Dubai: Most parents across the country are happy with the schools their children study at, a new survey has revealed.

According to the UAE School Survey 2018, 76 per cent of parents now say they would recommend their children’s school to other parents.

Though slightly down from 78 per cent from 2017 surveys, this figure is still better than those revealed by previous surveys.

Conducted by whichschooladvisor.com, the study presents an education sector increasingly perceived by parents in the UAE as delivering well, even while operating against headwinds of increasing competition, and in the case of Dubai, a freeze on school fees.

The numbers show that parents are increasingly satisfied, even as complaints over the fees linger.

According to the statistics, four out of five students in the UAE look forward to school.

One in two children now look forward to going to school a “tremendous amount” according to their parents, and a further 32 per cent do so “quite a bit”.

Totalling the figures, 82 per cent of parents in 2018 (over four in five children) have no difficulties motivating their child for school — up from 80 per cent in 2017 and 75 per cent in 2015.

The number of respondents who say that schools in the UAE offer good value for money has now stayed at 48 per cent two years in a row.

However, the number of respondents that partially agree schools offer good value has increased from 37 per cent to 41 per cent. That leaves just 11 per cent of respondents — or just over one person in 10 — believing UAE schools do not offer good value, to any degree.

Nearly a half (47 per cent) of respondents now believe education is better in the emirates than it is in their home country. This figure is up marginally from 44 per cent in 2017, and sharply from 32 per cent in 2015, and is largely being driven by greater choice, particularly in Dubai.

Seven new schools opened in Dubai in 2015, 13 in 2016, 11 in 2017, while 2018 should see over 10 new schools launched.

While other emirates have seen slower growth, across the UAE new schools have expanded choice for parents.

“A happy school” has remained the single largest reason parents make a choice of school, as confirmed by 32 per cent of respondents, up from 31 per cent last year and 25 per cent in the first year of the survey.

However, there is a shift in the criteria among parents choosing their child’s school, based on the phase of the school. For post-16 education, parents and students fixated, usually, on very specific end goals — passing exams, getting into university, work or apprenticeships.

More parents have considered changing their child’s school in the last 12 months, than those polled in 2017.

According to the survey, 35 per cent have — over the last 12 months — considered switching schools, up from 31 per cent last year but down sharply from 45 per cent in 2015 and an incredible 53 per cent in 2013.

Though school fees have been frozen by the government for 2018, it remains the most critical parameter for most parents.

In total, 54 per cent of respondents said they spend 15 per cent or less of their household income on schools, a tiny decrease from 56 per cent in 2017.