Statement – Tony Cre­han, Exec­u­tive Director Inde­pen­dent Schools Tasmania, 14 October 2021

SA School Choice Report 2021

Inde­pen­dent Schools Tas­ma­nia wel­comes the lat­est research from Inde­pen­dent Schools Aus­tralia. The School Choice report looks at the pri­or­i­ties, opin­ions and per­spec­tives from around 2,000 par­ents of stu­dents at inde­pen­dent, gov­ern­ment and Catholic schools, from across all states and ter­ri­to­ries in Australia.

In 2021, ISA sur­veyed around 2,000 par­ents of stu­dents at inde­pen­dent, gov­ern­ment and Catholic schools, from across all states and ter­ri­to­ries in Aus­tralia. The sur­vey found that 82% of inde­pen­dent school par­ents thought inde­pen­dent schools had adjust­ed well to the chang­ing school envi­ron­ment brought about by the pandemic.

ISA’s lat­est School Choice Report offers an insight­ful reflec­tion on the atti­tudes of par­ents from all across Aus­tralia. This report offers a rare glimpse into the feel­ings of our com­mu­ni­ty, with respons­es pro­vid­ed by par­ents from all across Aus­tralia. Thank­ful­ly, the report sig­nals a clear sat­is­fac­tion with inde­pen­dent school­ing, giv­ing fur­ther hope for the con­tin­ued suc­cess of our schools, teach­ers and students.

A key take­away from this report was the gen­er­al sat­is­fac­tion and will­ing­ness of par­ents from inde­pen­dent schools to pro­mote inde­pen­dent school­ing fur­ther; with 87% of respon­dents will­ing to rec­om­mend an inde­pen­dent school to friends and fam­i­ly. Anoth­er pleas­ing find­ing was the gen­er­al sat­is­fac­tion with the response to the unique chal­lenges that COVID cre­at­ed for edu­ca­tors with­in the inde­pen­dent school sec­tor. These two sta­tis­tics, along with the remain­ing find­ings of the report, estab­lish a promis­ing pic­ture for the future and con­tin­ued suc­cess of inde­pen­dent school­ing in Australia.