James Tooley

James Tooley has been described as "the high priest of privatised education in Britain".

He is a vocal lobbyist for low-fee private schools in developing countries.

He is currently Professor of Education Policy at Newcastle University (School of Education Communication and Language Sciences); and a director of the University's E.G. West Centre, which carries out research-based advocacy, particularly around the development of low-fee private schooling across the developing world.

He is also co-founder and chairman of Omega Schools, a chain of low-fee private schools in Ghana launched in 2009 with significant investment from Pearson; and Empathy Learning Systems in Hyderabad, India.

Lobbying for market-based education reform

According to an 2007 article by Andrew J. Coulson, director of Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom on the Philanthropy Roundtable website:

Tooley’s interest in [low-fee private schools] dates back to the 1980s... His work leapt into high gear in 2002, after a fortuitous meeting in Goa, India, with John Templeton Foundation senior vice president Charles Harper. Impressed with Tooley’s study of private schools in Hyderabad, Harper encouraged him to draft a proposal for expanding his investigations on an international scale. The result was a John Templeton Foundation grant of nearly $800,000... In September 2006, Tooley wins top honors in the first International Finance Corporation/Financial Times 'Private Sector Development' Competition for an essay reporting his Templeton project findings. He is invited to write an article (“Low-cost schools in poor nations seek investors”) for the Financial Times. One of the tens of thousands of readers of that article is Richard Chandler, founder of the Singapore-based Orient Global investment firm... Fast forward to 2007, when the philanthropic arm of Orient Global announces the creation of a new $100 million Orient Global Education Fund. James Tooley is named its inaugural president two months later.

Affiliations

Tooley lists the following roles (as of August 2015):

UK

• Institute of Economic Affairs (free market think tank in London); member of academic advisory council. In 1995 Tooley established the Institute's 'Education and Training Unit', which he ran for its duration.
• Reform (free market think tank in London); member of academic advisory council
• Civitas (right-wing think-tank in London); member of academic advisory council
• Taxpayers Alliance (free market lobby group); Tooley does not currently list his role at the Taxpayers Alliance in his biography, however, he was known to be an adviser to them in 2010

Brussels

• Globalisation Institute (think tank that 'promotes ideas to help Europe thrive in the global economy')

US

• Cato Institute, Adjunct Scholar (2009-); the Cato Institute also launched Tooley's book, “The Beautiful Tree, as a paperback and audio book.

Rest of world

• India: Edupreneurs Council of India; member of academic advisory council
• India: president of four educational societies serving low cost private schools in the country.
• Nigeria: Association of Formidable Educational Development, patron.
• Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, adviser (2005-).

International

• Mont Pelerin Society, invited Member (from 2003)

Activities

James Tooley attended a Heritage Foundation event entitled 'Resource Bank 2004' in 2004 on behalf of the E.G. West Centre. The subject was 'Social Entrepreneurship: Building Constituencies for Limited Government'.

Publications

• “The Beautiful Tree: A personal journey into how the world’s poorest are educating themselves”, published by Penguin (2009).