Do primary schools exist only for academic achievement? The school characteristics that affect parents’ private primary school preferences for their children

Abstract

In the research process, it was aimed to determine the factors affecting the private school preferences of primary school parents. The population of the study is the parents of students studying in private schools in the Anatolian side of Istanbul in the 2017-2018 academic year. The research group consisted of 205 volunteer parents whose children were students in different private schools in Üsküdar, Ümraniye and Kadıköy districts of the Asian side of Istanbul. A personal information form and a 41-item questionnaire were applied to the participants. As a data collection tool, “Private School Preference Criteria” questionnaire was formed by taking expert opinion. According to the findings obtained from the analysis of the data collected in the research, the factors affecting the reasons for parents to prefer private schools are listed in order of priority: the characteristics of management and academic staff, physical conditions of the school, economic resources, communication processes, artistic, sportive, social and cultural activities and the last one educational activities. According to the preference of the parents varies according to being a mother or father, three items of the physical conditions; two items in teaching activities and one item in artistic, cultural, sportive, social and cultural activities dimensions were determined. No item differentiated in the other two dimensions.