Educational Publishers Council - Whats New

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EPC is the division within the PA which looks after the interests of educational publishers.  Headed up by Director Graham Taylor, it is served by a Board representing twelve major publishers and around a dozen subject panel groups.

Representing over 80% of market turnover, EPC has a crucial role to play in making a wide range of high quality resources available to schools and FE colleges throughout the UK.  These resources can help implement government policy initiatives, from the Literacy and Numeracy strategies and revised National Curriculum of New Labour to the academy plans and curriculum reform proposed by the Lib-Con coalition.

To ensure that links with government stay close, EPC keeps in regular touch with bodies including the Department for Education, National Strategies, the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Authority (QCDA) and Ofsted, acting as a conduit for timely information exchange between publishers and power brokers.  EPC task groups mobilise in rapid response to policies as they develop where needs be.  To show what a strong, diverse educational publishing sector can offer, EPC underpins its efforts with market research and the collection of statistics.

An annual AGM in the summer is open to all PA members; do contact Graham Taylor or Nicola Swann if you'd like to know more.  Any suggestions for site development will be warmly received!

Hot topics
  • Lib-Con coalition:  the new administration has ushered in Michael Gove as Secretary of State for Education, the Department for Education in place of the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the demise of Becta and incentives for the academies programme.  EPC continues to monitor developments.

  • PA and BESA challenge BBC on formal learning services:   The PA and BESA are to challenge the BBC Trust over their fair trading investigation into formal learning services delivered through the BBC website.  The two bodies are extremely disappointed in the findings of the BBC Trust published on 25th March 2010 in response to their complaint about the BBC’s Learning portal and its impact on the UK’s world class educational publishing industry.  Read more

  • EPC response to School Library Commission call for evidence:  The School Library Publishers group has reconvened, chaired by Rachel Cooke from Hachette Children's.  It has filed a submission to the School Library Commission which is due to report in September 2010.