Schools aim to increase the academic proficiency of students and give them the opportunity to expand their knowledge and skills through learning opportunities and research valued not only by the students, but also by parents and communities. To define value, organizations need to establish and prioritize the many stakeholders and understand how to balance their needs and wants. Customer focus is one of the main quality management principles. Organizations attempt to provide quality services and products by focusing on the customers’ needs and expectations. Besides meeting the main customers’ requirements, organizations should also consider the interests of other key stakeholders. Stakeholders may be defined as those who have a vested interest in how well the organization performs, while the customers may be the recipients of the output of the organization’s product or service. Who are the schools’ main customers and key stakeholders? This paper is part of a larger research study on the quality of mathematics education in K-12 schools. The purpose of this paper is to review the current literature on the phenomena of the customers and stakeholders in education. More specifically, the goal is to understand who the main customers and the key stakeholders are in a K-12 school setting. A systematic search of three databases, SCOPUS, Pro-Quest (Education Collection) and JSTOR, was performed with the publication date parameters from 2016 to 2021. Moreover, the snowball process was used, and the relevant literature found was examined along with the additional literature recommended by professionals from the quality management and educational fields. The following main themes were found: Customer Focus, Customer Identification, and Parents as Customers.
Keywords: Quality Management, Quality Education, Customer Focus, School StakeholdersThis abstract contributes to track 10c. Quality Management and Sustainability. The focus relates to the topic: Expanding the concept of value creation beyond the primary customer.