188体育

Abstract

The authors summarise recent 鈥楻esearch on Improving Systems of Education鈥� research, conducted as part of Twaweza鈥檚 Sauti za Wananchi survey. They use a 鈥榙iscrete choice鈥� experiment鈥攁 series of hypothetical enrollment decisions in which parents were asked to express their preferences between alternative pairs of schools鈥攖o understand the extent to which parents value proximity, infrastructure, teacher-pupil ratios, and learning outcomes, in the primary schools to which they have access.

They highlight 3 findings:

1. Parents鈥� values for a one-standard-deviation improvement in distance and in learning outcomes dominate other attributes, such as class sizes and infrastructure quality, in shaping choices.

2. The extent to which parents prefer one of these attributes over the other鈥攚hich we characterise as parents鈥� willingness to walk for learning outcomes鈥攙aries widely by region.

3. There is little association between the strength of parents鈥� preference for learning over proximity and the efficiency with which regions actually deliver learning outcomes, suggesting scope for improved alignment between government and citizen priorities.

These results complement accompanying findings from the Sauti za Wananchi survey that households choosing secondary schools prioritise high Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (CSEE) pass rates, motivated teachers, and good textbooks (Twaweza East Africa, 2018).The findings should be understood alongside a growing literature that seeks to understand the drivers of parental actions in school choice and accountability mechanisms.

This research is part of the 鈥楻esearch on Improving Systems of Education鈥� (RISE) programme

Citation

Soloman, S. and Zeitlin, A. (2019). What Do Tanzanian Parents Want from Primary Schools鈥攁nd What Can Be Done about It? [online] https://www.riseprogramme.org/publications/what-do-tanzanian-parents-want-primary-schools-and-what-can-be-done-about-it-0.

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