Parental choice of primary school: An application of Q-methodology

As market forces have been introduced into education both marketers and educationists have become more interested in the relationship between schools and parents, particularly in parental choice of school This paper examines some studies in this area and the methods used. It discusses the use of Q-methodology to identify the criteria adopted by parents when selecting a primary school and reports on a study in which semi-structured interviews are used to develop a naturalistic Q-sample and factor analysis is carried out on the data. The study concludes that there is an overriding concern with the child's happiness when selecting a primary school.