A Study on the Difference between Parents’ Expected and Perceived Quality of theEducational Service in the Private Elementary Schools in Kaohsiung

• Main Authors: Tzu-yin Ting, 丁姿吟
• Other Authors: none
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/44134277644389159788

碩士 === 國立臺南大學 === 教育學系課程與教學碩士班 === 99 === Private elementary schools, under competitive pressure from public schools, have been experiencing increasing difficulties enrolling new students in a worldwide economic downturn. The impact of the low birth rate also causes the private elementary schools to strive for greater enrollment rate. In fact, a variety of different factors contribute to the difficulties of recruiting students in the private elementary schools. However, when the private elementary schools competently satisfy parents’ demand for high-quality education, adopt effective marketing strategies, strengthen their educational features, and advance their service performance, they can easily cope with the enrollment difficulties, promote their service in today’s educational market, and maintain sustainable management of the schools’ operation. This research is based on PZB service quality model to assess differences between parents’ expected and perceived quality of the educational service in the private elementary schools located in Kaohsiung area. A total of 607 parents of the private elementary schools in Kaohsiung were chosen by stratified random sampling method to participate in the study based on their responses to the questionnaire the researcher had developed under the guidance of her graduate advisor. The statistical analysis of the data collected revealed that the parents of private elementary schools expect a high-quality educational service and regard “assurance” as the most important dimension in their evaluation. The perceived quality of parents in the private elementary schools is generally positive and affirmative and the dimension of “assurance” is considered the most satisfactory one. Generally speaking, parents experience a slight gap between their expectation and their actual perception for the service quality of the private elementary schools selected for their children. The comparatively larger gap exists in the dimension of tangibles. Gender, profession, and whether or not their children had experiences attending public elementary schools cause differences in parents’ perceived quality of the educational service of the private elementary schools. Differences in children’s grade levels and whether or not their children had experiences in the public elementary schools also make certain difference in parents’ perceived quality. Gender, professions, the grade levels of the students, and whether or not their kids had attended public elementary schools reflect a kind of diversity in parents’ expected and perceived quality of the educational service the private elementary schools provided. Finally, the research result c reveals certain suggestive remarks to the educational administrators and the private elementary schools in Kaohsiung, and also provides resources for further research in the future.