Marketing Research Project Project On

Factors affecting School selection in Bangalore Interim Report - 2

Table of Contents Table of Contents..........................................................................2 Executive Summary......................................................................4 Research Problem / Objective of Study ........................................5 Methodology.................................................................................6 Literature Review..........................................................................6 Review of Indian Schooling System...............................................9
Indian Schooling...................................................................................................... 9 School differentiators............................................................................................ 11

Focus Group Discussions.............................................................13 We did one focus group discussion comprising 8 people in one of the apartment complexes where the project group participants stay............................................................................................. 13 Survey and Questionnaire Design...............................................15 Current Status and Future Work..................................................16 References..................................................................................17 Appendix-I : Survey Questionnaire..............................................18 Statistical analysis of collected data............................................23
Factors Considered by Parents-During School Selection.......................................23 Source of Information Affecting School Selection................................................25 Exposure to Outside Education Influence on Parental Views Regarding School Selection Factors................................................................................................... 25 Satisfaction of Parents with the Current School vis--vis the factors influencing school decisions.................................................................................................... 26 Other factors influencing school decisions............................................................26

Findings....................................................................................... 26 Suggestions................................................................................. 26

Executive Summary
Good school education is considered the path way to dignified life and having access to good school education provides a right platform for a bright future. Each parent wants to ensure that their son/daughter gets the best possible education and up-brining. In this process, the primary objective of each parent is to get their Son/Daughter admitted to the best school in town. The criterion for selection of school varies with varying degree of preferences and is a complex interplay of many biases and actual facts. Being the IT hub, Bangalore has certain distinct demography, with high percentage of working couples who are highly educated, with high disposable incomes and significant exposure to foreign education. Historically, Bangalore has been a hub of education with many prominent schools catering to the burgeoning middle class, which placed very high weightage to academic performance and good school education. As the times changed and Bangalore grew from garden city to a cosmopolitan IT city, the new age parent still is increasingly in search of that ideal school which is best suited for his kid. As part of our project we have done a descriptive research on various factors affecting parental decision in school selection. Based on secondary data analysis and focus group discussion, various factors affecting the choice of schools have been identified .A questionnaire based on these factors has been administered to a group of 80 parents and the findings have been summarized. Attempt has been made to identify the most significant factors and any special correlation between various factors has been captured based on the analysis. This research outcome also provides pointers to some key hypothesis which may be formulated and validated as part of future work.

Research Problem / Objective of Study

It is seen that the parents in Bangalore have different experiences and choises while they search and select school for their children. Various factors like the reputation and facilities of schools, income level, demographic patterns and Parents upbringing and education background , Influence of friends and society seen to be affecting the decision of the school. Aim of this project is to study the various factors affecting the decision of Bangalore parents in choosing a school for their kids. As part of this project, we shall be doing an exploratory cum descriptive research on factors affecting schooling decision which can further be extended to perform cause and effect analysis for any specific variables in future. The survey research has been designed to address the following objectives: 1. Study and rate various factors considered by Bangalore parents in selecting their kids school 2. Capture the various sources of school information which influenced the parents towards the choice of the school 3. Study the exposure of Bangalore parents to other school education systems (developed countries) and capture their view on Indian education system versus developed world school education system 4. Capture the satisfaction level of parents with their kids current school on various factors studied under objective 1

Methodology
Following methodology has been adopted to pursue the stated objective: Exploratory phase : 1.Literature Review and Secondary data analysis 2. Focus group discussion (Group size: 8) Descriptive phase : 1.Questionnaire based survey with parents (Sample size=80) 2. Statistical analysis of collected data

Literature Review
Worldwide the expectation of parents from school education is changing and so is the emergence of different schooling systems and philosophies around education. Research focusing on factors affecting the schooling decisions of parents has been done across the world especially in developed countries like USA, Australia etc. Although the factors enlisted shall be reflecting the particular education system and infrastructure followed in those countries, these studies provide useful pointers to the methodology of conducting this kind of market research. One of these studies which focused on factors affecting the parental decision in choosing charter schools in US was conducted in 2008 by Patrick Delaney [1] as part of his Masters thesis submitted to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University , Department of Sociology. This is a descriptive cum cause and effect research based on telephonic survey of Parents conducted by Texas Education

