chose their school, and become knowledgeable about what their audiences value about their school. We have partnered with some schools across the country, seeking answers to these very questions.

The Program was designed to address three major questions:

1. What are the family background factors that influence selection of a private or public school?

2. What are the economic factors that influence selection of a private or public school?

3. What are the perceptions of schools that parents have that may shape their selection of private or public schools?

A Critical Observation

While private schools and institutions may be different genres of education, these two groups of educational institutions share many similarities, from pricing and financial aid models to curriculum development. We believe that strong research can strengthen an organization in making sound strategic decisions and that it needs to be an essential core function of a private school.

What is important to Families when Choosing a Private School

Families consider many factors when selecting a school for their child/children. Parents where asked which factors were most important in selecting a school and the following attributes were considered by parents:

• Academic Reputation
• Access to Faculty
• Athletic programs
• Attractiveness of campus
• Cleanliness of the School Facilities
• Distance from my home
• Opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities
• Overall cost to your Family
• Personal attention given to students
• Quality of academic facilities (Library, labs, classrooms)
• Quality of extracurricular facilities on campus
• Safety of the school environment
• Small class size
• The area / setting surrounding the school campus
• Utilization of technology
• Value for the cost

Relationship of the Attributes

Before we examine which attributes are the most important, we looked at the correlations of these questions. Questions correlated with each other indicate parents answered them similarly and, as a result, several common themes emerged.

·         Cost – Value for the cost, overall cost to your family

·         Extracurricular Activities – Quality of extracurricular facilities on campus, athletic programs, opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities

·         Physical Environment – Attractiveness of campus, quality of academic facilities (library, labs, classrooms), the area/setting surrounding the school campus, cleanliness of the school facilities, safety of the school environment, utilization of technology

·         Attention, Focus on Student – Personal attention given to students, small class size, access to faculty

Parents indicated personal attention given to students was the most important school attribute when choosing a school. Note that small class size and access to faculty questions that were highly correlated are also very important. Parents highly value that their child will be attended to and cared for and loved in ways that are basically an extension of the family unit. Parents often write in responses to this question and responses such as “nurturing” and “friendly” are common. A good bet for any marketing message is to find ways to communicate to parents that they will attend to and care for the child / student.

Academic reputation is the second most important attribute to parents. Parents who pay for the private school experience have certain expectations of the school. This attribute is likely measured by parents in terms of college placement or preparatory placement at the next level.

Safety of the school environment is an attribute that is also very important to parents. Parents want their child to be safe and if faced with alternative situations that they thought were less safe, this attribute resulted in being very important to parents.

Value for the cost and quality of academic facilities are the rest of the attributes that were very important to parents. The other nine attributes were moderately important.

Which Information Sources Are Most Influential When Choosing a Private School

Parents are influenced by a variety of information sources, from word of mouth to the website. It is important to know what sources are most effective in influencing the school choice decision. We asked parents to indicate the importance of the following information sources in making a decision to enroll their child a given private school.

·         Campus tour

·         Contact with alumni of the school

·         Contact with parents whose children attend the school

·         Contact with students who attend the school

·         On-campus meetings with school staff

·         Open house

·         Print advertising

·         Referral from a previous teacher/educator

·         Referral from a professional colleague

·         Referral from a realtor

·         Referral from civic organization

·         School-developed print publications

·         School Web site

·         Written follow-up communication from school

Relationship of the Information Sources

We looked at the correlations of these information sources to gain insight into how parents rated them. The following were key findings;

• School Communications – Campus tours, school developed print publications, school web site, written follow up communication from the school, open house, on campus meeting with school staff
• Attendees & Former School Attendees – Contact with parents whose children attend the school, contact with students who attend the school, contact with alumni
• Referrals – Referral from a realtor, referral from a professional colleague, referral from civic organization, referral from a previous teacher/ educator.

Retention Intentions

Retention is an important issue facing any private school. We all know that it is more cost effective to keep current students attending the school than to replace a student who leaves the school. We asked parents to share with us whether it was their intent – at the initial point of enrollment – to keep their child enrolled at the private school of choice through the final grade the school offers. Our results indicate that most parents intend for their child to remain at the school through the final grade the school offers. Nearly 80% of parents considered more than one school, about one-fifth of parents only considered one school. Again, the market place is competitive. Understanding how to differentiate your school from the competition is crucial.

Repeat or Returning Customer

It is important to understand if your school is marketing to an audience who is already familiar with private schools and already leaning toward that choice for his or her child or if your audience is new to the private school market. Parents with different backgrounds may be influenced by different messages.

Uganda National Association of Private Schools and Institutions

P.O.Box 29324 Kampala, Uganda, Email: unaph22@yahoo.com , www.unapsi.org

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