Parents' Experiences of the Process of Choosing a Secondary School

13. Parental satisfaction
Nationally, over 8 in 10 parents were offered a place in the school they most wanted and
over 9 in 10 received an offer of a place in their first preference school. About 4% of
parents were not offered a place in any school for which a preference had been expressed.
Eight per cent of parents reported that there were other state schools they would have
preferred for their children over the ones in which they had applied for a place.
The vast majority of parents, 9 out of 10, said that they were satisfied with the outcome of
the application process. The majority of parents expressed satisfaction with the process
itself but nearly 1 in 7 parents were not satisfied with the process. Views on the process
were coloured by the outcome - satisfaction with the outcome was related to whether or not
parents were offered their preferred school. For parents of children in Year 7, who were
interviewed some 9 months after admission to secondary school, 1 in 10 felt less satisfied
with the outcome than they had before their child had actually started at the school whilst
more than one in three said they were more satisfied, and half said they felt the same.
In general, there were clear socio-economic differences in knowledge about and use made
of information about the admission process, as well as the reasons given for applying for
particular schools. These socio-economic differences were not as strong regarding
satisfaction with the final outcomes of the process. The proportion of parents offered places
in the school they most wanted tended not to vary by the socio-economic characteristics
analysed in the research. A stronger factor influencing parental satisfaction with the
outcome of the process is the type of LEA area in which parents live. In particular, as
indicated above, there is an important distinction between the experiences of parents
resident in London and those resident in other areas; the contrast was most marked between
parents living in London boroughs and those in Shire authorities.
14. The interaction of types of admission practice and parental satisfaction
Admission authorities need to take into account how different practices interact and impact
on parents. Thus, for example, focusing on maximising choice may not be very helpful if,
for example, one of the consequences of this is that a substantial number of parents do not
find out until very late in the process where their child may be attending school. Some
children begin the summer break not knowing which school they will attend in September.
Taking the relevant factors together a presumption that parents value choice per se is
questionable. Clearly, many parents who are faced with the prospect of sending their child
to a school that is considered in their terms as ‘unsuitable’ want a better alternative - if one
is available. One issue is the extent to which parents are seen as mainly engaged in a
satisficing process of sending their child to a local school, if that option is available and the
school is regarded by them as 'good enough', or whether they are viewed as engaged in a
maximising strategy of choosing the ‘best possible’ school available - judged by academic
results and/or discipline and a lack of bullying.
15