Parents think primary schools should do more to stop bullying and to improve hygiene standards, a nationwide survey has found. But on the whole, 85 percent of Dutch parents say they are satisfied with the quality of their children's primary school. Top of the parents' wish list for schools is more attention to developing the social skills of their children.

Teachers were judged well-qualified, able to create a good learning atmosphere and have a good relationship with the pupils. Many parents, however, said they wanted more influence on school decisions, and said they were worried about security in school playgrounds and buildings. Unwanted visitors have easy access to most school grounds, and the traffic situation around many schools is unsafe, according to the parents.

The survey was conducted by Centron Online Research and DBMI, which polled 6641 parents over the past schoolyear. Since this was the first survey of its kind, no earlier figures are available for comparison.