The factors influencing parents' intention to send children aged between 8-18 years old to study in UK boarding schools

Abstract

Children’s education is the most important decision for parents who would like to select the best school for their children. Therefore, parents are the most influential factor over their children’s education. Thailand currently faces with the problems in education. According to the report of 2016 World Economic Forum, the rank of Thailand’s education dropped from 86 to 90 in 2015. This study aims to investigate the factors influencing parents’ intention to send children to study abroad in UK boarding schools by using the factors from previous studies in different countries. The researchers used online and offline questionnaires to conduct the research on 389 respondents who are parents and have intention to send their children to study abroad. The limitation of this research is that it focuses only parents of children in a certain age group or children aged 8-18 years old living in Thailand. The finding suggested all four variables factors: Country Image, Personal Growth, Social Factor and Cost and Durations significantly influence parents’ intention to send children to study in UK Boarding schools. In conclusion, this paper found that Personal Growth is the most significant influence on parents’ intention to send their children to study in UK boarding schools.