Parental Satisfaction In A Centralized School System: Evidence From Greece And Policy Implications

ABSTRACT

This study examines the level and driving factors of parental satisfaction from public schools in Greece, a country with a highly centralized school system. The study is based on a sample of 1,072 parents from 72 schools located in southern Greece. Parent satisfaction indices, measuring overall satisfaction and certain dimensions of satisfaction, are constructed. The satisfaction indices are regressed on parental characteristics, school characteristics and school culture factors aiming at identifying predictors of parental satisfaction. A number of parent- and school-related factors, including the role of school leadership, are found to be statistically reliable predictors of parental satisfaction.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The higher education institution which conducted this research (i.e. University of Peloponnese) is also located in the area, cultivating relationships of mutual trust with the regional educational authorities and school administrators.

2. Peloponnese is one of the largest regions of Greece (covering 16% of the total area of the country), located in the Peloponnese peninsula and bordering with east Attica to the north. About 5.3% of the total population resides in Peloponnese. Per capita GDP is €13,134 (2014); not far from the national mean (€16,336). Unemployment rate is 23.4% (2014); close to national mean (26.5%), Hellenic Statistical Authority (2015).

3. Eurostat Online Database, Statistical Code: [ilc_lvps25].

4. To facilitate interpretation, and since these indices vary with respect to the number of items used for their calculation, they were rescaled to an 1–5 Likert scale using the following formula: .

5. This evidence provides a more optimistic picture compared to the levels of parental satisfaction reported by OECD (2017c). This difference is attributed to methodological reasons. When parents are asked more generally about the school system of the country they tend to be more critical rather than when they are asked to express their satisfaction from the specific school their children attend. This might be a manifestation of the well-known choice-supportive bias (Mather, Shafir, & Johnson, 2000).

6. A usual practice is to nominate relatives who happen to live close to their preferred school as the legal guardians of their children.