The determinants of parents school choice between public and private schools case study of high schools in ha noi

List of variables used in model Y Choice of parents 1 if child goes to public school, 0 if private school Dummy Variables 1: Public school 0: Private school Dummy Variables 1: Primary s

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

LUONG THI AN

THE DETERMINANTS OF PARENTS’ SCHOOL CHOICE BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS: CASE STUDY IN HIGH SCHOOLS IN

HA NOI

DISCIPLINE: Economics MAJOR: Public Policy CODE: 8340402.01

RESEARCH SUPERVISOR:

Dr Nguyen Thuy Anh

Dr Kawaguchi Jun

Hanoi, June 2020

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

RESEARCH SUPERVISOR:

Dr Nguyen Thuy Anh

Dr Kawaguchi Jun

Hanoi, June 2020

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 5

1.1 Research background 5

1.2 Research purpose 8

1.4 Research question 8

1.5 Hypothesis 8

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 9

2.1 Definition of terms 9

2.2 Literature review on previous research 10

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 15

3.1 Methodology 15

3.2 Survey site 19

3.3 Survey process 20

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS & DISCUSSION 21

4.1 Summary of survey 21

4.1.1 The ratio of public and private schools in the survey 21

4.1.2 Gender of parents and children in the survey 21

4.1.3 The frequency & ratio of school characteristics choosen by parents in survey 23

4.2 Findings from the survey 27

4.2.1 The logistic regression results 27

4.2.2 In-depth interview 32

CHAPTER 5: IMPLICATIONS 38

5.1 Implications 38

5.2 Limitations and further study 40

Appendix 1: Survey questionnaires 43

Appendix 2: List of in-depth interview questions 51

Appendix 3: Logistic Regression Model 52

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

First of all, I would like to send my thankfulness and appriciation to my supervisor

Dr Nguyen Thuy Anh, Dr Jun Kawaguchi during the time conducting research Without of their guidence and consultations, I would not accurately determine on the research and my thesis

Secondly, I would like to express my gratitude to Prof.Okamoto, Dr.Vu Hoang Linh and Dr Dang Quang Vinh for giving me feedbacks and advice to complete my thesis I also appreciate the support from Japan side, my tutor - Ms Misaki Sato,

Ms Sakuma gave me the approriate advise to upgrade my research and presentation

in Japan

Besides, I would like to say thanks to assisstants Ms.Nguyen Thi Mai Phuong, Ms Pham Thu Ha, Ms.Pham Lan Huong for their supporting during the intership in Japan and my two-year studying at Vietnam Japan University

It would not make possible if there was no help from parents who conducted my online survey, even though I do not know them all Especially, I would like to express my gratitude to whom gave me time to do an interview with them

Lastly, I would send great thanks to my family who spends time with me, and besides me all the time with the best encouragement

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2: Component of model of School Choice 14

Figure 4.1 The ratio of public & private school in the survey 21

Figure 4.2 The ratio of parents gender in the survey 22

Figure 4.3 The ratio of children in public schools by gender 22

Figure 4.4 The ratio of children in private schools by gender 23

Table 4.4 The logistic regression result of the first model second model 27

Table 4.6 The second model’s classification table 29

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1: The number of public and private school, student and student/teacher

ratio 6

Table 1.2: Goal of promoting non-public sector in education 7

Table 2 Literature on previous research 10

Table 3.1 List of variables used in model 16

Table 3.2 Table of classification of parents in the in-depth interview 20

Table 4.1 The frequency & ratio of school characteristics chosen by parents in general 23

Table 4.2 The frequency & ratio of school characteristics chosen by parents in Private school 25

Table 4.3 The frequency & ratio of school characteristics chosen by parents in Public school 26

Table 4.4 The logistic regression result of the first model second model 27

Table 4.5 The first model‟s classification table 28

Table 4.6 The second model‟s classification table 29

Table 4.7 The logistic regression result of the third model 29

Table 4.8: The third model‟s classification table 30

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research background

In Vietnam, education is recognized as a national priority as, since 2018, the government has spent 20% of its budget on education1 Socialization education has been paid special attention due to an important role in the development of education, it is a decisive factor for socio-economic development

