This case study investigates factors influencing Hong Kong Chinese parents’ selection of an English single sex boarding school for their daughters’ education, and examines their experiences as parents in this context. The wider context of cultural changes in post-colonial Hong Kong, and globalization alongside neoliberal values in the marketization of education shaped the awkward positionality of parents as consumers in the independent sector, and implications for rights and role of the child in the school selection process. The target population of all Hong Kong Chinese parents at the school were invited to complete an electronic questionnaire, and from these several were approached for further interviews. The rich data from this two-phase study were analysed within a conceptual framework combining Mazzarol & Soutar’s (2002) push-pull factors with Bourdieu’s capitals theories. Findings highlighted the primary importance of single-sex education for daughters for this group of parents, marginally above the selection of the UK as a destination due to familiar post-colonial institutions, the global importance of the English language and a safe environment for daughters. Academic excellence and the development of independent behaviours and global outlooks were highly desirable outcomes, which sometimes sat uneasily beside a discernible protectionist agenda for girls, with parents seeking reproduction of privilege across several dimensions. With the limitations of generalisability of a case study, there were clear implications for understanding cultural contexts when marketing independent schools internationally and for pastoral care of daughters in conjunction with parents of daughters in similar school contexts.
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Holloway, Laura
Supervisors: Gilson, Catharine
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences\School of Education
MA Education
2017
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