How do parents choose a school for their child?

As the end of the summer term approaches schools across the country will begin thinking about the 2016 round of new pupil admissions. In doing so, you might like to consider NFER's new data on the factors that inform school choice. In particular, NFER has uncovered stark differences in what parents are looking for, dependent on their personal background factors.

Choosing a school is one of the key times when parents reflect on what is important to them in terms of their child's education. Some commentators hail this ability to choose as a key feature of our education system – an important right valued by parents, and a way of driving up standards. But to what extent is this view shared by parents, do they feel they have a genuine choice, and if so how do they choose? At the beginning of the year, NFER commissioned a nationally representative survey of 1,005 parents of children aged five to 18 to find out more.