Agency(TEA) in 2006 on 219 parents who had chosen charter schools versus the same number of parents who had chosen traditional schools for their kids. The thesis delves upon Delpits cultural conflict theory (1995) and Lareaus thesis (2007) of concerted cultivation on behalf of middle class parents while that of accomplishment of natural growth by that of working class and poor class parents and tries to validate five hypothesis based on these theories. The questionnaire executed by TEA had a set of 22 questions which aimed at capturing the responses of parents on various factors like location, academic reputation, class size etc and based on statistical analysis aimed at establishing any distinct differences based on race and socioeconomic status. The questionnaire was carefully planned considering two independent variables of race and socio economic status and nine dependent variables which were gauged based on 14 criterions which the parents were asked to rate. The questionnaire also included two open ended questions and had set of 17 questions in which the parents were asked to agree or disagree. This study provided us with good insight as to how to go about formulating a questionnaire and the statistical analysis involved in it. Another relevant study which tries to capture the satisfaction of parents with select schools in the city of Hyderabad has been published in 2011 in International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research [2]. In the study an attempt has been made to examine the satisfaction level of the parents with the respective schools of their kids and also to capture the key motivational factors behind selecting the respective schools. Again this is a descriptive research and utilizes questionnaire based survey of close to 200 parents in collecting the primary data. The key findings are that most of the parents are not satisfied with their kids current schooling and the main factors which determine the school selection are quality of teaching, discipline in school, computer education, management of school and

academic performance. Also word of mouth publicity through references from friends, family and relatives has been the major source of information and advertisement for schools.This study provides good insights into the factors determining the satisfaction level of parents and the factors affecting their choices in a typical Indian metropolitan city. Other researchers have also tried examining Primary school choice selection using the theory of researched action and the theory of planned behavior in Australia [3]. This research involved focus group discussions, short surveys, long surveys, short interviews, long interviews and a secondary data analysis. Also the theory of researched action(TRA) was shown to be quantitatively more useful over theory of planned behavior(TPB) in explaining the government school choice intentions. Similar research on a wider scale has been carried out by Sydney Morning Herald, in Australia on a wider scale involving some 609 households, which tried to answer the following 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? All these reports form the basis of our secondary data and helped us in formulating the focus group discussion and survey questionnaire.

Review of Indian Schooling System

Indian Schooling Education in India is provided by the public sector as well as the private sector, with control and funding coming from three levels: central, state, and local. Education in India falls under the control of both the Union Government and the states, with some responsibilities lying with the Union and the states having autonomy for others. The various articles of the Indian Constitution provide for education as a fundamental right. Most universities in India are controlled by the Union or the State Government. India has made progress in terms of increasing primary education attendance rate and expanding literacy to approximately two thirds of the population.[4] India's improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to the economic rise of India.[5] Much of the progress especially in Higher education, Scientific research has been credited to various public institutions. The private education market in India is merely 5% although in terms of value is estimated to be worth $40 billion in 2008 and will increase to $78 billion by 2012. However, India continues to face stern challenges. Despite growing investment in education, 25% of its population is still illiterate; only 15% of Indian students reach high school, and just 7%, of the 15% who make it to high school, graduate. [6] The quality of education whether at primary or higher education is significantly poor as compared with major developing nations. As of 2008, India's postsecondary institutions offer only enough seats for 7% of India's college-age population, 25% of teaching positions nationwide are vacant, and 57% of college professors lack either a master's or PhD degree.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is the apex body for curriculum related matters for school education in India. The NCERT provides support and technical assistance to a number of schools in India and oversees many aspects of enforcement of education policies. In India, the various curriculum bodies governing school education system are:

The state government boards, in which the majority of Indian children are enrolled. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). CBSE conducts two examinations, namely, the All India Secondary School Examination, AISSE (Class/Grade 10) and the All India Senior School Certificate Examination, AISSCE (Class/Grade 12).

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE). CISCE conducts three examinations, namely, the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE - Class/ Grade 10); The Indian School Certificate (ISC - Class/ Grade 12) and the Certificate in Vocational Education (CVE - Class/Grade 12).

The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). International schools affiliated to the International Baccalaureate Programme and/or the Cambridge International Examinations.

Islamic Madrasah schools, whose boards are controlled by local state governments, or autonomous, or affiliated with Darul Uloom Deoband.

Autonomous schools like Woodstock School, Auroville, Patha Bhavan and Ananda Marga Gurukula.

