Rebecca Clark, the regional schools commissioner for the South West, is to join the multi-academy trust Ark.

Ms Clark started in her role as a regional schools commissioner in April 2016. Prior to that she was national education director and South West regional director for Oasis Community Learning.

She will now become Ark’s regional director for secondary schools, London and Portsmouth.  

Ms Clark is the latest in a growing line of RSCs to step down to take up a role in the MAT sector in recent months. In April  Tim Coulson, regional schools commissioner for the East of England and north-east London, announced he was departing to become the chief executive of the West Suffolk-based Samuel Ward Academy Trust.

In February Vicky Beer said she was resigning to lead the Greater Manchester Learning Trust, an embryonic multi-academy trust (MAT) although later that same month she changed her mind and decided to stay on.

Two other RSCs, Pank Patel and Ms Beer’s predecessor Paul Smith, had already resigned to become school or academy trust leaders.

Another, Jennifer Bexon-Smith, announced her retirement as RSC for the East Midlands and the Humber in January last month, while Sir David Carter, the original RSC for South West England, became national schools commissioner last year.

The resignations have sparked concern about the attractiveness of the key role to education leaders.

Matthew Wolton, a partner specialising in academies at law firm Knights, told TES that he expected more RSCs with education backgrounds to serve for short periods, before taking jobs with multi-academy trusts (MATs).

“I know that when they are looking to fill RSC slots, they are keen to have school people involved, but making that change from being CEO and master of your own destiny, where you can make a direct impact, and moving into a civil service role, is a big step,” he said.

He added that pay was an additional factor, with constraints on civil servant salaries meaning they could earn significantly more money in the academy sector.

“‘Poaching’ is an emotive word, but I think it’s relevant,” he told TES.

“All it takes is a MAT to come waving a £200,000 cheque, and there you go. The concern is that, from a MAT perspective, if you are looking for a CEO, someone who has been an RSC - that’s a pretty good selling point. They know how the RSC world works and what the RSCs are looking at. They know how the system works.”