42 Examples of an Education Business

John Spacey, October 10, 2022

An education business is a profit seeking entity that provides education, training, education materials, education technology or events. This can be contentious as education is often viewed as a public service that is government run or non-profit. However, education remains a large industry in most countries. It can also be noted that some types of education services such as corporate training are clearly a commercial pursuit. The following are common examples of an education business with a few related businesses.

After School Programs / Extra-curricular Activities	Business Training
Cooking Classes	Corporate Training
Cram Schools (oriented to passing a particular test)	Education Consulting
Education Media (e.g. podcast about teaching)	Education Platforms
Educational Games	Equipment for Schools
Fitness & Wellness Classes	Food Services for Schools
Furnishings for Schools	Homeschooling Materials
Homeschooling Services / Platforms	Industry Conferences
Industry Training	Interest Related Schools (e.g. horseback riding lessons)
Language Schools	Lesson Plans & Materials
Mobile Apps (educational)	Music Schools
Online Schools	Online Training
Performance Art Schools (e.g. Dance Classes)	Pre-Kindergarten Schools
Private Schools (often non-profit)	Professional Certifications (often non-profit)
Professional Training	Publishing
School Construction / Maintenance Contracts	School Supplies
School Trips (e.g. destination that is popular for school trips)	Simulators & Serious Games
Software for Schools / Education Software	Standardized Tests (often non-profit)
Summer Programs	Tablets & Computers For Schools
Technology Training	Textbooks / Books for Schools
Tutoring	Workshops

Privatization of Public Education

Privatization of public education is a political issue whereby public schools may outsource certain responsibilities to the private sector. For example, a nation that outsources its standardized testing to a firm that then offers a network of cram schools designed to help students pass this test. This may be contentious as this might give students who can afford to pay for the cram schools an edge. This may have an oppressive dynamic where students who can't really afford to pay for cram schools do so anyway.

Profit-seeking vs For-profit

In many cases, a non-profit organization providing education services may seek to maximize revenue such that it demonstrates something very similar to profit-seeking behavior. For example, a private school that puts prices as high as would be accepted by parents. As a non-profit, this will never be paid out to investors but may be accumulated to grow an endowment or expand.