School Choice Motives and Expectations of Parents Choosing an Alternative School

Abstract

Choosing a school is an important milestone in a family’s life, with parents aiming to choose the best possible school for their child’s education and upbringing (Andor & Liskó, 1999). As a result, school choice has become a focus of interest in educational research and a number of studies have explored the determinants of school choice, expectations of school and parents’ perceptions of school, typically using questionnaire research methods with a large sample size. The present study aims to complement these findings by presenting the results of a qualitative analysis based on a survey of parents who were interested in alternative schools, which was conducted on a public group of alternative school seekers on a popular social media platform, using content analysis to examine posts in which parents were looking for alternative schools for their children.