Let's keep the arms length body at arms length
Sherlock Holmes, by Terry Freedman
The Department for Education in England has expressed the wish to take the Oak Academy into a form of public ownership in the form of an arms length body (ALB), which probably doesn't mean what it seems to mean. "Arms length" would imply no interference in the market for educational resources, so the very existence of an ALB is a contradiction in terms.
If the original plans go ahead (which considering we're now on our fourth education secretary since the plans were launched in March 2022 is not guaranteed I shouldn't have thought), the DfE will start commissioning resources from the Oak Academy. The Oak provided useful resources during the lockdowns, and continues to create them. But there are four things wrong with the DfE's plan…