The findings of research on parental and pupil choice conclude that parents consider a number of issues when choosing schools for and with their children. The child's wishes, ease of access, the school's academic record, and state of discipline, all emerge as important reasons, for a substantial majority of parents. Research by Hemsley-Brown found that sixteen year olds relied on class biased cultural values to make choices about colleges, which fitted with their emerging ‘self identity’. The perceived 'image' of a college was largely determined by the social class of students already attending the college, and was an important factor in choice. Identifying with a particular image is connected with social class identity, and peer group pressure. The reason that 'friends' were important, was not simply that one's own friends were going to the same college, but that the people who are already attending were either people who 'I want to be identified with' or people who are perceived to be 'like me'. Sixteen year olds were very sensitive about these issues, and some respondents in the study defined the colleges by describing the kind of people already attending, and saying whether they would fit in. However, when asked to provide reasons for their choices, students typically offered other explanations - provided in the college marketing, which disguised the social and cultural influences on their choices, but revealed a good deal about the promotional messages provided by the colleges in that local area. The finding that reasons such as ‘pupils’ happiness’ and ‘a wish to be with friends’, have strongly influenced a final decision about choice of school can all too easily lead to the incorrect assumption that responding to consumers’ preferences is not worthwhile for those involved in marketing educational institutions. Much of the research on pupil and parental choice has failed to take into account the effects of the promotional activities of schools in the local area. A successful programme of promotional activities by one or more schools can result in a high proportion of the parents and pupils in the local area quoting from this information when asked to give reasons for choosing a school.
In order to compete in the market place a school needs to be able to make claims which distinguish it from competitors. This rarely means that the organisation must demonstrate superiority in all respects. The organisation needs to establish a position in the market place, based on its unique strengths, and find a way of conveying what those strengths are, to the most appropriate people, particularly parents and pupils. A clearly perceived difference between schools' relative strengths, helps reputation by clarifying the position of strength an organisation prides itself upon which contrasts with other schools in the local area.
Many schools think of themselves as organisations which encourage everyone, from all social, economic, racial (and frequently academic) backgrounds, to enter the institution, and gain from the benefits the school has to offer. In a market orientated climate however, an institution is more likely to be successful if it sets out to attract 'clusters' of people with similar attributes to those who have already shown their support for the institution. Although a mix of pupil population might be the eventual aim, this may only be achieved by gradually targeting identifiable groups of potential pupils and their parents, who are already predisposed to favour that school. The likelihood of attracting a very different type of student from those who already support the organisation in a market environment, may prove less fruitful. The basic approach is not to try to fit ‘consumers to a predetermined set of classifications; it is rather to derive new classifications from a study of the consumer.
Many parents and pupils will be unable to give reasons for choosing a particular school unless marketing and promotional activities by those schools, has provided the information. Students in the study were not able to express factors relevant to the making of a decision, until the colleges began to talk and write about the issues involved, and students made visits to colleges. Students then began quoting the marketing information to enable them to justify the choice they had made. They quoted many reasons which supported their choice, whether or not they were 'deciding factors' for that individual. This finding has important implications for those involved in education marketing, because the customers themselves 'spread the word' amongst other potential clients, and this contributes to the informal reputation a school has within the 'grapevine'. Word of mouth recommendation affects whether a pupil is 'predisposed' to make a particular choice.
The need to find reasons to support choices in this way is of vital importance to schools and colleges - because what is important is not so much the underlying reasons why people actually choose a school - it is what reasons they give to justify choosing that school. It is the reasons which justify the choice which will be conveyed to others, and contribute to the reputation of that school. Parents and pupils consider the effect their decision may have on others including relatives and friends when they announced their choice, and they therefore rely on the marketing information they have been exposed to, to justify and explain their choice. Marketing information helps people to persuaded themselves that they have made a good decision by emphasising the positive attributes of the school.
Marketing information in various forms must be provided by colleges to help students answer the question 'why are you choosing this college?' Parents and pupils will tend to quote this information when announcing their decision to others, to support their choice. Because choosers need to reinforce their decisions to reassure themselves they have made the best choice, they exaggerated the best qualities of that option, and therefore when announcing their decision to attend a particular school students tend to exaggerate its strengths.
Schools therefore need to provide marketing information which promotes the particular strengths of the organisation not only to help parents and pupils decide between the alternatives, but also to help students convey and justify their reasons to others. Bolstering or reinforcement, to support the final decision is an important element in the marketing process because it becomes the 'word of mouth' promotion, or the 'grapevine' which communicates the school's reputation, and helps to ensure that in the future, some students will be predisposed to favour the school because of information they have heard from others. Post hoc justification operates in a market place, and it is important for schools to allow for this in their promotional activities. Parents and pupils use the marketing information provided by schools to support a choice they have already made. It is also important to recognise the additional benefits which schools may gain through providing parents and pupils who have already chosen the school, with information which supports and provides reassurance for their choice. Telling people who have already chosen the school why they have made a good choice, is an important part of promoting the school’s good reputation.
Competition, may cause institutions to clarify their position in the market place. A school is regarded as a good choice, or excellent, because it is 'unique' in some way compared with other schools locally - sometimes regardless of whether that unique feature is appropriate for the child's own needs. Parents and pupils are likely to describe different schools as having different things which they are good at. They rarely describe one school as being excellent in all respects. ‘Uniqueness’ can convince parents and pupils that a school offers an identifiable area of expertise, and therefore they are prepared to believe it is 'excellent' in this particular respect, when they make comparisons between local schools.
Excellence however, does not necessarily speak for itself. If the factors which make the service excellent are not conveyed to students, and other interested parties, a decline in the demand may follow even though the school is 'excellent'. This ‘excellence’ must become part of the ‘grapevine’ of local information, which conveys messages about the reputations of local schools. Schools are in a position to influence the choice factors which operate in their local area. They are able to influence the ‘grapevine’. Choice factors are addressed by schools and colleges in their marketing activities.
The process of working in a more responsive way, relies upon gathering information and responding to client needs, as well as ensuring adequate information is provided for potential students to enable them to make well informed choices. Pupils and indeed many parents, rarely work out the positive reasons for choosing a school entirely by themselves. Marketing conveys positive information about schools, this information is internalised, and relied upon to defend choices. Potential pupils and their parents need to be given information about the options to help them to find reasons to choose one option rather than another, even though the initial reaction to a school might be based on social and cultural factors. Parents and pupils need these reasons, more importantly, to defend themselves and their choice when they announce the decision to others. This positive information is fed into the grapevine, and communicated to parents of younger potential pupils, to family and friends, and helps to promote the image and the reputation of the school. In this way marketing paves the way for gaining a 'reputation for excellence', and promotes a positive image of the institution in the minds of all 'opinion formers', which in turn reflects on the education system as a whole.