parents' Survey: Independent Schools are Safe learning places

the association of independent schools of Victoria research Brief, 20 March 2008

Nearly 90 per cent of more than eight thousand parents of students at independent schools believe their children’s schools are safe places in which to learn, according to a survey by the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV) and the University of Melbourne.

The survey showed that three-quarters of parents with children at independent schools are satisfied with the education being offered and indicate that they would recommend the school to other parents.

The 2007 Parent Satisfaction Survey of independent schools produced results that can be directly compared with 2007 research conducted by the then federal Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), which surveyed parents across Australia who had children in government, Catholic and independent schools.

The DEST survey showed that parents considered that a secure environment was one of the most important factors in schooling.

The aim of the AISV survey was to investigate what parents thought about the quality of their child’s educational experience and to identify, for schools, areas for improvement.

Parents of children at 38 independent schools across Victoria were asked 55 questions which covered eight topic areas: the curriculum-academic programme, quality of teaching, learning outcomes, pastoral care, discipline and safety, parent involvement, resources and year transition. Schools were able to add extra questions relating to topics such as boarding houses, religious and spiritual aspects of schooling, early learning and before and after school care.

The DEST survey showed that 57.4 per cent of parents in all sectors nationally believed there were aspects of their child’s education that required considerable improvement, with 63 per cent agreeing that they would like to see improvements in the area of quality/content of curriculum.

By comparison, AISV’s survey showed that parents at participating independent schools recorded an average satisfaction level of 75.4 per cent with the curriculum-academic programme.

Other areas where independent schools in Victoria scored more favourably than all sectors nationally included quality of teaching and resources. Independent school parents also displayed high levels of satisfaction with their children’s schools, with satisfaction levels highest for the early years of schooling and the final two years of schooling.

The AISV Parent Satisfaction Survey will be conducted annually to allow independent schools in Victoria to understand better parent concerns and to design strategies to address these concerns. The schools will be able to compare their results with previous years and compare their results against the mean for other independent schools.

A copy of the Results from the 2007 Parent Satisfaction Survey research brief can be downloaded here (PDF).

 

 

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