This document summarizes a presentation given on factors that parents consider when selecting independent primary schools in South Africa, with a focus on school facilities. The presentation covered: an introduction to the topic and literature review; the problem statement and objectives of determining the importance of school facilities; the research methodology which was a quantitative survey of parents; results showing computer centers and libraries as most important facilities; managerial implications for schools to focus on academic facilities like computer centers; and limitations and directions for future research.

1. Department of Marketing Management
Faculty of Management
School facilities as choice factor considered
by parents selecting independent primary schools in South Africa
(Dr Reaan Immelm
an & Prof Mor nay Roberts
-Lomba
rd)
Presented at GBATA by Dr Reaan Immelman
8 July 2015

2. 2
MY HOME - JOHANNESBURG
DEPARTMENT OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Where good enough is simply not good enough

3. 3
DEPARTMENT OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Where good enough is simply not good enough

4. Presentation Flow
• Introduction
• Literature study
• Problem statement and objectives
Research methodology
• Results
• Managerial implications
• Limitations and Future Research
DEPARTMENT OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT Where good enough is
simply not good enough

5. Introduction

6. INTRODUCTION
• The importance of quality education is recognize by parents in an increasingly
competitive environment (Read & Bick, 204, p.18). Parents can enroll their child
at any school and are not forced to enroll their child at the nearest school (Van
Wyk & Bisschoff, 2012, p.431).
• Parents in South Africa have the choice in enrolling their child at public schools
(government schools), independent schools (private schools) and even have
the choice of home schooling. The number of independent schools in South
Africa has grown from 518 in 1994 to 1 681 in 2014 (Department of Basic
Education, 2014)
• Parents are more selective in the choice of schools for their children and they
do their own research regarding where to enroll their child (Molland, 2007,p22)
and hence the decision-making of a school for parents is difficult.

7. Literature review

8. LITERATURE REVIEW
• The marketing of independent schools is evident at most independent schools
in South Africa and is illustrated where independent schools are a member of
the Independent Schools Marketing Association of Southern Africa (ISMA).
• Themes covered by research in school marketing include the attitudes of
school principals and other stakeholders towards the concept of marketing,
general literature on “How to market your school?” and the lack of research in
school marketing (Oplatka & Hemsley-Brown, 2004, p.375).
• Research in South Africa on the topic of school marketing include research by
Immelman & Roberts-Lombard (2015), Read & Bick (2004), Vigar-Eliis (2013), Van
Wyk and Bisschoff (2012), McAlister (2006) and Malberbe (2004).
• The decision-making process of services consists of the pre-purchase stage, the
service encounter stage and the post-encounter stage (Wells & Foxall, 2012
p.28).
• This paper focuses on the third step in the pre-purchase stage, namely the
evaluation of alternatives. In the context of this study, the evaluation of
alternatives is the choice factors of parents when selecting independent
primary schools, with specific reference to school facilities.

9. Choice factors of parents selecting independent schools (2010-2014)
Yaacob, Osman & Bachok (2014)Yaacob, Osman & Bachok (2014)
School curriculum, school facilities, academic
performance, quality educators and location
of the school
School curriculum, school facilities, academic
performance, quality educators and location
of the school
Learner discipline, smaller class sizes, safety,
individual attending to the child
Learner discipline, smaller class sizes, safety,
individual attending to the child
Kelly & Scafidi (2013)Kelly & Scafidi (2013)
Vigar-Ellis (2013)Vigar-Ellis (2013)
Safe environment, competent educators and
management, discipline, nutritious food, good
sport facilities and academic performance
Safe environment, competent educators and
management, discipline, nutritious food, good
sport facilities and academic performance
Independent Schools Queensland
Survey (2011)
Independent Schools Queensland
Survey (2011)
Discipline, quality educators, reputation of the
school and academic performance
Discipline, quality educators, reputation of the
school and academic performance
Symmonds (2010)Symmonds (2010) Academic reputation, small class size, safety,
school fees and academic facilities
Academic reputation, small class size, safety,
school fees and academic facilities

10. Choice factors of parents selecting independent schools (1999-2009)
Independent Schools Council of
Australia (2008)
Independent Schools Council of
Australia (2008)
School facilities, educators, nurturing and
caring environment, small class size and
discipline
School facilities, educators, nurturing and
caring environment, small class size and
discipline
Academic standards, discipline and small
classes
Academic standards, discipline and small
classes
Robinson (2008)Robinson (2008)
Denessen, Driessena & Sleegers (2005)Denessen, Driessena & Sleegers (2005) Academic performance, school climate and
individual attending to the child
Academic performance, school climate and
individual attending to the child
Foskett & Hemsley-Brown (2001)Foskett & Hemsley-Brown (2001)
Tradition, subject choices and facilitiesTradition, subject choices and facilities
Gorard (1999)Gorard (1999) Academic reasons, location, management
style, discipline and security factors
Academic reasons, location, management
style, discipline and security factors

11. Problem investigated and
Objectives

12. PROBLEM STATEMENT AND OBJECTIVES
• Some independent schools find it difficult to market themselves effectively as
a result of a lack of information pertaining to what school facilities to offer
prospective parents. Independent schools also have not made institutional
research a priority and, as a result, often make critical or strategic decisions
without the benefit of data or research (Symmonds, 2010, p.3)
• The primary objective of the study is to recommend marketing guidelines for
independent primary schools in South Africa, with the focus on physical
evidence in the marketing mix and more specifically school facilities. The
secondary objective is to determine the relative importance of school
facilities when selecting independent schools.

