A thinktank that is close to the Department for Education has announced that two former teachers will take over its education and skills team.

Policy Exchange was co-founded by Michael Gove in 2002, and academies minister Lord Agnew was a trustee from 2006 to 2014.

The thinktank has named Joanna Williams as its new head of education and culture. She was previously senior lecturer in higher education and academic practice at the University of Kent. Prior to that, she was an English teacher in secondary schools and further education.

She is also associate editor of online magazine, Spiked, and her books include Consuming Higher Education: why learning can’t be bought (2012), Academic Freedom in an Age of Conformity (2016), and Women vs Feminism (2017).

Tom Richmond, who was an adviser to Michael Gove and Nicky Morgan at the DfE, becomes the thinktank’s senior research fellow on education and skills.

He has taught A-level psychology and held roles at the Social Market Foundation, Pearson and G4S, as well as previously working for Policy Exchange.

After two years working at the DfE, he returned to teaching at a sixth-form college in London.

Policy Exchange said he has joined it to continue his work on education and skills projects.

In 2016, he co-authored The Skills We Need, and Why We Don’t Have Them, which proposed reforms to the UK’s apprenticeship schemes.

In a statement, the thinktank said: “Early priorities for the new team will include examining how poor behaviour in schools is affecting children’s learning, and whether it is having an impact on the recruitment and retention of teachers.

“They will also be building on Policy Exchange’s work in the important area of further education, skills and apprenticeships.

“Their research will continue to shape the government’s policy, as it launches its biggest-ever overhaul of technical education, with the introduction of the T level, designed to provide the skills needed for post-Brexit Britain.”

Their appointments follow the departure of John Blake, who announced in July that he was stepping down as head of education and social reform at Policy Exchange, to join Ark multi-academy trust and Now Teach.