The Oak National Academy will consider allowing private companies to sell its lessons on for profit. Any potential move could put Oak at odds with its former owner, who had pledged nobody would be able to profit from the new body. The organisation, now a government quango, has also said it will restrict its content to UK-based users only to support the 鈥済rowing curriculum market鈥, and will signpost 鈥渁lternative鈥 offers amid a legal row. Oak has today launched an 拢8.2 million procurement exercise for thousands of new digital resources and curriculum materials. The tender process is part of Oak鈥檚 transformation into an arms-length public body, which was approved by the government earlier this year. It follows the publication of the Department for Education鈥檚 for the creation of the quango, which warned government intervention was needed to break the 鈥渃ycle鈥 of school curriculum weakness and ensure catch-up and levelling-up were achieved. Oak announced today that it will initially share its full curriculum packages on a domestic licence so any UK school or organisation can use and adapt them for non-commercial use. However, the organisation said it had received 鈥渇eedback about the potential benefits of broadening this licence to allow for greater innovation, such as integrating Oak within other providers鈥 platforms鈥. Oak considers ‘options’ for commercial use It will 鈥渢herefore consider the options, opportunities and risks any extension would have for pupils, teachers, and the commercial market, by reviewing the evidence with the help of an independent and expert organisation鈥. In reviewing the case for licensing changes, Oak said it would assess the evidence for changes 鈥渦p to and including alignment with the Open Government Licence鈥. Ed Vainker This permits 鈥渁nyone to copy, publish, distribute, transmit and adapt the licensed work, and to use it both commercially and non-commercially鈥, as long as they acknowledge the source of the work. Oak said this could see publishers 鈥渦sing parts of Oak to create textbooks, or Ed-Tech providers integrating Oak lessons into their platforms鈥. This is likely to be controversial. It is not clear how the proposal will sit with the Reach Foundation, which previously incubated Oak until handing it over to the government in September. Ed Vainker, Reach chief executive, that “no individual will be able to profit from the activities of the new body”. Schools Week revealed last year how a privatisation plan proposed by Oak, , was pulled after the Reach board voiced discontent. Asked for clarification, Oak said if the review recommended anything that needs to change in its articles of association – such as allowing commercial organisations to benefit – Reach will get a say and need to approve it. A Reach spokesperson said there are a “range of views about licencing and聽agreed the evidence should be looked聽at… Reach have always been focused on preserving the spirit of Oak’s foundation and the benefits it has brought to the system.” Oak will also work with an independent and expert organisation to 鈥渂etter understand the evidence, opportunities and risks鈥 behind the new proposal. 鈥淲e will seek input from a range of stakeholders, which we expect to include trade bodies, commercial organisations and school and teacher representatives.鈥 Oak lessons will only be available in the UK It comes amid a growing row over the government鈥檚 decision to bring Oak, which was launched with DfE grant funding during the first Covid lockdown, into public hands. The British Educational Suppliers Association issued a letter before claim over the move last month, claiming the government did not take into account 鈥渢he potential market impact鈥 of the quango proposals and failed to 鈥済eo-block the ALB site to the UK only鈥. Oak has retreated on the latter demand, announcing its content will only be available to UK users from early 2023, apart from at 鈥減oints of crisis鈥, such as in Ukraine. In a further sign of compromise, Oak also said it would host and signpost more than 80 additional curriculum sequences, in addition to the Oak offer developed with the winning suppliers, so teachers can 鈥渃ompare alternative approaches鈥. These will be chosen in a separate, open selection process. The tender process will allocate 12 lots in total, covering primary and secondary phases for maths, English, science, history, geography and music. Lots are limited to four per supplier, unless a provider wins four lots and is the only supplier in the fifth lot beating the quality threshold. Oak chief executive Matt Hood said the organisation was 鈥渆xcited to enhance our entirely optional and adaptable offer鈥. 鈥淎ny teacher will be able to access some of the best thinking the sector has to offer. 鈥淲e鈥檝e listened carefully to the sector in drawing up our plans. The arrangements published today show our determination and commitment to support a diverse and growing market in curriculum resources, which is precisely what teachers want so they have a choice of which resources they use.鈥