Matt Hood has been appointed as the chief executive of Oak National Academy after a year-long recruitment process finally concluded. Hood, Oak co-founder, had acted as interim chief executive since it controversially became an arm鈥檚-length public body in 2022. A recruitment process to find a permanent boss opened over a year ago. Today, Oak announced Hood has been appointed by the Department for Education. Hood Sir Ian Bauckham, Oak’s chair, said the board are confident under Hood’s leadership “Oak will go from strength to strength as a top performing public service, delivering support to thousands of teachers”. “He has led the organisation since the outset and overseen its journey from pandemic start-up to the country鈥檚 publicly-funded bank of curriculum and teaching resources. 鈥淯nder his leadership, Oak is supporting teachers to lower workload and improve further their curriculum expertise.” In the job advert, education secretary Gillian Keegan said the government was looking for an 鈥渙utstanding individual with senior leadership experience and education sector expertise鈥�. They must demonstrate their 鈥渆xpertise in designing and delivering an evidence-informed, knowledge-rich curriculum鈥� and 鈥渢he ability to navigate the political landscape skilfully鈥�. The salary as 拢120,000.聽 Last year, bodies representing ed tech and publishing firms were granted permission by a high court judge to proceed with judicial review of Oak.