Jane Harley appointed chair of PA’s Educational Publishers Council

Jane Harley, strategy director of UK Education for Oxford University Press, has been appointed chair of the PA’s Educational Publishers Council. 

Succeeding Colin Hughes, managing director of Collins Learning, Harley takes up the role effective immediately for a term of three years.

"I am excited to be taking on this new role and looking forward to working with colleagues to ensure that the value of our educational publishing is fully recognised and maintained and that our deep and collective expertise in the schools’ market feeds into future policy and decision-making," commented Harley.

The appointment comes at a time when schools are facing "significant challenges around spending decisions", according to the PA.

Through the work of the Educational Publishers Council, the PA champions publisher resources for improving learning outcomes and saving teachers' time and money, as recently highlighted in its commissioned Frontier Economics report, Publishing’s contribution to school education. In March, drawing on the report, the PA said school textbooks only need to save teachers four and a half minutes a day to pay for themselves, arguing that not buying them to save money is a "false economy".