Help us to protect educational writers

Regardless of our concerns, the former Education Secretary James Cleverly vowed to go ahead with the conversion of Oak National Academy to an Arm’s-Length Body (ALB).  

In the response to the letter, Cleverly stated: “The decision to establish a curriculum ALB which builds on the success of Oak National Academy was announced on 11 March and is a key commitment within the Schools White Paper, published on 28 March. Despite recent changes in ministerial leadership, we remain committed to delivering against the ambitions and programmes set out in the Schools White Paper.” 

What is the Oak National Academy?  

An online classroom and resource hub set up during the pandemic that offers free lessons to teachers covering age groups 4-16.  

Earlier this year, the former education secretary Nadhim Zahawi announced plans to convert it into an entirely new Arm’s-Length Body from the Department for Education (DfE) by this autumn. ALBs are public sector organisations which run at varying degrees of independence from the government. 

What are the risks of converting Oak National Academy into an ALB? 

This poses several risks to authors and to the publishing sector. The proposed funding for the curriculum ALB project is within five to ten million pounds. We feel this is not sufficient if the aim is to produce comprehensive and high-quality teaching curriculum resources.

We need your help. Please write to your local MP. Visit writerswrite.uk

Transforming the online classroom platform into a curriculum ALB will have a negative knock-on impact on authors in the education sector. The available work for writers will be reduced and limited to whoever is able to secure the curriculum ALB contracts. The educational writing sector is a large employer of authors and with other areas of children’s writing shrinking, for example broadcasting, we cannot risk another cut to available work. 

It will also reduce the scope for learning for students, with the limited budget, it will be up to the Department for Education as to what will go onto the curriculum of resources. This will reduce the range of options open for teachers, who use the resources, to pick from. The curriculum ALB runs the risk of politicising the national curriculum based on the whims of whoever holds the office of Secretary of State.

With a new Education Secretary, Kit Malthouse, in place – we are encouraging members to contact their MPs now about this issue.  

We are encouraging our members to get involved in the campaign and take action to stop this threat by using our website writerswrite.uk, where you can input your details and contact your MP using the suggested template. 

MPs receive a lot of correspondence, so we encourage you to personalise the template provided in order to make it as impactful as possible.

We need your help. Please write to your local MP. Visit writerswrite.uk

Read the previous letter we signed. If you have any questions, please email Advocacy@alcs.co.uk.