In Vietnam, educational socialization was officially introduced since Resolution No 90/ND - CP (August 21, 1997) In the resolution, directions and guidelines for the socialization of educational, health and cultural activities have been raised In particularly, the expansion of investment sources, utilizing the potentials of human, material and financial resources in the society, has been emphasized Also, the government promotes and uses effectively private resources, creating conditions for educational development and higher quality It can be seen that education socialization refers to the process of transferring educational activities carried out

by the public to private In other words, socialization of education involves the process of privatization, transfer of public educational institutions to the private, individuals implemented under the management of the state According to Article

16 of the Education Law 2019: All organizations, families, and citizens are responsible for caring for education, the government plays the leading role, diversifying types of schools and forms of education Socializing education needs to

be understood with two basic contents: firstly, mobilizing social resources to perform educational tasks; secondly, transferring the implementation of the educational tasks directly performed by the State to non-state organizations and individuals complying with state regulations, standards and requirements In the context of financial shortage from the state budget, the policy of educational socialization needs to be strengthened, so people can participate in the educational sector

1

Article 96, Education Law 2019

In the context of Vietnam's implementation of socialization policies, the number of private schools has increased

Table 1.1: The number of public and private school, student and

Public schools

Private school

Public schools

Private school

Public schools

Private school Number of

Schools 2327 440 2348 440 2376 435 2393 441 Number of

Student 2264503 175416 2250972 174158 2290929 186246 2313315 195249 Number of

class 54672 7592 55151 6822 55887 7070 68869 8642 Student/teacher

ratio 16.45 12.24 16.37 12.97 16.74 13.41 17.1 13.49

Source: Combined by author based on data of MOET 2

According to Resolution No 35/ND-CP (June 4, 2019) on “strengthened mobilization of resource in the community for development of education and training in the 2019 – 2025 period”, which is regarding about strengthening the mobilization of social resources for investment in education and training development in the period of 2019 - 2025, there are all forms of private education in all local with 2,955 establishments (accounting for 6.68% of the 44,228 educational institutions), 1.35 million students (accounting for 6% of 22.5 million students) For higher education, there are currently 65 private higher education institutions with total of 244 thousand students, accounting for 13.8% of the total number of students nationwide, and there are 5 foreign higher education institutions operating in Vietnam, training over 5,000 students annual For vocational education, by the end

of 2018, there are all 1,948 vocational training institutions (including 397 colleges,

519 secondary schools, 1032 vocational education centers), including 677 private vocational training institutions and foreign-invested vocational training institutions (accounting for 34.7%)

2

Ministry of Education and Training

Mobilizing social resources for education and training is not a substitution but an important supplement to the state budget, contributing to increasing the total investment resources for education and training, improve the efficiency of state budget use at public facilities

Table 1.2: Goal of promoting non-public sector in education

Sources: Combined by author based on Resolution No.35/ND-CP (4/6/2019)

As can be seen from table 1.2, the goal of promoting the mobilization of social resources set up by Vietnamese government is to reach 8.75% of nonpublic educational institutions of the total and 8.9% of students by 2020 and 13.5% and 16% respectively by 2025 Especially, for all level of education, by 2020, the base rate and the number of students attending private schools reached at 2.3% and 2.6% respectively; by 2025, the base rate and the number of students attending private institution is 2.7% and 3%.3

Public schools have been supported by the government while private schools run at their own expense, the difference between public and private schools is perceived as quality, facilities, and curriculum, …According to Coleman (1987), private schools produce better cognitive outcomes, provide a safer, more disciplined and structured learning environment So, private schools‟ tuition will be higher than in public schools Many studies have investigated the correlation between education and social mobility, they believe that the more education investment for children, the better their children's future is, that shows the choice of schools plays an important role In Viet Nam, for all level of education, there are two options between public

3 Resolution No 35/ND-CP (4/6/2019) on strengthened mobilization of resource in the community for development of education and training in the 2019 – 2025 period

and private schools According to the theory of rational choice, parents will be rational actor who decides the value preference for their children However, school choice depends on many factors such as family background, parent educational status…Therefore, the study focuses on the factors that influence parents' choice between public and private schools

1.3 Significance of study

There are contribution

1.4 Research question

The research is conducted based on the main question:

What are the determinants of school choice between public and private schools in

Ha Noi?

