PREDICTORS OF SCHOOL CHOICE: THE CASE OF PARENTS IN CAPE COAST, GHANA

Abdul-Jaleel Saani, James Amonoo

Abstract


We identified the pertinent factors affecting parents’ choice of a particular senior high school (SHS) in Ghana, focusing on parents with at least one child in a SHS in Ghana and are residents of Cape Coast. The approach and design used were quantitative and descriptive survey design respectively. A sample of 637 of the parents, made up of 349 women and 288 men, was used. The parents were selected using convenience and snowball sampling techniques. A questionnaire, with a reliability coefficient ranging from 0.735 – 0.829, was the instrument used to collect the data. Out of the 637 parents sampled, we were able to retrieve 588 completed questionnaires, representing 92.3 percent response rate. The data were analysed using cross tabulation and linear multiple regression analysis. The findings revealed that parents preferred public boarding SHS which is single-sex education. Also, parents preferred schools with excellent academic record, quality instruction, and positive school values. Similarly, family/parental related factors such as family moral and religious values, and parents’ income and education levels, and also social related factors such as school popularity and brand, peer influence, and social network predict significantly and positively parents’ choice of a particular SHS. We conclude that school, family and social related factors are able to influence parents’ school choice. It is recommended to heads of SHSs to be attentive to the various institutional factors and create schools that address the needs of the parents in their communities in order to attract and retain students. 

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


family factors; institutional factors; school choice; social factors; parents’ choice

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abdul-Rahaman, N., Abdul-Rahaman, A-B., Ming, W., Ahmed, A-R., & Salma, A-R. S. (2018). The free senior high policy: An appropriate replacement to the progressive free senior high policy. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, 6(2), 26-33. http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.6n.2p.26

Al Ariss, A., Cascio, W. F., & Paauwe, J. (2014). Talent management: Current theories and future research directions. Journal of World Business, 49(2), 173-179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2013.11.001

Amonoo, J. (2014). Factors influencing parents’ choice of a senior high school for their children. Unpublished master’s thesis, Department of Educational Foundations, College of Education Studies, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast.

Anyan, F. Y., Gyebil, F. J., Inkoom, G., & Yeboah, M. A. (2013). Examination of factors that influence the choice of senior high school by junior high school students in Ghana: A case study of Nungua basic schools. Journal of Education and Practice, 4(28), 91-98.

Babah, P. A., Frimpong, A., & Mensah, R. O. (2020). Computerised school selection and placement system in Ghana: Challenges and the way forward. European Journal of Educational Sciences, 7(2), 70-80.

Canals, C., Goles, E., Mascareño, A., Rica, S., & Ruz, G. A. (2018). School choice in a market environment: Individual versus social expectations. Complexity, 18(1), 01-11. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/3793095

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2018). Research methods in education (8th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Dahari, Z., & Ya, M. S. (2011). Factors that influence parents’ choice of secondary education in Malaysia: An exploratory study. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(15), 115-128.

DeAngelis, C. A., & Erickson, H. H. (2018). What leads to successful school choice programmes? A review of the theories and evidence. The Cato Journal, 38(1), 247-263.

DeCamp, W., & Herskovitz, M. S. K. (2015). The theories of accident causation. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286168094

Dixon, P., & Humble, S. (2017). How school choice is framed by parental preferences and family characteristics: A study of Western Area, Sierra Leone. Journal of School Choice, 11(1), 95-110. DOI: 10.1080/15582159.2016.1238432

Erickson, H. H. (2017). How do parents choose schools, and what schools do they choose? A literature review of private school choice programmes in the United States. Journal of School Choice, 11(4), 491-506. DOI: 10.1080/15582159.2017. 1395618

Ghana Statistical Service (GSS, 2014). 2010 population and housing census: District analytical report of Cape Coast Municipality. Accra, Ghana: GSS.

Jabbar, H., Fong, C. J., Germain, E., Li, D., Sanchez, J., Sun, W-L., & Devall, M. (2019). The competitive effects of school choice on student achievement: A systematic review (Electronic version). Educational Policy, 10(1), 01-35. DOI: 10.1177/089590 4 819874756

Lee, J. (2016). Paying for school choice: Availability differences among local education markets. International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, 11(5), 20-36.

Milledzi, E. Y., Saani, A-J., & Brown, P. (2018). Social and philosophical foundations of education: Course model for post-graduate diploma in education. Cape Coast, Ghana: College of Distance Education, University of Cape Coast.

Milledzi, E. Y., & Saani, A-J. (2019). Education and social stratification: Course module for Bachelor of Education (Foundation/Psychology) programme. Unpublished model, College of Distance Education, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.

Ministry of Education (MoE, 2019). Preliminary education sector performance report. Unpublished report, Ministry of Education, Accra, Ghana.

Saani, A-J. (2020). Introduction to research methods in education. Unpublished lecture synopsis, Department of Education and Psychology, Islamic University College, Ghana, Accra.

Woods, P., Bagley, C., & Glatter, R. (2018). School choice and competition: Markets in the public interest (2nd ed.)? New York, NY: Routledge.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v8i8.3880

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2021 Abdul-Jaleel Saani, James Amonoo

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright © 2015-2023. European Journal of Education Studies (ISSN 2501 - 1111) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All authors who send their manuscripts to this journal and whose articles are published on this journal retain full copyright of their articles. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).