A recent article in the Guardian explores how the publishing giant Pearson commands the education world in Britain.
Pearson not only sells textbooks and testing, but also owns Britain’s biggest national examination system, which is operated for profit.
But that’s not all.
Pearson is now promoting itself as a policy studies outfit and think tank, studying the problems of British education and offering solutions. In whose interest, one wonders.
And of course it is developing a model school with a computer-based curriculum called the “Always Learning Gateway,” covering 11 subject areas. It is being tried out for free but will eventually be offered for profit.
Pearson is preparing a report on which the English examination system is promoting high standards and positioning Britain to be a global leader.
“Alasdair Smith, national secretary of the Anti Academies Alliance, which is critical of corporate influence in education, says: “This stuff frightens the life out of me. My concern is that business dictates the nature of education, and especially the aims of education, when it should be one voice among others.”
“Ball says private influence does not stop at Pearson. He mentions McKinsey, the management consultant that has published two widely cited international reports on successful education systems, as evidence of companies’ incursion into policymaking. Sir Michael Barber, Tony Blair’s former education standards guru, was an author of both McKinsey reports. He now works for Pearson.
“Last month, it was reported that ministers want to “outsource” some policymaking to companies, consultants and thinktanks in a bid to scale down the civil service.”
The British government, it seems, is outsourcing education policy to the nation’s largest vendor of education products and services.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane,
Do you have any information on how much Pearson spends to lobby and influence elected officials, superintendents, principals, etc.? Do they pay stipends or salaries to school officials, and/or send them to conferences? It’s hard for me to believe that they have garnered this much support from decision makers, based solely upon the strength of their products.
I am sure that Pearson pays lobbyists. Sandy Kress, the architect of NCLB, is one. The test publishers have always lobbied Congress and state legislatures. I have no idea what their budget is. Last year, Michael Winerip of the New York Times published one or two articles about how Pearson had paid the expenses of state superintendents on junkets to visit other nations.
Thanks for the lead, Diane. I knew I had read something about the junkets, but forgot where. Here’s a link:
With this level of overt influence peddling, I wonder just what happens that we don’t see.
Another good blogpost on Sandy Kress, Pearson, and testing in Texas.
http://jasonstanford.org/2012/03/staar-chamber/#comment-1960
Also in Australia. Our first Australian curriculum information sessions sere run by Pearsons.
I just discovered this, but I too have started noticing the undue influence Pearson is having on our academic system here in the U.S. They nearly control everything. Our textbooks are from Pearson. Out standardized tests, all from Pearson. Teacher training courses here in California are all heavily influenced by Pearson. I just completed a course and I paid thousands for it, but little did I know that all my textbooks were from Pearson. Furthermore, the CBEST, CSET, and RICA exams all required for credentialing for just grade school, are all from Pearson (8 exams total). That’s not to mention the 4 TPAs that are also reviewed and graded by Pearson. The money I have had to spend is unreal. Something is very wrong with this picture. Thanks for being one of the few to bring this to light. I hope at some point we can stop this.