The leader of a campaign for a knowledge-rich curriculum has been named as the interim replacement for Toby Young at the New Schools Network (NSN).

Mark Lehain will remain as director of the Parents and Teachers for Excellence (PTE) campaign when he takes on the role at the NSN, the charity that supports groups wishing to set up free schools. He dismissed suggestions that holding both roles simultaneously would represent a conflict of interest.

Mr Young resigned on Friday as director of the NSN, following controversy over his short-lived appointment to the board of the new Office for Students, which he left following concerns about crude comments he made on social media, and articles mocking the inclusivity agenda.

Mr Lehain has first-hand experience of the free-school movement, having set up the Bedford Free School, and last June was named the leader of PTE.

PTE believes in “the knowledge-based curriculum, rigorous assessment, cultural enrichment and effective behaviour policies”.

Two schools roles ‘will be kept separate’

Asked whether his new role at the New Schools Network meant that free schools’ bids that are in line with PTE’s values would have an advantage, and those that are not would be disadvantaged, Mr Lehain told Tes he wanted to “very much keep the two things separate”.

He said: “Whether individuals at NSN might have particular views on what a better kind of school might look like - Toby came up with the ‘gromps’ idea - at the end of the day NSN have always supported a wide range of proposers and will continue to support a wide range of proposers and they have no preference as to the kind of people that put applications forward, regardless of any views that individuals in NSN may have.”

He said that his predecessors at the helm of NSN “have always written about approaches to pedagogy”, but “fundamentally in terms of free-school proposer groups, they are just guided through the applications process by NSN and it’s a very, very different thing”.

Mr Lehain added: “Leading NSN is about advocating for the free-school programme and groups that do it. What kind of free schools come through the programme, on a personal level, I don’t have any strong views on, and I don’t think NSN ever have.”

David Ross, chair of trustees at NSN, said: “We are delighted to have appointed someone of Mark’s calibre as our interim director. Mark is an exceptional educationalist and having been the founding principal of a successful free school, knows first-hand just what it takes to set up and run a brand new school.

“He is ideally placed to lead NSN through this next phase of the organisation’s development.”

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