3.1.1 Statement of the problem
Schools in Lebanon are divided into 2 categories: Private and Public.
Private schools are nongovernmental organizations and are financed from tuition and fees imposed on students to fulfill. Basically, parents search for the best for their children, and consequently they usually tend to go more for private schools.
According to the study of the “Development of higher education” 2010-2011, there is a decrease in number of students in public schools although they are free. Seriousness and commitment towards students are the most important factors that attract parents to a reputed private school. These factors are the result of the effectiveness of the implementation of the Quality Management System. However and unfortunately some schools in Lebanon are implementing some unconnected quality factors and not the whole system, which affect the effectiveness; they don’t raise the value of the implementation of the Quality Management System.
3.1.2 Assumptions
- Parent’s determinants of school choice influence positively their decisions in determining several factors that meet with their demands
- Determinants are when students and parents are satisfied with curriculum, using new technologies, safety place, enjoy school life; school presents a challenging learning environment etc. it depends on what parents are looking for and meet their expectations.
- A school is more competitive when it’s responsive to the needs and interests of students and parents’ school with favorable reputation encourages parents to invest in it (to register their children in this school).
- A reputation can influence negatively employee and customer loyalty, when commitment doesn’t exist anymore. Employees may influence negatively the organization especially when they are not motivated.
- A carefully crafted and implemented program for increased parent satisfaction and school reputation would be important for attracting students and staff.
- The positive impact of Quality Management System and the application of ISO in schools.
- Reputed Private schools seek to have more educated people with a safe education by making long term plans having equality in both levels in education.
3.1.3 Qualitative Case study
A qualitative research shows the real description of the statement of teachers, admin staff, and parent’s status and the whole environment that surrounds the school. (Hitchcock and Hughes 1995) The consumer behavior is better explained in a qualitative study as Biklen (1992) explains.
In Lebanon all schools teach the same materials but what it differs one from another is the management system, the way of teaching, student results, the school culture, and parents satisfaction. The quality of personnel (teachers, administrators) make a difference in the quality of students outcome, staff experience and the way they are taking care of their product (students).
In this thesis we are describing a typical Lebanese catholic private school that the qualitative study defines in reality the daily living and results and what parents say and admin and teachers analyze. This help to know why parents choose a specific school and not another, to study the customer behavior and to explain its approach and acts.
My study concerns whenever there is a Quality Management System, the school is more reputed and will have increasing in number of students, it starts from the school culture, teachers and the management behavior how it affects parents’ choice.
I have observed for 7 years the evolution of the school and staff performance, I did realize that in the last 2 years the “R” school wanted to improve itself when insisting on intensive training, changing rules and procedures but without implementing neither a strategy nor a plan; it is done randomly. The management has the incentive but not the “Now How” whenever a problem or a difficult situation occurs they have difficulties to move to a plan “B”.
3.1.4 Steps of building data
- Step 1: Selection:
- 40 parents were selected randomly from all school divisions to be asked about their opinion of the school selected.
- 8 teachers and coordinators in “R” School that teach also in other public and private schools were selected in this survey.
- 8 teachers who teach only in “R” School.
- All administrators in “R” School were selected for this survey including the social assistant and the accountant.
- Step 2: Data collection method
- The chosen samples are considered as the main elements that can provide me with results to improve the quality of the establishment; each group was seen alone, the answers combination help to identify the image seen in the real context.
- The questions are oriented indirectly and directly at the service of evaluate the present situation and analyze the plan needed to implement the quality management system putting the optimum performance of the school as the great objective.
- Step 3: Develop the linkage between answers
- The answers are categorized to build up series of data to be evaluated.
- The correlation between these answers is defined.
3.1.5 Data Evaluation
Choosing a good school is a difficult issue because reputed schools are compared to any successful organization. What characterize them is their values, their vision, the people who works for them, their skills, the level of education and experience.
This study explains the analysis of data and the feedback of parents, administrators, teachers toward the school choice.
Parents: who have children in different sections: kindergarten, elementary, middle school and secondary? If this school was their first choice? Did they ever transfer their children to another school and bring them back? If yes, what did they find in other school we don’t have in ours?
Administrators: those who are the two-line bridge that relates top management to parents and vice versa; Administrators are in direct relation with parents concerning social and financial issues as the social assistant who evaluates the statement of students who have critical social or familial problems or they can’t afford their tuition or they have any other problem, they also evaluate the number of students and the growth of the “R” School, those administrators include also the responsible that receives new students and is responsible of tuition payment and sends to the parents reminders for fees and collaborates closely with the accounting department.
Teachers and coordinators who work in parallel in the school and in other public and private ones, they are responsible of the curriculum and the materials, so they can evaluate the curriculum based on the students’ performance results and help to prevent gaps knowing the competitive advantage is high and what our school needs more than other depending on its culture.
It is a qualitative methodology that explains the evidence in real life and why parents do choose private instead of public, and why they choose “R” School instead of other private schools.