Schools

New aides to DfE regional directors named

Appointments include academy trust CEOs Rob Tarn and Rowena Hackwood

Appointments include academy trust CEOs Rob Tarn and Rowena Hackwood

It is all change among academy adviser boards as new regional directors sign-up their own aides.

Dozens of academy leaders were elected to regional director advisory boards earlier this year. The boards, previously known as headteacher boards, oversee the academy sector and conversions of maintained schools in their patch.

However regional directors – formerly known as regional school commissioners – can also appoint their own advisers. Thirty-six posts, four in each of the nine boards, have now been filled.

Appointments include Rob Tarn, the chief executive of the 22-school Northern Education Trust, Rowena Hackwood, the chief executive of the 26-school Astrea Academy Trust, and Stuart Gardner, the chief executive of the 20-school The Thinking Schools Academy Trust.

The only non-school leader among the 36 is Lizana Oberholzer, a senior lecturer in teacher education at the University of Wolverhampton and founding fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching.

Rowena Hackwood is an aide to the regional directors
Hackwood

However, it is not the first time non-school leaders have been appointed. Previous postholders include Michael Larsen, a senior managing director at the investment company Harbert Management Corporation, and Chris Melia, a management consultant.

Of the 36 appointments, nearly three-quarters (26) are new recruits. A total of 18 were appointed by regional directors, and another 18 were co-opted, which requires ministerial agreement.

Meanwhile, Carolan Goggin has stepped in as acting regional director for Yorkshire and the Humber. She was the deputy director responsible for children’s social care improvement and intervention in the north.

The position – previously covering East Midlands and the Humber – became vacant after the regional school commissioner patches were changed from eight to nine to accommodate London on its own.

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