In addition, NUEPA (National University of Educational Planning and Administration) and NCTE (National Council for Teacher Education) are responsible for the management of the education system and teacher accreditation. School differentiators The schools can be classified based on various parameters. Some of these parameters are listed below. Nature of School: Is the school a mainstream, alternative, international, blend of mainstream/alternative, particular philosophy, co-ed etc. School Ethos: Academic achievements, fostering competition, holistic learning, balance of academics and activities, child-centered or curriculum centered School Curriculum: School curriculum, the board: CBSE, ICSE, IGCSE, IB, State Boards etc. The subjects offered and the subject combination and electives offered in higher classes (class 11 and 12), languages offered etc. School Faculty: Quality of teachers and school management has a significant

role in creating the right atmosphere for imparting school admission. Teaching Methodology: What are the methods of teaching used? Textbooks, workbooks, class discussions, projects etc.? How do they assess students? Is it exams, quizzes, continuous assessment, unit/monthly tests, general assessment. Do they have grades, marks or detailed descriptive assessments? How much homework do they give? What kind of learning does the school espouse and encourage? Rote based, balanced, conceptual, applied, lateral, creative? Are the students encouraged to ask questions and discuss? How do the teachers interact with the students and motivate them? Do they punish? How do they punish? How

do the kids move to higher classes? Do you have a stand on what methods work best for your child and your family? Teacher Student Ratio: How many students are there per teacher in a class? Lower the student-teacher ratio, the chances are that more attention each child will get. In lower classes especially, a low ratio is very desirable and important. School Safety: How do they keep the students safe? How do they screen visitors to the school? ,sick-child policy etc. School Routine: Daily, weekly and yearly routine and schedule. Sometimes it can really help to understand how a typical day flows in the school. What are the timings? How are the breaks? Whether they give lunch in school? Do they get any play or unstructured time? What is the weekly time table? How many times do they have PE (Physical Education) or other extracurricular activities? It can also help to understand the schedule of different events the school has: Show and Tell, school play, sports day, other events, whether every student gets to participate or only a few? What external competitive tests does the school have? (Olympiads, IAIS, Macmillan, South of Wales, Asset testing, Spelling Bee etc.). This can indicate what the kind of learning (conceptual, applied, lateral, rote learning) the school is leaning towards. School Infrastructure: How are the sports facilities, building, the classrooms etc.School cleanliness - bathrooms etc. The classrooms: Is the classroom space clean, tidy and inspiring? Does it have work done by students? Does the school have the computer rooms, the labs and equipment, playgrounds and open area.

Activities & Sports Offered: The activities and sports the school offers to the students. Do the students participate in inter-school sports and extracurricular events and competitions? What is the school's performance in these? Parent Teacher Communication: How can parents communicate with teachers? What forums does the school have? Some schools have regular parent teacher meetings. In some schools, parents can walk over to the school any time while in some schools parents can request meeting on certain times. Some schools communicate to the parents - via the Internet, circulars etc . Distance & Commuting time: In cities like Bangalore, it can really help if the school is near. Less commute time in the traffic and pollution is better for kids physical and mental well-being. Kids can spend more time doing real stuff - like spending time with parents, playing, studying, activities etc. School Fees: What is the school fee? Is it affordable? Is it worth it?

Focus Group Discussions

We did one focus group discussion comprising 8 people in one of the apartment complexes where the project group participants stay. Moderators: 1. Manoj Benedict 2. Abhishek Kumar Khare Participants: All the participants were occupants of the apartment complex with school going kids. Group size: 8 people comprising Age Group: 28-35 years

Duration: 30 Minutes Observations: 1. Opinion of all the participants on various factors which come to their mind in deciding the schools for their kids were captured. 2. Academic performance, Academic scheme, reputation of school, emphasis on extra-curricular activities, school fees , proximity to school, emphasis on sports activities , school infrastructure and Student-teacher ratio were found to be on top of the list of most of the participants. 3. Most of the participants were exposed to the school education system of developed countries especially USA, Singapore etc by virtue of their own stay or by virtue of their relatives who are staying abroad. Although they felt that Indian education system had certain merits but felt that the emphasis on conceptual understanding and overall personality development was lacking. 4. Some of the participants mentioned that religious inclination/ religion played an important role for many of the parents in Bangalore. 5. Most of the parents preferred the Board in which they had studied as the choice for their children as well. 6. In general the participants were dissatisfied with the rising cost of private education in Bangalore and felt that the high fees was not getting reflected in better facilities or quality of education 7. Most of the participants also expressed their concern about the difficulty faced in securing admission to famous schools in Bangalore.