1.5 Hypothesis

The determinants of school choice between public and private schools are: parents‟s educational background, school characteristics (distance, quality,…) Among these factors, parents‟s educational background will be the main factor influencing on parents choice of public and private schools

1.6 Structure of the thesis

The thesis includes 5 chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Literature review

Chapter 3: Methodology

Chapter 4: Findings from survey

Chapter 5: Conclusion and implication

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definition of terms

Privatization is a process that can be defined as “the transfer of activities, assets and

responsibilities from government/public institutions and organizations to private

individuals and agencies” (Shanthi, 2008) Education privatization occurs in one of

the following forms: private provision of education (by private entities, generally receiving government subsidies), private funding and private regulation, decision-making and accountability (education services being monitored by those who receive the services directly - students and their families)

Socialization: According to the Mouveau Petit Larousse dictionary (1969),

socialization is process of turning productive materials and exchanging them into public goods Although there are various different definitions, however, in Vietnam, the term of "socialization" began from the Resolution of the 4th Central Conference (Session VII): Socialization policy issues are solved in the spirit of socialization Socialization is the process of transferring the contents and tasks of social policies that the State does not necessarily have to integrate, and shift them to private and private organizations on the basis of regulations and standards required by government In many cases, Gainsborough (2010) defined that “socialization does imply the involvement of private actors, similar to the term „equitization‟ c phần hóa) that refers to the gradual privatization of state-owned enterprises”

Socialization Educational Policy: Socializing education is an educational policy that has been implemented in many countries in the world Depending on the country and the stage, this term is understood in many different ways such as decentralization, long life education, learning society, and community education The term of socialization education indicate education for everyone and everyone doing education

Public school: “This is a school managed directly or indirectly by a public

education authority, government agency, or governing board appointed by government or elected by public franchise.” (OECD, 2009) According to Education

Law 2019, public schools are run and gruaranted operational conditions by the state

or government

Private school: “This is a school managed directly or indirectly by a

non-government organisation; e.g a church, trade union, business, or other private institution.” (OECD, 2009) Private schools are run gruaranted operational

conditions by domestic investors or foreign investors (Education Law 2019)

2.2 Literature review on previous research

Table 2 shows the literature review on previous research, and the contributions and limitations for each of research paper are pointed out

Table 2 Literature on previous research

Researcher Contributions Methodology Limitations

1

Empirical

Research

Khan.E.A.R, Raza.M, 2011,

Educated parents and distance of public school tends parents send their children to private schools

Quantitative method: Logit Model

✓Mention only the physical characteristi

c of school

2

Naeem.U.R, Jangraiz.K, Muhammad.T, Sajjad.T,

2010

Family size, parent education, teacher qualification, school performance are the factors affect parents' schooling choice

From the finding, private schools should

be encouraged

Quantitative method:

Y=β_0+β_1 I+β_2 Ed+β_3 Fs+β_4 DPbS+β_5 SP+β_6 WQS+β_7 MOI+β_8 LTI+U_i

✓The combine of parent education is hard to see the how educated parent influences

on school choice

higher-Quantitative method:

Conditional logit model, Rank-ordered logit model

✓Focus on the school characteristi

c

4

Paul.G, Harry.A.P,

1999

Parental education is

an important determinants of who goes to school at all

Voucher (or scholarship) should be implemented to

promote school choice

Quantitative method:

Multinomial Logistic Model

✓Analyzing for all level

of education, not focus on specific level

5

Theoretica

l Research

Ellen B.G, Kristie.J.R.P,

2008

Discuss about how and why parent exercise school choice From that, the increasing attention to vouchers, tuition tax credits and other policies diminish financial barriers to private school choice Qualitative

