The philanthropist who helped found the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), the schools evidence broker charity, is to step down after 12 years as chair.
Sir Peter Lampl is leaving after a “successful longstanding tenure”, a job advert to find a replacement for his role states.
The charity is now looking for an experienced chair who is “passionate about the role of education in providing opportunity… [and] capable of navigating and influencing both complex systems and wide-ranging stakeholders, including at the highest levels”.
The EEF was set up in 2011 by social mobility charity Sutton Trust, founded by Lampl. It was backed by a £125 million government grant, with a £137 million grant to keep it running for another decade announced last year.
The charity aims to break the link between family income and education achievement, supporting schools and colleges to improve teaching for two to 19-year-olds through better use of evidence.
The job advert, for the unpaid role, adds: “You will appreciate the EEF’s commitment to research and analytic rigour alongside the need to ensure the EEF’s recommendations are both actionable and relevant to its many stakeholders – from policy-makers to teachers and parents.
“You will be a credible and experienced leader, able to consolidate the impact the EEF has had to date and to enable its continued development during the next phase of its existence.”
It is understood Lampl will not leave the post until 2024.
The EEF said more than 90 per cent of schools used its resources, which include the popular Teaching and Learning Toolkit, during the pandemic.
Nearly three-quarters of heads accessed EEF research and materials to inform how they engaged with parents and educate pupils, the charity added.
Lampl’s website states he was at one time one of the 200 wealthiest people in the UK, making his money after founding private equity firm the Sutton Company.
He was made an OBE in 1999 and knighted in 2003. The EEF has not responded to a request for comment.
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