| Campaign for Real Education | |
| Abbreviation: | CRE |
| Formation: | 1987 |
| Status: | Non-profit organisation |
| Purpose: | Educational standards and parental choice in the UK |
| Location: | London |
| Region Served: | UK |
| Leader Title: | Chairman |
| Leader Name: | Chris McGovern |
| Website: | CRE |
The Campaign for Real Education (CRE) is a right-wing[1] 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.[2] [3] [4]
The CRE was established in 1987 by a group of 14 parents and teachers,[5] although it was effectively a one-man organisation led by Nick Seaton, who ran it from a bedroom in his home near York.[6] It gained national attention after intervening in a dispute at Lewes Priory School over whether pupils should sit O Levels or GCSEs. Two teachers who pressed for students to sit the O Level were redeployed,[7] with one of them, Chris McGovern, later becoming a headteacher in the independent sector and the CRE's chairman.[6]
The group campaigns to "press for higher standards and more parental choice in state education".[8] It opposes the teaching of sociology and politics.[9] It has been critical of anti-racism and anti-sexism campaigns.[9] [10] 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".[11]