Swapping Ofsted for TikTok – is there a right way to choose a school?

Choosing a school is an involved process. As conscientious mums and dads, we weigh up options, scaring ourselves with the potential butterfly effect of the choices we make on behalf of our young children. But in today’s world of easy to find information and opinion overload, how are parents choosing schools and who’s to say which is right and wrong? 

These were the questions The Good Schools Guide’s team asked 2,000 parents of school aged children in a recent survey. Their answers painted a vivid picture of how the nation’s families are choosing schools for their children in 2025. 

Parents are increasingly more likely to use social media and AI tools to find information relating to schools than they are to read Ofsted inspection reports. That’s the headline conclusion from the new research. It suggests that short-form video clips and AI-generated summaries are edging out official inspections in the school information pecking order. 

A TikTok tour of a new sports hall or a candid post on a parents’ Facebook group or online forum post can feel far more immediate and relatable than a 20-page Ofsted document.

Fewer than a third (31 per cent) of parents said that Ofsted reports helped them with their decision. Among Gen Z parents – those now beginning to enter the school gates with their children – the figure falls to just one in five. Meanwhile, almost a quarter (23 per cent) of all parents, and more than a third of Gen Z, say they now use social media or AI to help decide where to send their child. 

This shift speaks volumes. Parents are hungry for authenticity. A glimpse behind the curtain of school life and a sense of what it may feel like for their child to walk through the corridors, sit in the classroom, eat the chili con carne at lunchtime, kick a football on the playing fields, and catch the bus home. A TikTok tour of a new sports hall or a candid post on a parents’ Facebook group or online forum post can feel far more immediate and relatable than a 20-page Ofsted document. 

But this appetite for the instant and accessible over the considered and qualified carries risks. If parents aren’t reading Ofsted reports anymore but instead are watching TikToks, that should set alarm bells ringing. Education choices are too important to be left to the mercy of algorithms and bite-sized snapshots from superficial edu-influencers, many of whom have no qualifications or experience in the field of education.’ 

While social media can offer glimpses into school life, it is also curated, partisan and sometimes misleading. A slick social media video doesn’t tell you whether the school stretches the most able, supports those with learning needs, or nurtures a child’s creativity. And AI tools, as things stand, summon existing web-based information, partial and otherwise, and afford little weight to expert opinion over the online grumblings of people with axes to grind. 

Interestingly, even traditional sources of information are losing popularity among those on a school hunt. Only 49 per cent of parents looked at a school’s website, despite it often being the most straightforward source of practical information. Fewer than half of those asked said they had attended an open day. It leaves me wondering how many parents are making decisions without ever setting foot inside the school building. 

Yet word-of-mouth endures. Nearly half (47 per cent) of parents relied on recommendations from friends or family, rising to 53 per cent among those choosing independent schools. It stands to reason that we put great stock in a positive report from a close personal connection whose life and philosophy bear some similarity to one’s own. 

These various threads of decision-making highlight a broader truth: parents are not short of information, but of clarity. Almost half (46 per cent) of respondents said they wanted more guidance when choosing a school, and 43 per cent called for clearer, more reliable data. 

So what’s the solution? It isn’t to dismiss TikTok or AI outright – parents will and should use every tool available. But nor should they abandon the more in-depth, though admittedly drier, resources such as Ofsted reports, exam results, and local authority data. The trick lies in combining them, weaving these different threads together to create a rich tapestry depicting schools from multiple perspectives. 

Choosing a school has never been straightforward, and no algorithm can do it for you. But if there’s one lesson in all this, it’s that education is too important to outsource to a social media trend. Parents should trust their instincts, seek out trusted sources, and above all, walk through the school gates themselves before making such a life-shaping decision.

See how The Good Schools Guide reviews schools