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Parents across the state will be asked to score their child’s public school on behaviour management, technology use and infrastructure from next week.
The voluntary NSW Public Schools Parent Survey comes as public schools attempt to claw back enrolments to the private sector. It replaces the long-running Tell Them From Me survey of students, parents and teachers, which was discontinued in 2024.
More than 427,000 students participated in the education department’s reworked student survey last year, its highest-ever completion rate.
Some schools already collect and publish parent satisfaction scores. Among the highest reported in last year’s annual reports was the selective Gosford High, where 97 per cent of families would recommend the school to others. The figure was 88 per cent at Killara High, 93 per cent at Merrylands High and 88 per cent at Macarthur Girls.
At Gymea High, parents wanted additional guidance around homework, assignments and assessment. Parents at Gymea, Sydney Girls and Normanhurst Boys all identified the need for better communication.
Head of the department’s Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, Jennifer Buckingham, said the parent survey had been carefully designed to identify what the department really wanted to know about parents’ experience, including school communication, student wellbeing, behaviour and inclusion, and the school environment.
But some public school principals, speaking on the condition of anonymity, questioned the wisdom of surveying parents about what happened at school because they were not there for the school day.
“You can never win with some parents,” one said, concerned the survey could paint a distorted picture of what was happening in a school because concepts like bullying were not well defined.
Another principal said: “The parents who have an axe to grind can come and give us a thrashing.”
NSW Teachers Federation acting president Michael de Wall said that while the perspective of parents was important, “it should be balanced against input from students, and teachers as the pedagogical experts”.
What parents will be asked about in the new survey:
- Communication and collaboration
- Inclusion and involvement
- Safety
- School behaviour management
- School infrastructure
- School supports for learning
- School supports for post-school pathways
- School supports for transitions
- School supports for wellbeing
- Teacher-parent partnership
- Use of technology at school
Central Coast Council of P&Cs president Sharryn Brownlee said when an executive director from the Department of Education informed parents about the new surveys, parents were enthusiastic to give feedback, raising issues around school transport, transition to high school and limited subject choice.
“But the biggest issue raised was not having enough [student learning support officers] in classes to manage students with behaviour issues or move those disrupting students out,” she said.
“More needs to be done. There was sympathy and understanding for the children [with behaviour issues], but they need to be in the right setting.”
Kate Nielsen, whose children attend West Pennant Hills Public School, backed calls for better communication, saying that between the weekly newsletter, school app, emails and parent WhatsApp groups, it was easy to miss things such as assignments.
“There’s so many different platforms,” she said.
She said surveys could provide valuable information, but she worried some parents’ expectations were too high.
“Some people feel that schools should be parenting their children, the expectations can be too high for a public school, where the resources are very limited,” she said.
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