Scale of Oak’s likely future reach into schools, via “full curriculum packages,” set out in DfE letter

The scale of Oak National Academy’s proposed reach into classrooms –and with it by implication the impact of government-influenced content into detailed teaching - has been set out in a Department for Education letter, seen by Education Uncovered.

Oak, which since the start of this month has been a government “arms-length body,” will be “offering” curriculum packages to schools which – to judge from the DfE letter – will be setting out possibly the entire content of teaching in detail for each academic year.

The new quango, which is to receive £43 million of taxpayer funding over the next three years, will be providing very detailed curriculum plans, plus “full sets of lesson materials for each subject,” as well as video lessons for each subject.

“Expert groups” in individual subjects - seemingly appointed by Oak, which itself will reportedly have its chief executive and up to five directors “approved” by the Secretary of State – will play a key role in this process, the letter suggests.

The DfE’s statement also seems to raise the prospect that Oak might provide only one set of detailed teaching plans in some national curriculum subjects – setting up fears among some of uniform lesson-by-lesson teaching plans, heavily influenced by the state, reaching into classrooms across England.