School Satisfaction Exit Survey for Parents

Schooling is a huge part of life for young people and their families. It is an investment of time and money. Yet often schools fail to ask or acknowledge what parents think as their child leaves the school.

When a family leaves is the crucial moment to ask WHY?  Unless you take time to ASK and RECORD this vital information school marketers can be operating blind.

This Satisfaction Survey for Parents contains three sections.

1. Section 1 is 35 statements where parents can rate their response from 1 to 5
2. Section 2 contains some more open text questions as well as tick boxes for future plans
3. Section 3 is a mix of tick boxes to allow parents to indicate if there are areas of concern and add any further comments or explain why their child is leaving the school.

Each survey would take approximately 10 minutes to complete depending on how many written comments are added.

Take a look at the type of questions and the survey layout on Online Family Exit Survey Sample 

There is also a Satisfaction Survey for Parents of Year 12 School Leavers.  

Refer to the webpage "Year 12 Survey"

How to organise a Satisfaction Exit Survey for my school

Think about who you want to survey, what information would help you, and the nature of your school community. Then contact Centre for Marketing Schools to discuss the best strategy.

Surveys work best when provided in a variety of formats. Online and paper based surveys are the most common. However some schools also use them in an interview style format to 'catch' people face to face. This can make the process far more personal. Recognise that every method has advantages and disadvantages.

School EXIT Surveys can reveal why families leave

The Centre for Marketing Schools has conducted many exit surveys for a range of schools and can detect a pattern as to why parents withdraw from a school. Frequently the findings from the surveys do not match the assumed reasons given by the school for the exodus they are experiencing. For example, a common assumption/ excuse for withdrawal given by schools is that the families who are leaving the school are leaving the district.

Results indicate that relocation is not a dominant reason. School performance holds a much stronger position. Fee-paying schools commonly equate a withdrawal with a failure in the financial capacity of the departing family to pay the fees.

In CMS surveys this does not appear to be a dominant reason, as parents frequently reveal that their newly selected school demands equal or higher financial contributions. The feedback does show that financial considerations are clearly on the minds of discerning parents who shop around and compare schools.

What are the most frequent reasons for families leaving a school?

The three that come out on top are: staff don’t understand and appreciate my child’s best qualities, our concerns/ complaints have not been properly addressed, the school has not lived up to our expectations.

Other reasons of lesser statistical significance relate to academic rigour, lax discipline, bullying and subject choices.

In the written-response section parents are able to add further comments, and here it is possible to pick up on personal issues that apply to a particular family, and deep feelings that have led them to a decision to move.