The scoping study of parents of school-aged children and members of the community has indicated that they are broadly satisfied with the standard of schools and the standard of teaching. For example, the majority of parents of school-aged children were satisfied with their child’s school and around three-quarters were satisfied with the standard of teaching at that school. A majority of parents (79.3 per cent) rated ‘quality of teachers’ as very important in choosing a school.
The survey also drew attention to the importance of quality teaching for quality schooling, especially in an environment where most parents desire their children to complete Year 12 and attend university.
Parents expressed a desire that schools be a secure environment, with appropriate facilities both in the classroom and in the broader school grounds.
Parents emphasised the need for schools to not only develop academic skills (literacy and numeracy) but also for schools to have a role in developing students’ life skills. Both parents and community respondents regarded it as ‘very important’ that schools assist children in developing literacy (parents, 90.4 per cent; community, 89.6 per cent), numeracy (parents, 85.4 per cent; community, 77.9 per cent) and life skills (parents, 67.0 per cent; community 59.0 per cent).
Parents were commonly involved with their children’s schooling, from actions such as choice of school (87.5 per cent) to assistance with day-to-day schoolwork (56.4 per cent).
Parents also saw national consistency issues as important, with the majority of respondents regarding the following issues as ‘important’ or ‘very important’:
- National standards for teachers and school leaders (91.5 per cent of respondents);
- National school qualifications (88.4 per cent);
- Standard tertiary entrance requirements across Australia (85.9 per cent);
- Standard national curriculum (83.3 per cent);
- Standard school starting age across Australia (66.5 per cent); and
- Standard school leaving age across Australia (61.0 per cent).
The majority of school-children wear school uniforms, a policy supported by the majority of parents. Some 94.3 per cent of parents of school-aged children responded that their children wear school uniforms and 95.4 per cent of parents supported the wearing of school uniforms.
Data from the study indicates that as at 2003, parents of children at government schools spent an average of $1,573 per year on expenses associated with their eldest child’s schooling. By comparison, parents of children at non-government schools spent an average of $6,053 on their eldest child’s education.
Some 73 per cent of parents had made voluntary contributions to their child’s school. The main contributions were fund-raising activities/donations (49.4 per cent), canteen help/library help/helping out in class (43.7 per cent) and membership of school board/P&C (12.5 per cent).
Full Report: PDF 
(458.44 KB); RTF 
(1.7 MB)