Abstract
This study examined factors that influence Chinese parents' choice of medium in primary schools in Sarawak, Malaysia. A questionnaire that was based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour was administered to investigate the influence of attitudes towards school, social pressure (subjective norms) and perceived behavioural control on parents' intentions for school choice. The survey was conducted with 397 Chinese respondents who had children in one of 21 Chineseand Malay-medium schools in Kuching, Sarawak. The results showed that the strongest influence on primary school choice was perceived behavioural control, which is the extent to which parents felt capable of paying fees and enrolling their children in the school of their choice. Positive attitudes towards Chinese schools also predicted choice for Chinese-medium schools. Parents who wanted their children to learn Mandarin and Mathematics and to have a Chinese cultural appreciation chose Chinese-medium schools. However, subjective norms had little influence on school choice. Collectively, attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control accounted for 44.0% and 32.4% of the variance in Chinese parents' intentions to choose Chinese- and Malay-medium schools, respectively. The findings suggest that there may be other factors that influence school choice, which should be investigated using interviews.
Highlights
To date, studies in multilingual settings have shown that language prestige and practical concerns affect school choice
The results showed that the strongest influence on primary school choice was perceived behavioural control, which is the extent to which parents felt capable of paying fees and enrolling their children in the school of their choice
The present study investigated Chinese parents' school choice soon after making the choice, that is, when their children were in primary school
Summary
Studies in multilingual settings have shown that language prestige and practical concerns affect school choice. In South Africa, Evans and Cleghorn's (2014) survey showed that more parents preferred schools that offered English and Afrikaans compared to English-medium schools. In Singapore, the medium of instruction is not important for school choice because both public and privately funded international schools use English. In Malaysia, Malay (the national and official language) is the medium of instruction in public schools, and English is taught as a second language. Chinese, Tamil, Kadazandusun and Iban have been offered as subjects in public primary schools, which are referred to as Sekolah Kebangsaan, or national schools. These national schools are fully funded by the government. For non-language subjects, the national and national-type schools use the same syllabus that is determined by the Ministry of Education
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