Survey and Questionnaire Design

Based on literature study and Focus group discussion we prepared a survey questionnaire (Appendix-I) which provides us the data required to achieve the four objectives of this research project. Broadly the questionnaire tries to capture the following information: 1. Personal Details of the parents and their kids : (Name, Age, Educational qualification, Annual income, Occupation etc of both husband and wife, Number of kids and their school details including school fees) This information helps us to analyze the influence of family background and socio economic factors in the schooling decision of parents. 2. Relative importance of various factors considered during school admission: We have identified 17 factors and asked the respondents to rate each factor against one of the five choices, Extremely Important, very Important, Neutral, Not Important, Not at all important. This helps us to arrive at importance of various factors in a population size of 80. We also gave an option of mentioning any other factor which comes to the minds of parents; this helps us to capture other factors which might not be part of the original list. 3. Views on Indian Schooling system:

 We have put a list of questions which help us collect sufficient data on the exposure of Bangalore parents to other education systems in the world and their satisfaction with the Indian schooling system. We are also specifically trying to collect parents opinion about the concept based learning with respect to Indian education system. 4. Satisfaction with current school: We have put a list of questions which tries to collect data about parental satisfaction with their kids current school against nine factors in a scale of 5. We have also tried to capture whether the parents have ever changed their kids school and for what reasons (among the 17 mentioned factors). We asked the parents to also list three most satisfying factors about their kids current school, three most dissatisfying factors about their kids current school and an Ideal school which comes to their mind where they would like their kids to study. This helps us to cross compare the responses they have made under other sections and come up with a more concrete list of factors affecting parental schooling choice.

Current Status and Future Work

1. Literature review, Focus group discussion has been completed and based on this the initial survey questionnaire (APPENDIX-I) has been prepared. 2. Trail run on a sample size of 20 parents has been done through field work. 3. The trends obtained from it are being analyzed. 4. Based on feedback from trial run, the questionnaire shall be fine tuned before final data collection and then appropriate statistical analysis shall be done on the final data.

References
[1] What Do Parents Want? Factors Affecting Parental Decisions in Charter School Enrollment, thesis submitted for Master of Science in Sociology, Virginia Polytechnic and state university [2] SURVEY ON SATISFACTION OF PARENTS A STUDY OF SELECT SCHOOL IN HYDERABAD CITY, ANDHRA PRADESH, Dr. Gopala Sudarshanam, International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, Vol.1 Issue8, Dec 2011 [3]Primary school choice selection: examining parental school choice decision behaviour using the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior, thesis submitted for Masters of Marketing (Research), University of Wollongong [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_India#Private_education

[5] www.parentTree.com [6] www.worldbank.com

Appendix-I : Survey Questionnaire

Dear Parent, We are doing this survey as a part of our MBA curriculum project requirements. The survey aims to find out the major criteria and their inter-relations that a typical Bangalore Parent considers while selecting the school for their Children. Please take some time to fill this survey. Thank you for your cooperation. Most of the questions are with given choices. You may mark the appropriate choice with X or . Questions marked with * can be answered with text entry on the right side.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ About Yourself

*Name

Below 25 Age
Graduate

25 to 35

35 - 45

Above 45

Postgradua

Professiona

Others

te

Education Qualifications
Govt Service Private Org Self Employed Business Others

Occupation
North South East West Central

Location in Bangalore

* Contact ( Phone / e-mail )

Optional

About Family Below 25 Spouse Age

Graduate Postgradua te Professional Others

25 to 35

35 - 45

Above 45

Spouse Education
Govt Service Private Org Self employed Business Others

Spouse Occupation Below 10Lac

Annual Family Income ( Optional )

10 20 Lac

20 30 Lac

30 40 Lac

Above 40 Lac

About your children N o

*School Name

Mal e

Femal e

*Class

*Syllabus
( CBSC/ICSC )

*Annual Fee
( Approximate )

1 2 3

About your Childrens School

Could you please mention the importance of the following criteria in selecting a school for your Child
Extremel y Importan t Very Importan t Not Importan t Not At All Importan t

Neutral

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Academic performance Reputation Of the School Proximity to home Academic Scheme ( CBSC / ICSC ) Schooling expenses Quality of buildings and equipment Strong discipline Competitive sports Art/Music/Drama Co-ed ( Mixed Gender ) Boarding school Availability of scholarships and bursaries Special needs provision Religious focus Peer Pressure Special Career aspiration for Kids Student to Teacher Ratio *Others ( Please specify ) ____________________________ Brochure Web Site Friends Colleagues Other Parents and Kids

How did you get to know about your kids school Effortless Moderate Neutral Moderate Struggled

Effort How would you describe your efforts for your kids school admission Highly Satisfied How satisfied are you with INDIAN schooling system Satisfied Neutral