13. Research methodology

14. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
 Empirical investigation was exploratory and quantitative in nature
 Population = All grade 1 parents from 651 independent primary
schools in the Gauteng province of South Africa
 Structured questionnaire with a five-point likert scale
 Internet computer-assisted survey or self-administrated questionnaire
 Constructs in the questionnaire were developed from the literate
review and the exploratory research approach
 669 Questionnaires were completed
 Exploratory factor analysis and 5 physical evidence variables were
identified and through EFA categorised into one factor, namely
school facilities
 Empirical investigation was exploratory and quantitative in nature
 Population = All grade 1 parents from 651 independent primary
schools in the Gauteng province of South Africa
 Structured questionnaire with a five-point likert scale
 Internet computer-assisted survey or self-administrated questionnaire
 Constructs in the questionnaire were developed from the literate
review and the exploratory research approach
 669 Questionnaires were completed
 Exploratory factor analysis and 5 physical evidence variables were
identified and through EFA categorised into one factor, namely
school facilities

15. Results

16. DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS

17. Reliability
Cronbach’s alpha was used as a measure of the internal consistency reliability for the
measurement of the importance of the attributes. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the
school facilities construct investigated is 0.87 and above the limit of acceptability of 0.70.
Constructs Cronbach’s Alpha
School facilities 0.868
Test
Value of forced exploratory factor
analysis (EFA)
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy 0.87
Bartlett’s test of
Sphericity
Approx. Chi-square 2034.573
DF 3
Sig. 0.000
Validity
Factor analysis was used to assess the structural validity of the school facilities construct and
exploratory factor analysis was used in an attempt to gain insight into the structural validity.
The five items of the school facility scale are suitable for factor analysis (KMO of 0.864, which is
> 0.6 and Bartlett’s test of Sphericity is 0.000, which is smaller than 0.05

18. Not important
Of little
importance
Moderately
important
Very important
Extremely
important
1 2 3 4 5
A science laboratory 9 11.1 19 28.9 31.9 664 3.64 1.28
A library 6 4.8 14.1 27.4 47.7 667 4.06 1.161
A computer centre 4.7 3.5 9.6 28.9 53.3 664 4.23 1.067
A classroomwith technology 6.6 8.1 19.2 30 36.1 667 3.81 1.199
Sport facilities 6.4 6.1 19.8 30.1 37.5 667 3.86 1.175
Percentage of respondents in each cell
Number of respondents
Mean
Standard Deviation
Type of school facility
11
22
33
The most important school facilities factors in the selection of independent primary schools

19. Computer Centre (1)

20. Tablet Computers

21. Classroom with Interactive Whiteboards

22. School library (2)

23. Northwood School in KZN South Africa was the first school in the
country to install an Olympic standard water-based Poligras astro turf
hockey pitch

24. Netball Court @ The Thomas Lord Audley School, Essex, UK

25. Blue Tennis Courts at Curro Private Schools

26. Managerial implications

27. MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
An understanding of which school facilities are important can assist independent
schools in South Africa to market themselves better to parents when the latter are
selecting an independent school for their child(ren). To accomplish this objective, it
involves the coordination and combination of the marketing mix elements that
enable independent schools to meet parents’ needs. For the purposes of this paper,
only recommendations with regard to physical evidence, and more specifically
school facilities are applicable, because only the school facilities applicable to
these marketing mix elements and the importance thereof were determined.

28. School Facilities
The moderate importance of school
facilities as choice factor corresponds with
FIVE studies, namely Yaacob, et.al., (2014,
p.250), Vigar-Ellis (2013, p.8), Symmonds
(2010, p.6), Independent Schools Council
of Australia (ISCA,2008) and Foskett &
Hemsley-Brown (2001, p.83).
School Facilities
The moderate importance of school
facilities as choice factor corresponds with
FIVE studies, namely Yaacob, et.al., (2014,
p.250), Vigar-Ellis (2013, p.8), Symmonds
(2010, p.6), Independent Schools Council
of Australia (ISCA,2008) and Foskett &
Hemsley-Brown (2001, p.83).
Recommendations
Independent primary schools need to focus primarily on academic
facilities, and more specifically the computer centre
Computers need to be upgraded frequently with latest hardware
and software. The computer centre is enhanced by tablets, data
projectors and interactive whiteboards in the classroom.
Sport facilities are important, but firstly the school need to spend
money on academic facilities.
Further research needs to be done to determine what sport facilities
are preferred by parents. This may include a swimming pool, netball
courts, astro hockey turf, soccer fields, rugby fields and tennis courts
and even tuck shops at schools.
Recommendations
Independent primary schools need to focus primarily on academic
facilities, and more specifically the computer centre
Computers need to be upgraded frequently with latest hardware
and software. The computer centre is enhanced by tablets, data
projectors and interactive whiteboards in the classroom.
Sport facilities are important, but firstly the school need to spend
money on academic facilities.
Further research needs to be done to determine what sport facilities
are preferred by parents. This may include a swimming pool, netball
courts, astro hockey turf, soccer fields, rugby fields and tennis courts
and even tuck shops at schools.

29. Limitations & Future Research

30. LIMITATIONS
FUTURE RESEARCH

31. Maragon Private School in Roodepoort, Johannesburg cut the ribbon to
officially open their brand new aquatic centre.

32. Tuckshops at Schools

33. THANK YOU
@ReaanImmelman
#GBATA2015