ABC former managing director Mark Scott has been appointed as the head of the New South Wales Education Department.

Mr Scott left the ABC in April after a decade at the organisation's helm.

He replaces Dr Michele Bruniges, who moved to the Federal Education Department earlier this year.

Mr Scott said he was committed to public education even though his children went to private schools.

At his first press conference as secretary of the Education Department, Mr Scott was asked how he could advocate strongly for public education given he went to a private school and put his children through private schools.

"We have an education system that's based around choice and there are plenty of people who send their kids to Catholic schools, public schools and independent schools," he said.

"My responsibility will partly encompass all of the schools."

Mr Scott admitted he had not had as deep a connection to the public school system as others.

"I'll draw a parallel from my time at the ABC. I have an extensive background in education and when I started at the ABC I had an extensive background in news and media but I'd never worked in broadcast," he said.

"I learned a lot on broadcasting from the people who were around me."

'Look at what I did in the last decade, rather than the last century'

Mr Scott was also asked about his time as a media adviser to Terry Metherell, who was the education minister in the Greiner government, when many schools were shut down.

Loading

"If you want a sense of how I'm going to approach this job you need to look at what I did in the last decade rather than what I did in the last century - that was a long time ago," Mr Scott said.

"I think one of the things I actually learned in that time was the importance of how you implement change."

In a statement, Premier Baird said welcomed Mr Scott to the position.

"Mark's appointment takes our reinvigoration of the senior executive of the NSW public service a step further," he said.

"Along with promoting outstanding young talent from within the service, we have sought out the best and brightest from the corporate world.

"Like Rob Whitfield, who took the reins at Treasury last year, Mark is ready, willing and able to bring the fruits of his immense experience to the benefit of the entire NSW community."

Scott leaves decade-long ABC legacy

During his time as managing director at the ABC, Mr Scott oversaw the introduction of News 24 and the development of digital platforms as well as managing major cuts to the ABC's budget.

Singapore-based Google executive Michelle Guthrie became the ABC's first female managing director when she took over from Mr Scott last month.

The Premier's office said Mr Scott had a background in education during the 1980s as a teacher at St Andrew's Cathedral School before working for two education ministers - Virginia Chadwick and Terry Metherell - during the Greiner administration.

"He then completed a Master of Public Administration at Harvard before joining Fairfax as a journalist, rising to senior editorial and executive roles, then moving to the ABC," the statement said.