✓Analyzing under parent perspective

6

Williams, Mary.F, 1983

The general model of school choice is presented, two indicator of socioeconomic status and household income

Quantitative and

qualitative methods

Research is conducted for many years, the social has changed

has substantial direct and indirect effect on school choice

7

Heidi.H.E,

2017

Parents consider a variety of factors that are specific to their circumstances when participating in private school choice, and they make trade-offs among their

preferences based on their experiences and needs

On-desk research

Focusing on literature review on public school choice under parent's perspective

Quality of education is not only factor but parent social network, school visit and talks with teachers are majority factors

Qualitative method

There is a narrow slice

of the population that engage

in elementary school choice

Overview of public and private school and implication of policy

on funding schools

On-desk research

Overview of private school in OECD countries

Source: Combined by author

Working out with the determinants of school choice in parents perpective, Lynn.B(2004) investigated that social networks play an important role in showing the decission making of parent, from the information that parents access their network the accuracy choice would be decided On this point, Ellen B Goldring & Kristie J.R Phillips (2008) investigated that there are two type of social networks which are interpersonal network and formal network Both of them inform the school choice of parents

Beside of that, demographic differences was discovered as another factor In 2011, Khan Rana Ejaz Ali and Raza Maryam4 published a paper in which they described that the the child‟s school choice be influence on characteristics of the parents They also found that parents with educational background are likely choose private schools for their children It explains the educated parents choose private schooling has positive rate It is concluded that parents with high education give more expense

to the facilities of the private sector schooling Further more, educated parents are likely to have higher income so that it could be understandable that they have more choice on private school In addition, some of documents indicated that parents who get higher educational have tendency of considering the importance of education, and they are more likely to find out information on the varieties of educational choices

Paul.G, Harry.A.P (1999) published on their paper that as incomes of Vietnamese the more households have countinuing increase, the more parents are willing to spend on education

From the table 2, it can be understood that there are huge number of research on school choice both empirical and theoritical research The research gap is studied on the situation in Viet Nam the determinants of school choice between public and

private schools in Ha Noi Authour will conduct emperical research

4

Reference

The model of school choice

The model of parental choice is depicted as Figure 2 The model will be utilized to design the research and analysis

There are three factors as independent variables: household characteristics, parent attitudes about schools, previous schooling decisions These factors are expected to influence on the choice of a school Household characteristics affect to other factors (parents‟ attitudes about schools and previous schooling decisions)

Figure 2: Component of model of School Choice

Source: Parent and School Choice: Household Survey 5

In the model there are three factors of parents school-choice However, one more factor “children‟s will and characteristic” is added more on the model, as finding be pointed out that “children are choosing schools rather than their parents” (Mainda, 2001) This is factor designed in questionnaires by question that wherether or not parents consult with children before they send their child to high school that they choose

5

Mary.F Williams, Parents and school choice: Household Survey (1983)

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

The research is conducted with mixed-method: qualitative method and quantitative method The quantitative method is used to estimate what is the main factor influence on school choice between public and private schools based on secondary data The data from survey will be employed and processed through SPSS software, and binomial logit model and will be applied for analysis The independence variables are anticipated: mother‟s schooling, father‟s schooling, household expenditure for education, household size, …

3.1 Methodology

There are number of factors influence on the parents‟ choice in selection of schools

In modelling the school choice, we assume that there are two choice for school: private schools and public schools The dependent variable in this research

high-is school choice between public and private schools, which high-is defined as:

- Public school: Y = 1

- Private school: Y = 0

If p is the probability that the parents choose public school

then 1-p will be the probability of choosing private school

The standard of model is:

As in this study we have:

Y= CHOICE = f(CGen, MEdu, Fedu, HhPCY, HhSiz, SchRep, TchQua, SchFac, LagPro, Dist, Fee, SchSer, EntRa, AcRate, ChilCa)

