Parental Choice of International Christian Schools in Uganda Reasons for Choice, Exit and Continuity

Abstract

This study was motivated by the need to understand what international Christian schools can do to retain enrolled students until they graduate from high school (grade 12). Sixty parents completed the online questionnaire, and 18 of these participated in a virtual personal interview. Of the sixty, 45% have children who exited the initially chosen school before completion of high school, and are referred to as early-leavers. The majority (55%) who retained or committed to retain their children in the initially chosen Christian school until completion of grade 12 are referred to as continuers. The study shows that when choosing Christian schools, parents prioritize spiritual factors, academic quality, school environment and extracurricular program. Financial factors were not a major consideration. However, although both continuers and early-leavers consider student-parent experiences in their decisions; the main difference is that continuers tend to prioritize factors related to spiritual growth and school environment in their decision to stay/continue at the school; while early leavers tend to prioritize factors related to finances, academic quality and extracurricular activities in their decision to leave early/exit. Continuers also noticed gaps in academic and extracurricular programs as did the early-leavers, but appeared more willing than early-leavers to trade these off, especially for spiritual factors. Therefore, Christian schools need to not only continue to focus on the spiritual development of the children, but also on finding and maintaining a balance between spiritual growth, academic rigor, extracurricular activities, student-parent experience and affordability of the education they offer.