Education for Sale: Part 2

David Worlock (EPS, Chief Research Fellow) is one of my favorite commentators on the publishing industry because he is smart, approachable, and very well informed.

Today he distributed an article as part of EPS Insights entitled: HARCOURT: RESTRUCTURING GLOBAL EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING MARKETS STARTS HERE.  

According to David, “There are two things that everyone knows about education marketplaces. One is that the whole world needs more skills and education, and spending must inexorably rise. The other is that the long anticipated digital revolution in the classroom has been the last element of the networked society to get delivered”

“For Harcourt, losing some key adoptions, and the increasing demand of state buyers for full management systems for tests, complicated the picture in markets where Pearson, now the undisputed market leader, grew education by 17.5%...”  

“… it may be that workflow integration in schools is a part of the answer, but if so, this was not an area where Harcourt could effectively take on Pearson.”

David went on to contemplate what the educational landscape might look like in several years. 

Might there be only two major players? (Pearson and McGraw-Hill?)

Might Houghton Mifflin/Riverdeep “dig even deeper into lenders' pockets to fund a further purchase”? 

Could “outsider buyers on the technology side…see opportunities here”?

“…while these are markets under stress at K-12 and HE, the up-tide is foreseeable, the rationalisations are painful but could be accomplished...  

In five years the education marketplace will look very different, but perhaps only private equity can afford to wait.”

 

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