The effects of socio-economic factors on private school preferences in Turkey: Analyses at the household and provincial levels

Education is very important in terms of providing both individual and social benefits. Societies with better educated people are in a more advantageous position in providing social development. Although education first started in public schools, private schools have become an important part of the education system in the world with the marketization of education and as a result parents have increased their alternatives in school selection. In this study, the determinants of private school preferences were examined at both the provincial and household levels between 2010 and 2020. The effects of factors such as legal regulations, socio-economic status such as income, education, employment, regional differences and educational services on school preference were examined by econometric methods Fixed-effect model, Driscoll-Kraay standard-error model and generalized method of moments were used in the analysis at the secondary education level at the provincial level. According to the findings, there is a significant and positive effect on income at the provincial level, as well as the schooling rate of women, the size of the household, the educational support given to the students, the closure of private teaching institutions and the private school preference of metropolitan cities. "Turkish Statistical Institute(TURKSTAT) -Life Satisfaction Micro Dataset" was used for the analysis at the household level. Zero inflated negative binomial regression model and logit model were used in the analysis. According to the findings, the effects of income, education level, household size, employment status and satisfaction with education services on private school preference are statistically significant.