The Parent Voice Project explores how parents experience the education system in England today. Through large-scale polling, focus groups and ongoing engagement, the project brings together clear, balanced evidence on what parents think, what they value, and where they see challenges.
Parents play a central role in children’s education. Yet while teachers, unions and policymakers are regularly consulted on national debates, parents’ collective views are often heard only indirectly. This project aims to address that gap – not by campaigning, but by providing rigorous and accessible insight into the experiences of thousands of families.
Explore the research, learn more about the project, and find out how parents can continue to contribute their views.
"When my eldest did his GCSEs last year he had 27 exams in about three and a half weeks…It’s just too much and it just broke conscientious students."
"I’m not sure Ofsted is a true reflection of a school. I feel like it’s a bit of a show."
"My son loves it. He’s obsessed with his school and school friends and teachers."
"I remember with my little one looking at wraparound care – have they got breakfast club and after school club, and just simple things that logistically are going to help me? And have they got good reviews?"
"With the cost of nursery and two wraparound clubs…it’s just not worth me working at the moment."
"My daughter refuses to do any extracurricular activities at school. She says it’s not cool."
"As long as you can read, you can do anything in life. That is the core skill I need my child to learn in school, to read and to understand what they are reading."
"I think if you didn’t have the school uniform, then your son would be wanting the latest Nike Jordans or something. I think you’d then suddenly go into everyone wanting designer, and then you’d get yourself into a bit of an issue with buying decent trainers and stuff."
"My son’s school is pretty good at extracurricular stuff. They’re currently running the Duke of Edinburgh Award for Year 8."
"The system’s broken, isn’t it? It’s at a massive crisis point I think. It’s about funding, and it’s not just this government or the one before, it’s historical. They’re not putting enough money into education. It’s as simple as that."
"I’m not saying I’m not bothered about learning. Of course I want him to be able to read and write, but I want him to go into school and be safe and happy to go."
"At least a uniform means everyone is looking the same and no one’s going to be left out…from a bullying perspective."
"If private schools didn’t exist then state schools would have to be even better because lots of the decision-makers sent their children to private schools and they’ve gone to Eton or whatever. I just think it should be a one-tier system."
"We just chose the one that was quite near to us. My thing was about friends – I needed him to be able to play out with friends in the areas so I didn’t want him to be far from home."
"I know exams and revision are tough and I know kids don’t want it, but I think it’s preparing them for what lies ahead once they leave school."
"It’s mainly school trips that have kicked in with the costs in secondary. It’s now a week away rather than a cheap trip."
"There’s so many more important things to life now that children should be learning that they’re not necessarily learning from home environments…things like credit scores and mortgages, what could happen with debt, life skills, about having children and healthy relationships."
"The benefits is obviously your child is mixing in certain social situations. And I do think nowadays it’s who you know, not what you know, so from a prospect point of view for your child, perhaps they would be given more opportunities at a private school."
"I know this sounds a bit weird, but I don’t really think I send my children to school just to get good exam results. I send them to school to be a child as a whole. "
"Now my son is in secondary school, it’s a whole other ball game on cost, because they have to wear blazers and everything like that, and you’re spending up to £300 on school uniform in the lead up to September, which is obviously a lot more than primary."
"I think that there’s a huge mental health crisis. From what I can gather from my son and his friends, post-Covid I don’t think that school have got the resources to cope with what’s going on. My son’s friend has been on a two-year waiting list for a counsellor."
"They’re happy to do homework, pack their bag, go to school, and they talk positively about school, so I think that’s a good sign."
"Schools don’t have enough money and if they want to do anything nice, they have to ask the parents to fund it."