Director/PDMR Shareholding

Pearson PLC
18 May 2007


                                  PEARSON PLC
                                (the "Company")


Annual Bonus Share Matching Plan (the "Plan")


On 19 April 2007, participants became entitled to ordinary shares in the Company
("Shares") on maturity of their right to "matching shares" under the rules of
the Plan (the "Rules"). Under the Plan, participants who invest their after-tax
bonus in shares become entitled, without payment, to "matching shares" on a
one-for-one basis if a corporate performance target is met over a five year
period. In relation to awards made on 19 April 2002, the five year performance
target was met in 2007. Accordingly, under the Rules, participants are now
entitled to matching shares on a one-for-one basis.


The pre-tax number of matching shares to which executive directors became
entitled is as follows:-

Name of Director                        Number of Shares

Rona Fairhead                                933

The Rules require that sufficient shares are sold to discharge the PAYE income
tax liability on the shares released. In consequence, the shares set out in the
second column below were sold on 17 May 2007 at a price of 907p per share,
leaving the after-tax number of shares set out in the final column below:-

Name of Director   Number of Shares Sold       Number of Shares Retained

Rona Fairhead             383                               550

As a result, the executive director named below is interested in the following
shares (excluding shares to which they may become entitled , subject to
satisfaction of any relevant conditions, under the Company's employee share
schemes):-

Name of Director     Number of Shares        % of Issued Share Capital

Rona Fairhead            63,143                             0.00783

The shares required to satisfy these awards have been sourced from an employee
benefit trust established by the Company. Each executive director is deemed for
Companies Act purposes to be interested in all the shares held by the trust. As
a result of the release of shares described above, the number of shares held by
Halifax ESS Trustees (as trustee of the Pearson plc Employee Share Ownership
Trust) is 3,519,910 shares (representing 0.4362% of the Company's issued
ordinary share capital).


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