Evaluating Parental Preferences for Preschool Education in Malaysia: A Case Study of Kindergartens in Pulau Pinang

Abstract

The study aims to investigate the factors that affect the parent’s choice of preschools in Malaysia. The quantitative research design was adopted to carry out the research. A questionnaire was uploaded on the Internet and dispersed to the target population consisting of parents who send their children to preschools. A total of 100 competed questionnaires were collected and processed and analyzed statistically. The findings showed that the main factors that affected the decision of parents to choose a preschool were curriculum factors, academic factors, school-parent relationships, and school facilities. The findings suggest that Malaysian parents attach a lot of importance to the quality of the curriculum, positive academic factors, their relationship with the school, the school facilities. Based on these findings, it is suggested that Malaysian preschools can enhance the attractiveness of their brands by enhancing the quality of their curriculum, ensuring better quality academic related factors, creating stronger and closer school-parent relationships and ensuring that their preschools equipped with modern and attractive facilities.