Struggle

Poor

Very Poor

Yes Have you been exposed to education system in developed countries If yes, Do you believe that their school system is better child focused compared to ours? Do you think Indian education system cultivates Concept based learning? Do you believe that higher the fee of the school the better would be the education provided by the school? How satisfied are you with your Childs current school
Highly Satisfied Satisfied Neutral Poor

No

Very Poor

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Academic performance Perceived Status/Reputation Proximity to home Schooling expenses Quality of buildings and equipment Strong discipline Competitive sports Art/Music/Drama Student to Teacher Ratio
Yes No

Have you changed your kids school Are you thinking of, changing your kids school If yes could you please give the reasons for change/planned change from the following aspects Academic performance Reputation Of The School Proximity to home Academic Scheme ( CBSC / ICSC ) Schooling expenses Quality of buildings and equipment Strong discipline Competitive sports Art/Music/Drama Co-ed ( Mixed Gender ) Boarding school Availability of scholarships and bursaries Special needs provision Religious focus Peer Pressure Special Career aspiration for Kids Student to Teacher Ratio Others Please specify ___________________________ *From the above mentioned 18 school characteristics, could you please list the Top 3 selection criteria , You had applied while selecting school for your Child 1st

2nd 3rd *From the above mentioned 18 school characteristics, could you please list the Top 3 characteristics you like about your Childs school 1st 2nd 3rd *From the above mentioned 18 school characteristics, could you please list the Top 3 characteristics you dislike about your Childs school 1st 2nd 3rd *Could you please name any ideal school from INDIA, from your understanding

Statistical analysis of collected data

Using the primary data that was collected through Online as well as in-person survey, the base data was prepared. Further to this, analysis using a five point scale was done for some of the responses (i.e. especially the importance of factors). The scale details are as 5=Extremely Important, 4=Important,3=Neutral,2=Not Important,1=Not at all Important. For some other questions, the 5 point scale that was used was 1=Very Poor, 2=Poor,3=Neutral,4=Satisfied,5=Highly satisfied.

Factors Considered by Parents-During School Selection

As part of our data collection activities, we sought responses from Bangalore Parents on the below 18 factors that influenced their decision while selecting a school for their children. Based on the 5 point scale used for measuring the response, the weighted mean value against each of the response was compared. The results are as below.

Sr.N o 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Factors Affecting Selection Academic performance Reputation Of the School Proximity to home Academic Scheme ( CBSC / ICSC ) Schooling expenses Quality of buildings and equipment Strong discipline Competitive sports Art/Music/Drama Co-ed ( Mixed Gender ) Boarding school Availability of scholarships and bursaries Special needs provision Religious focus Peer Pressure Special Career aspiration for Kids Student to Teacher Ratio Other Factors

Weighted Mean

From the data in the above table, it can be seen that the top 3 factors considered by Bangalore parents while they selected a particular school is as below. 1. S 2. S 3. s Though the above factors dominated the decision making, other factors such as below also played a good role in influencing the decision.

a) s b) a c) a

Source of Information Affecting School Selection

In order to find out the main source of information, which influenced the selection of a particular school, we requested the parents to list of the source from whom they came to know about the current school. The details of the analysis are as below. Sr No 1 2 3 4 5 6 Source of Information about the school Friends Other Parents With Kids Brochure Web Site Colleagues Others No of Respondents 47 14 6 6 5 2

Based on the data collected, it is clearly seen that the main source of selection of a particular school comes from Friends. This gives us to believe that when it comes to marketing of a school, it would primarily be word-of-mouth marketing that would be of primary importance. Surprisingly, as we expected colleagues as the source of primary information was not observed.

Exposure to Outside Education Influence on Parental Views Regarding School Selection Factors
In order to understand whether exposure of parents to education systems in developed countries like (US and UK), made any difference in the factors that influenced the school selection, we gathered information regarding their views on what they felt about Indian education system. The summary of the analysis is as below. ---Graph ---Co-relation between exposure to Outside education and the Primary factors that made the biggest influence ---View of parents with regard to various components of the Indian Schooling Systems.

---Difference between the influence factors between parents who had exposure to outside education and Parents who

Satisfaction of Parents with the Current School vis--vis the factors influencing school decisions
---Graph. Overall satisfaction with the current school

Other factors influencing school decisions

-Graph. Difference in factor selection when both husband and wife is working. -Graph. Difference in the factor selection when the number of children is More than 1 -Graph. Difference in the factors vis--vis the Income reported.

Findings
From the above study we could observe the following.

Suggestions
In order to improve the chances of a school getting selected the following points can be considered.