Time to Turn the Tide: Privatisation Trends in Education in the Caribbean
Questionnaire report The following survey results are drawn from a small, non-representative sample and are, therefore, not statistically generalisable. We intend for them to supplement data from the interview and documentary strands.
Parent survey Of the 64 responses, 60 were from Barbados and 4 from Trinidad and Tobago. The Barbadian responses came from the nursery (n = 4); primary (n = 6) and secondary sectors (n = 50). All four Trinidad and Tobago responses were from the primary sector, and three of the responses were from women. In the Barbados sample, 43 of the 60 respondents were women. 32 respondents reported that their child’s school was ‘better than average’, 31 thought it was ‘average’ and one stated it was ‘worse than average’. Respondents were asked how evident seven items from the longer list of privatising features were, in their experience (the other items on the list not being applicable to parents). Responses were either a) not at all (=0); b) somewhat evident (=1); or very evident (=2). A ‘don’t know’ response was possible, but not counted in the analysis. We calculated the mode of their responses in order to arrive at the following ranking, from most to least evident: 1. You choose the school that your child attends (0=12, 1=20, 2=32). 2. You pay additional fees for essential items, e.g. textbooks, paper, pens (0=14, 1=18, 2=32). 3. You pay for private tuition (0=31, 1=11, 2=22). 4. You pay additional fees for extra-curricular activities (0=37, 1=15, 2=12). 5. Teachers have a professional qualification (0=41, 1=13, 2=10). 6. Teachers sometimes teach outside their specialism (e.g. age group or subject) (0=39, 1=21, 2=4). 7. School places are accessed through vouchers (0=62, 1=2, 2=0). When asked which of these features impacted them most as parents, their collective ranking was as follows: parent choice (28 mentions); private tuition (27); teacher qualifications (26); fees for essential items 31