We have the empirical form of the model as below:

Y =

Table 3.1 List of variables used in model

Y (Choice of parents)

1 if child goes to public school, 0 if private school

Dummy Variables 1: Public school 0: Private school

Dummy Variables 1: Primary school 2: Secondary school 3: High school 4: Undergraduate level 5: Graduated level

MEdu (Mother's

education)

Mother's education in completed years of education

Dummy Variables 1: Primary school 2: Secondary school 3: High school 4: Undergraduate level 5: Graduated level

Sala Family Salary

Dummy Variables 1: Under 20 million VND 2: From 20 million VND to

40 million VND 3: From 40 million VND to

60 million VND 4: From 60 million VND to

80 million VND 5: Upper 80 million VND

SchRep School reputation

Dummy variables 4: Extremely Important 3: Very important 2: Moderately important 1: Slightly important 0: No more at all important

TeaQua Teacher Qualification

Dummy variables 4: Extremely Important 3: Very important 2: Moderately important 1: Slightly important 0: No more at all important

SchFac School facilities

Dummy variables 4: Extremely Important 3: Very important 2: Moderately important 1: Slightly important 0: No more at all important

LagPro Language program

Dummy variables 4: Extremely Important 3: Very important 2: Moderately important 1: Slightly important 0: No more at all important

Dist Distance of school from

the house

Dummy variables 4: Extremely Important 3: Very important 2: Moderately important 1: Slightly important 0: No more at all important

Dummy variables 4: Extremely Important 3: Very important 2: Moderately important 1: Slightly important 0: No more at all important

SchSer Service of school

Dummy variables 4: Extremely Important 3: Very important 2: Moderately important 1: Slightly important 0: No more at all important

Dummy variables 4: Extremely Important 3: Very important 2: Moderately important 1: Slightly important

0: No more at all important

AcRate University Acceptance

rate

Dummy variables 4: Extremely Important 3: Very important 2: Moderately important 1: Slightly important 0: No more at all important

ChilCa Children Capacity

Dummy variables 4: Extremely Important 3: Very important 2: Moderately important 1: Slightly important 0: No more at all important

Source: Listed by author

The qualitative method is designed with in-depth interview to clarify parent‟s decision of school choice for their children The questionnaires are created based on the component of school choice model which is introduced in literature review, and Likert scale will be used to measure for each factor The survey was planned to conduct in Ha Noi with the aim of interviewing 9 parents who have children are student in public schools or private schools

3.2 Survey site

Hanoi is the capital of Viet Nam with the area of over 3000 square kilometre, and the estimated population of over 8 million, it is the second largest city in Vietnam Located in the northwest of the red river delta, Ha noi is the commercial, cultural, and educational centre of Northern Vietnam The nominal GDP of Ha Noi is estimated about US$32.8, it is considered the second most productive economic center of Vietnam Beside of that, Ha Noi is the largest center of education in Viet

Nam, and most of university in Viet Nam are located in Ha Noi For the high school level, there are the majority of public high school in Ha Noi.

Ha Noi is chosen as a case study for some reasons Firstly, Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, which has 30 districts with both rural and urban areas, thus, it can be used

to analyze regional and geographical differences in school choice Secondly, Hanoi has a high number of private schools (33%) out of all high schools, much more than other cities in Vietnam so it is suitable for analysis

3.3 Survey process

As planned, the survey will be conducted at 10 public and private schools in Hanoi However, due to the outbreak of Covid-19, an online survey was conducted instead The method used in data collection is the snowball method The survey was conducted from April 17th to May 5th, and out of the 162 questionnaires collected,

8 questionnaires could not be utilized due to incorrect and illogical information Thus, 154 valid answers can be used for analysis

For the in-depth interview, each interview was taken place in 20 minutes for further information which could explain detail the choice between public and private schools Due to the effect of Covid-19, the author could not arrange direct meetings with informants, instead of that, the author connected to parents who are willing to join the in-depth interview by the phone call that supplied by them in the online questionnaires The interview be conducted with nine parents, three parents have children in private schools, and the rest are parents who have children in public schools

