UK Schoolbook Publishing

Oxford University Press had a long-established tradition of publishing books for schools and for the education of young readers, a commitment reiterated and commended by the Waldock Report. The Press issued schoolbooks in New York, through all of its overseas branches, and in Britain. This chapter examines the publication of schoolbooks for the UK market as edited and distributed from Oxford with regard to developments in educational approaches—including the appearance of computers in the classroom, fluctuations in state funding for schools, and the introduction of the National Curriculum. The chapter also considers the management, sales, and financial position of the Press’s educational publishing division in the context of the competitive UK schools market. The second half of the chapter presents case studies of important OUP educational titles and series, including Oxford Reading Tree and Oxford dictionaries for schools and young readers.