About Us

Our mission is to provide high-quality educational resources that empower teachers, librarians, and students to confidently engage with a diverse range of contemporary social issues. We are committed to supporting educators in creating meaningful learning experiences that promote understanding, empathy, and critical thinking skills.

We aim to:

Empower Educators

We equip teachers with the knowledge and resources needed to confidently teach Personal, Social, Health, and Economic (PSHE) education, addressing both everyday and complex issues that impact young people's lives.

Build Confidence

Our carefully curated materials give teachers and librarians the confidence to engage students in discussions on sensitive and contemporary social topics, fostering open dialogue in the classroom and beyond.

Provide Safe Learning Resources

We ensure that young people have access to well-researched, balanced, and age-appropriate information that helps them explore and understand complex issues in a safe and supportive environment.

Deliver In-Depth, Well-Researched Information

Our resources are meticulously researched and regularly updated, offering reliable, up-to-date information to support educators and inspire thoughtful learning.

Inspire Critical Thinking

We aim to inspire students to research, debate, and form their own informed opinions on the social challenges shaping today’s world, encouraging them to think critically and engage with different perspectives.

Promote Curiosity and Exploration

We believe in fostering a culture of curiosity, exploration, and lifelong learning, encouraging students to question, learn, and actively participate in the world around them.

Who we are:

We are a team of passionate people dedicated to making a difference in education by helping teachers and librarians to empower the minds of the next generation.

Independence Educational Publishers was started by former teacher Craig Donnellan to address the lack of resources covering social issues for 14-18 year olds. The first publication Issues for the Nineties was published in 1990 and was the UK’s first comprehensive reference source addressing contemporary social issues. Later called Issues, the books have become an invaluable resource for schools, colleges, and libraries, and are distributed globally.

Based in Cambridge, UK, we’re still going and still committed to the same goal. Currently there are 80 Issues book titles in print, with over 550 volumes published to date.