Campaign for Real Education

The Campaign for Real Education is a right-wing pressure group and non-profit organisation in the United Kingdom that advocates for traditional education, greater parental choice in schooling, and less state regulation of subjects that children study.

History

The CRE was established in 1987 by a group of 14 parents and teachers, although it was effectively a one-man organisation led by Nick Seaton, who ran it from a bedroom in his home near York. It gained national attention after intervening in a dispute at Priory [School, Lewes|Lewes Priory School] over whether pupils should sit O Levels or General [Certificate of Secondary Education|GCSEs]. Two teachers who pressed for students to sit the O Level were redeployed, with one of them, Chris McGovern, later becoming a headteacher in the independent sector and the CRE's chairman.

Aims

The group campaigns to "press for higher standards and more parental choice in state education". It opposes the teaching of sociology and politics. It has been critical of anti-racism and anti-sexism campaigns. In 2021, the group said a mock trial held by Welsh schoolchildren about a Conservative MP's ancestral links to the slave trade was "brainwashing".