Study of Factors Affecting Parental Choice of Private and Public Schools

In recent years a preference for secondary private school education over secondary public school education has increased rapidly among parents in Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This book explored why, in the perceptions of 386 participants, private schools were preferred by some parents to public schools, or vice-versa.The study was conducted through questionnaire survey and Focus Group methodologies in order to identify the factors that influenced parents to be attracted to their preferred school, as well as seeking to understand why and how these factors contributed to their decision-making. For example, some parents identified weaknesses in private schools that they felt had an impact upon their child’s academic performance. In some situations they, therefore, withdrew their children and sent them to public school. On the other hand, other parents expressed their dissatisfaction with elements of public school, resulting in themsending their children to private school.