Matt Hood has been appointed as the chief executive of Oak National Academy after a year-long recruitment process finally concluded.
Hood, Oak co-founder, had acted as interim chief executive since it controversially became an arm’s-length public body in 2022. A recruitment process to find a permanent boss opened over a year ago.
Today, Oak announced Hood has been appointed by the Department for Education.
Sir Ian Bauckham, Oak’s chair, said the board are confident under Hood’s leadership “Oak will go from strength to strength as a top performing public service, delivering support to thousands of teachers”.
“He has led the organisation since the outset and overseen its journey from pandemic start-up to the country’s publicly-funded bank of curriculum and teaching resources.
“Under his leadership, Oak is supporting teachers to lower workload and improve further their curriculum expertise.”
In the job advert, education secretary Gillian Keegan said the government was looking for an “outstanding individual with senior leadership experience and education sector expertise”.
They must demonstrate their “expertise in designing and delivering an evidence-informed, knowledge-rich curriculum” and “the ability to navigate the political landscape skilfully”.
The salary was advertised as £120,000.
Last year, bodies representing ed tech and publishing firms were granted permission by a high court judge to proceed with judicial review of Oak.
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