Local or nonlocal schooling : this is the questions ; and some parents' consideration

Abstract

This article investigates the reasons for Hong Kong parents to give up local education, and enroll their children in nonlocal curriculum schools. 6 parents from a nonlocal curriculum school in Hong Kong were interviewed. Data collected were grouped into a ‘push-pull model’ to illustrate the relationship between push factors from local education and pull towards nonlocal curriculum education. Findings show that when making school choice decisions, parents primarily take four areas into consideration: value, experience, needs and expectations, and social network and media influences. Each aspect constitute of push factors form local schooling to pull factors to nonlocal curriculum schools. Major considerations for choosing nonlocal curriculum schools as indicated by parents include happiness, the ability to love and care, children’s personalities, English language development, future education, and impression gained from social media. Suggestions for further studies are then given in accordance to the factors identified, which may have the potential to bring about improvements in education policies to meet the needs of Hong Kong parents and students.