Oak National Academy has appointed Matt Hood as its first permanent chief executive, more than a year after the quango was launched by government.
Mr Hood - who is Oak’s co-founder - has been acting as interim chief executive of the arm’s-length body (ALB) since it was established in 2022.
Before running the curriculum resources quango, Mr Hood founded Ambition Institute (formerly the Institute of Teaching), a charity that provides professional development to teachers and school leaders.
The deadline for applying for the role closed over a year ago, according to the public appointment service.
Remuneration was advertised at £120,000 per year.
Appointment comes more than a year after relaunch
Oak National Academy was relaunched by the government in September 2022 as an independent ALB.
It was announced at the time that Oak would receive £43 million in funding over three years.
But the quango has been racked by controversy since its launch, with the High Court last year giving its approval for three organisations to pursue legal action against Oak’s establishment as an ALB by the government.
School leaders have also raised concerns over the usefulness of the ALB, with former general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders Geoff Barton saying it was “hard to see exactly where Oak fits”.
Sir Ian Bauckham, Oak’s chair and chief regulator of Ofqual, said: “We are delighted Matt has been appointed chief executive of Oak.
“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.”
Sir Ian added that the board was “confident” that Oak would “go from strength to strength as a top performing public service” under Mr Hood.
Oak recently announced curriculum partners for nine more subjects, with the aim of completing the entire national curriculum by autumn 2025.
Mr Hood was appointed by the Department for Education and Oak said it followed the principles of the public appointments process.
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