Examining the Differences in School Satisfaction between Students and their Parents in Abu Dhabi

Abstract

There appeared to be no study in the extant literature that compared a student’s school satisfaction with that of his/her parent. This study aimed to bridge this literature gap, drawing on data from a merged dataset of a student survey and a parent survey that were conducted in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in 2013, involving 6,111 grade 5-12 public school students and their parents. The differences in school satisfaction between a student and his/her parent were examined through a paired analysis. The results showed that while student school satisfaction was highly correlated with parent school satisfaction, there was a statistically significant difference between a student and his/her parent in their ratings of school satisfaction, especially concerning the issues of school safety and parent involvement. Schools were reminded to factor in the potential differences in the opinions of different stakeholders in their stakeholder communication and school improvement effort.  

Keywords

• Parent satisfaction,student satisfaction,paired analysis,Abu Dhabi

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