Perceived quality management of educational services from the perspective of parents as stakeholders

Abstract

Introduction. Quality is crucial for education as competition in the education services market is steadily intensifying. The critical attitude of participants in education requires improving the quality of work of educational organizations, their effectiveness and efficiency. Those educational organizations wishing to maintain or improve their position in the market are forced to work intensively to improve their work and increase their responsiveness to the needs of users. Secondary schools need to be aware that the ultimate arbiter of quality of the educational services they provide are stakeholders (parents) as one of primary customers of educational services.
 Aim and tasks. The objective of the study is to determine the dimensions of the expected and perceived quality of educational services from parents’ perspective and to identify if they coincide with the dimensions in the classical gap model. Qualitative research that provides insight into the perspectives of parents on the quality of educational services and their understanding of the quality concepts was conducted.
 Results. Based on the results of preliminary qualitative research, we have drawn up dimensions of perceived and expected quality of educational services: environment, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. The dimensions obtained through the focus group discussion of parents correspond to the dimensions in the classical GAP Model of Service Quality. Elements of assessment of parents' expectations and perception of the quality of educational services are considered (dimensions, tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy).
 Conclusions. The objective of this study was to identify the expectations and perceptions of parents as primary customers of educational services. The insight into the perspectives of parents on the quality of educational services and their understanding of the quality concepts was obtained with qualitative. Further on the dimensions of the expected and perceived quality of educational services from parents’ perspective were identified. It was confirmed that the dimensions identified in this research coincide with the dimensions in the classical gap model. Based on the results of the parents’ focus group and the original SERVQUAL instrument the questionnaire was designed and used in further research.