Centre for the Study of Market Reform of Education

This article is part of the Spinwatch privatisation of Schools Portal project.

The Centre for the Study of Market Reform of Education is a London-based education reform lobby group (think tank).

It lobbies for profit-making schools, and great private sector involvement in education.

It has a 'collaborative relationship' with the Institute of Economic Affairs, with which it used to share an office. It is now based at the same address as the Adam Smith Institute.

Funding

The Centre says it is financially independent of the Institute of Economic Affairs. It does not, however, reveal its funders.

Lobbying for market-based education reform

The Centre's focus in 2015/16 is on:

• Increasing school choice across the education system.
• Improvement of the overall incentive structure (i.e. the ability for education providers to make a profit)
• Improving teacher quality
• Reform of the inspectorate
• Increasing diversity and competition in qualifications and curriculum.

Activities

The Centre publishes books, reports and comment pieces, hosts forums and events, and organises private dinners.

Private dinners, networking and deal-making

The Centre runs what it calls an 'Education Executives’ Policy Forum' for 'director-level decision-makers and policy influencers' in education.

It has hosted a range of 'high-level contributors' at private dinners covering the education reform agenda.

The Centre describes the Forum as 'an excellent opportunity to engage in policy discussion and network' for donors. Membership is 'on the basis of referral and a yearly subscription'.

According to James Croft it provides its donors with ‘private dinners’ to catch up with its work at which ‘a lot of deals go down’.

Publications

Publications of the Centre include:

• School Vouchers for England (2013), co-published with the Adam Smith Institute, which considers the progress of the government's free school programme.

People

• James Croft, Director
• Andrew Williams, Director of International Relations ('in D.C building bridges'); formerly Parliamentary Manager for examination board, Cambridge Assessment
• Gabriel Heller Sahlgren, Director of Research; also affiliated researcher at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics in Stockholm, Sweden, and a PhD student at the London School of Economics supervised by Professor Julian Le Grand. Formerly of the Institute of Economic Affairs.
• Damien Phillips, Director of External Affairs; formerly of Apple Fundraising Consultants, whose clients included the Adam Smith Institute and the Centre for Policy Studies.
• Anton Howes, Research Consultant; also director and co-founder of the UK student network, the Liberty League, and is a Research Associate of the Adam Smith Institute. He is also on the executive board of Students for Liberty, and on the founding executive board for European Students for Liberty.

Contacts

Website:http://www.cmre.org.uk

Address:23 Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BL

Twitter: @cmr_ed; @gabrielsahlgren; @jamespdcroft