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High Court decides Judicial Review claim over Oak National Academy can proceed
The Judicial Review claim relating to the Department for Education’s proposed operating model for its new arm’s length body, Oak National Academy, has been given permission to proceed by the High Court.
Three co-claimants – the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), the Publishers Association (PA) and the Society of Authors (SoA) – launched Judicial Review proceedings in November, saying it was a "last resort" after attempts to engage with government on the issue failed. The PA has said DfE’s plans to make Oak National Academy a new government arm’s-length body (ALB), providing free curriculum resources to schools, “risks causing irreparable damage to the commercial education resources sector”.
Following the decision for the Review to proceed, a spokesperson for the three bodies said: “We welcome the High Court’s decision to grant permission for the Judicial Review claim into the Department for Education’s plans for Oak National Academy.
“A Judicial Review has always been a route of last resort, but as the government continues to press ahead with its plans for Oak – disregarding the concerns of authors, edtech innovators, publishers, schools, teachers, unions, and many others across the school sector – we are left with no other option to protect the autonomy of teachers, the experiences of learners, and the UK’s world-class education resources sector. The court has recognised that these concerns deserve a proper hearing.
“The government’s current plans for Oak are an unprecedented and unevidenced intervention that risks causing irreparable damage to the school sector as we know it. It puts unnecessary strain on already stretched public funding for education – soaking up £45m of public money that could otherwise be given to schools directly. It creates a one-size-fits-all state publisher that promotes a single curriculum, controlled by the ministers of the day. No existing provider can compete fairly with this. It will undo decades of work by publishers, tech innovators and others whose expert workforce have created our existing rich range of world-leading resources for school children across the country.
“As we have at every stage of this process, we urge the Department for Education to listen to these concerns, consult properly with stakeholders and rethink its plans for Oak National Academy.”
No further dates for the Review proceedings have yet been announced.
