CHOICES AND EXPECTATIONS AT PRIMARY AND SECONDARY STAGES IN THE STATEAND PRIVATE SECTORS

This paper examines a range of issues concerned with the process of ch oosing schools in the private and state sectors at the primary/pre-pre paratory stage and at the time of transfer to secondary/senior school. The findings indicate that choices about schools are made at differen t times and in different ways by parents who use the state and private sectors. One of the key findings is that the process of choosing a sc hool begins earlier in the private than in the state sector; another i s that quality of education is cited more frequently as one of the 'to p three' essential factors by parents of children in the private secto r. At both the primary and transfer to secondary stages, very high per centages of parents consider it essential that their child should be h appy. A discussion of the different notions that private school and th e state school parents may have of 'happiness' is offered.