Pitman Publishing, a division of Pearson Professional, told staff that the weekly title, founded in 1903, is no longer viable and will have to close at the end of the month.

“Unfortunately, for the last few years revenues for the magazine have been under a good deal of pressure and it has got to the point where it is no longer profitable,” said Rod Bristow, managing director of Pitman Publishing.

“There have been a number of attempts to push up circulation, but we have found there is now a demand among education managers for targeted information rather than the more general background reading provided by Education.”

Editor George Low and columnist Demitri Coryton, who is also chairman of the Conservative Education Association, hope to launch a monthly successor on April 2 which would be written by the same four staff members, plus outside contributors, but might have a different title.

The new publication will be geared more towards schools, governors, heads and teachers than towards LEAs.

Mr Low, who joined the magazine in 1974 and has been editor since 1986, said: “We have been amazed by the encouragement we have received from the readership and contributors. This has given us renewed hope that a rescue package can be put together.”

Education, founded by local education authorities following the 1902 Education Act, has been a traditional training ground for budding writers, many of whom moved on to The TES or other national newspapers.

Barry Hugill, senior social affairs writer at the Observer, was deputy editor of Education in the early 1980s before joining The TES.

He said: “I’d be sad to see Education close. It’s a victim of the decline in influence and power of LEAs.”

Chris Tipple, director of education at Northumberland, a regular Education contributor, added: “Over the years the magazine has provided an extremely good and reliable service of information, and a forum for the exchange of views, which will be hard to replace.”