Guidance

Independent review of Oak National Academy: review process

Published 21 May 2024

Applies to England

Introduction

The government is committed to ensuring that public bodies:

• are a necessity
• provide greater accountability
• reduce the burden on the taxpayer
• follow a culture of efficiency and transparency

The government launched the Public Bodies Review Programme to ensure every pound of taxpayers’ money delivers the best possible outcomes for citizens. When Oak National Academy was formed as an Arm’s Length Body (ALB) in September 2022, the government committed to review it within 24 months to provide the opportunity to assess steady state costs and identify efficiencies wherever possible.

Oak National Academy

Oak National Academy was established in September 2022 as an independent public body which works with teachers across the country, giving them and their pupils access to high-quality digital curriculum resources which are free, optional, and adaptable. The strategic aims of Oak, as set out in its framework agreement document, are to:

• work with schools, teachers and the wider education system to create, develop and support the use of free, optional, high quality full curriculum packages that are available to teachers and pupils through a robust, accessible digital education platform
• continue to provide a national contingency for remote education should it be needed in the event of disruption
• provide a package of connected, stretching materials for teachers and pupils through the same digital education platform that is available across the four nations and draws on content and expertise from all areas of the UK
• establish Oak National Academy as a high performing, well respected sector organisation that:
  • maintains its ‘by teachers for teachers’ approach
  • contributes to the growing understanding of curriculum best practice
  • is strategically aligned with, but operationally independent from government
  • delivers excellent value for money

Scope of the review

The review will focus on how Oak National Academy meets the requirements set out in the guidance for the Public Bodies Review Programme in 4 quadrants:

• efficacy
• governance
• accountability
• efficiency

Further detail on the objectives and areas that the review will cover are in the terms of reference.

The review process

Lara Newman has been appointed as independent Lead Reviewer and will lead the review with support from DfE officials.

She will be responsible for ensuring a proportionate, rigorous and fair review that offers recommendations to facilitate continuous improvement.

To assist Lara in her role, a series of stakeholder engagements will be held to gather evidence to aid this review. This engagement will likely take the form of interviews, focus groups or existing user surveys, such as TeacherTapp.

The review is expected to conclude in September 2024.

Lara Newman: biography

Lara has held a number of strategic leadership and board positions and is Chief Executive of LocatED, a non-departmental public body (NDPB) that was established in 2017 to provide expert property advice to the education sector.

Lara is also Senior Sponsor for the Government Property Diversity and Inclusion Shadow Board and cares passionately about increasing diversity in the property and built environment professions.

Before leading the setup of LocatED, Lara was a board director at a regional development and property consulting company. Prior to that, she led large practice teams and management consultancy organisations supporting clients on complex capital investment projects for government programmes, mostly in the education sector.