What 3,000+ parents told us about independent schooling
In case you missed it, the good folks at Independent Schools Queensland have released the results of the 2025 What Parents Want Survey.
In many ways, it reinforced what we learned from the previous survey in 2021, which is good news because it means we’re in an era of stability.
Here’s my top takeaways for school marketers and school leaders:
Who do you think you’re talking to?
A whopping 88% of parents said their child had a say in where they go to school – 39% said they were highly influenced by their kid’s choice and 16% said their child had total say in the matter.
Everyone’s talking about Millennials (Gen Y) and Gen Z parents, but Gen X (born 1965-1980) still make up a large proportion of parents (or maybe they just like filling out surveys).
We’re (still) playing the long game
The majority of parents (44%) are taking 2-5 years to choose a school – a further 14% are deciding from birth and 9% from before birth.
All hail Word of Mouth
Word of mouth from families, friends and colleagues continues to reign supreme. Make sure your families have good stories to tell and the customer experience is [chef's kiss].
What you need to know about the third P (promotion)
Open days and formal school visits are highly rated (pah to anyone who declares Open Days are dead).
Only 36% of parents rate social media as very/extremely useful. Don’t mistake it for a bigger hitter than it actually is.
Your time would be better spent on your website – 92% of parents will visit your website… with more than half of them visiting it 2-5 times.
Prospectuses aren’t setting anyone’s world on fire. That doesn’t mean ditch them - it means we need to make them worth reading.
Jumping Ship
Almost one in four parents have considered changing schools (ouch).
The top reasons? Poor school management, followed by weak communication and parent engagement (double ouch).
So, what do we do with all this?
We need to keep our eyes on the long game, double down on the customer experience, and remember one thing above all: if the kid’s not sold, the parents won’t be either.
Queensland Independent Schools can grab the full report from the ISQ portal. Many thanks to ISQ for conducting this incredibly important market research for schools.