How School Choice Is Framed by Parental Preferences and Family Characteristics: A Study of Western Area,Sierra Leone

This research set out to investigate how, in a post-conflict area, parental preferences and household characteristics affect school choice for their children. A multinomial logit is used to model the relationship between education preferences and the selection of schools for 954 households in Freetown and neighboring districts, Western Area, Sierra Leone. The increased economic well-being of a family tends to increase the likelihood of choosing a nongovernment school. As a child gets older parents are more likely to select government over nongovernment schools. For girls, parents are twice as likely to select a nongovernmental organization (NGO) school than a government one. Where parental preference for girls is a “safe environment” government is the preferred choice over a private proprietor school. Interestingly, the level of household education does not affect the likelihood of attending any school management type.