The table below is the classification of interviewees by the region and type of school

Table 3.2 Table of classification of parents in the in-depth interview

Urban area Rural area Total

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS & DISCUSSION 4.1 Summary of survey

4.1.1 The ratio of public and private schools in the survey

The number of students attending public schools in Hanoi is the majority (69%) over private school (31%), this can be seen through some reasons: the number of private schools in Hanoi (73 schools) is a half of the number of public schools (147 schools), and the number of students per class of private schools is less than public schools

Figure 4.1 The ratio of public & private school in the survey

Source: Collected by author

4.1.2 Gender of parents and children in the survey

The chart below shows that 85% of the participants are mothers of high school students, while the remaining 15% are fathers This can be understood that in Vietnamese culture particularly, mothers are more concerned about their children‟s education than their fathers

69%

31%

Public school Private school

Figure 4.2 The ratio of parents gender in the survey

Source: Collected by author

The chart shows the ratio of students attending public and private schools by gender We can see that the percentage of female students attending public schools (56%) is larger than male students attending private schools (44%)

Figure 4.3 The ratio of children in public schools by gender

In contrast to this, in the case of private schools which have 82% of male students going to private schools while only 18% of female students going to private schools

Figure 4.4 The ratio of children in private schools by gender

Source: Collected by author

From the ratio of children in public and private schools by gender, it seems that female students are likely to attend public schools rather than private schools Nevertheless, male students are likely to attend private schools rather than public schools

4.1.3 The frequency & ratio of school characteristics choosen by parents in survey

The descriptive statistic table 4.1 shows that in general, there are three factors that parents concerned most in choosing schools for their children: school is suitable for children's ability, teacher qualification, and university acceptance rate

Table 4.1 The frequency & ratio of school characteristics chosen by parents in

general

Important Very important

Moderately important

Slightly important

No more at all important

Frequency Ratio Frequency Ratio Frequency Ratio Frequency Ratio Frequency Ratio

Source: Collected by author

In general, parents who have students attending private schools thought that “school

is suitable for children ability” and “teacher qualification” is the main factor

In table 4.1, there are 74.48% of parents who regard “school is suitable for children ability” as the most important factor when they choose schools, following is

“teacher qualification” with 68,97%, and the third factor is “university acceptance rate” which 50.34% of parents concern extremely important

Table 4.2 The frequency & ratio of school characteristics chosen by parents in

Private school

Extremely Important Very important

Moderately important

Slightly important

No more at all important Frequency Ratio Frequency Ratio Frequency Ratio Frequency Ratio Frequency Ratio School

Source: Collected by author

This trend is the same with public school and private school From table 4.2, it can

be seen that 80% of parents in case of private schools concern “school is suitable for children ability” and “teacher qualification” as crucial factors

Additionally, “school facilities” is third factor which the ratio of parents who think

this factor is extremely important is 64.44% Obviously, this could be understood

that private schools invest on school facitilites to make learning ability environment

and attract more student entering

Table 4.3 The frequency & ratio of school characteristics chosen by parents in

Public school

Important Very important

Moderately important Slightly important

No more at all important

Frequency Ratio Frequency Ratio Frequency Ratio Frequency Ratio Frequency Ratio

In the case of public school, “school suitable for children ability” and “teacher qualification” are also two influential factors with the percentage of 72% and 64%

To compare with private school, while 33.33% of parents in private school think that entrance ratio is extremely important, the percentage of this factor in public school is 54%, which is the third factor following two factors above

In conclusion, “school suitable for children ability” and “teacher qualification” are most concerned in general, both parents in public and private school choose schools for their children consider these factor are most important For the third factor, parents in public school choose “entrance ratio” while parents in private school choose “school facilities”

4.2 Findings from the survey

4.2.1 The logistic regression results

Firstly, the logistic regression model is run with all variables, and the result is depicted in the Model 1 in table 4.4 as below:

Table 4.4 The logistic regression result of the first model second model