Tony Read
Co-founder and former Managing Director of International Book Development (IBD), Tony Read is widely recognised as a leading international specialist in teaching and learning materials policy (both print and e-materials) for transitional economies and developing countries. Having started his career as a teacher in Ghana, Tony worked for Oxford University Press before becoming director of the Book Development Council at the UK Publishers Association. For the past 30 years he has worked extensively on aid-funded education projects in over 75 countries including Armenia, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Eritrea, Ghana, Jordan, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Poland, Russia, Uganda and Uzbekistan. Recently he has led major consultancy teams in curriculum review and reform, learning and teaching materials reform, ICT in education policy, language policy development, literacy and numeracy and educational finance in countries as diverse as Jordan, Kenya, Mongolia, Oman, Rwanda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Uganda. He is the author of numerous articles on curriculum, materials development and provision issues, language of instruction policies and is a regular contributor to specialist reference works. He is a procurement specialist and has assisted the World Bank and other donors in redrafting new procedures and documents for textbook, library and e-materials procurement. Tony Read also edited and contributed to ADEA books on Upgrading Book Distribution in Africa (2001) and Textbooks and Teacher Training Materials (1998). More recently he was a co-author with Michael Ward and Alan Penny of Education Reform in Uganda – 1997 to 2004. Reflections on Policy, Partnership, Strategy and Implementation published by DFID in 2007. He is currently working as an editor for USAID of a guide to best practice in textbook publishing and is also working on books on Learning and Teaching Materials Reform in Rwanda and Educational Reform in Mongolia. In 2007 he supervised a World Bank research project on secondary textbook and school library provision in 19 African countries. From 2006-2008 he was the team leader for a major ADB-funded research project on ICT in Education in 6 Central Asian Countries.
As well as a Director of IE Partners, Tony Read is also Managing Director of TRECS Ltd, an independent company providing educational consultancy services, which works closely with IE Partners.