Introduction

National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) are nationally available, voluntary qualifications that have been designed to support teachers’ and leaders’ professional development.

NPQs are available for teachers and leaders who want to develop their knowledge and skills in school leadership and specialist areas of teaching practice.

There are also five leadership NPQs in senior leadership, headship, executive leadership, early years leadership and a new NPQ for special educational needs co-ordinators.

The details of these NPQs are explored in more detail below.

Purpose and deliverability of the NPQs

The specialist and leadership NPQs have been developed to provide training and support for teachers and school leaders at all levels. This includes those who want to develop expertise in their teaching practice, such as behaviour management, through to those leading a number of schools across multi-academy trusts.

It is intended that NPQs can be completed flexibly around existing commitments of teachers and leaders. Study can last between 12 and 22 months, depending on the chosen NPQ. The provider will also play a role, as they determine the course structure, content and method of delivery.

Learning spans a number of methodologies, including following an evidence-based curriculum, face-to-face sessions, webinars, self-directed study and a summative assessment.

NPQs

Five NPQs in specialist areas of teaching have been designed for both classroom teachers and leaders. They are:

  • Leading teacher development - learn how to become a teacher educator and successfully support teachers in school to expand their skills.

  • Leading teaching - learn how to lead the teaching and learning of a subject, year group or phase.

  • Leading behaviour and culture - learn how to create a culture of good behaviour and high expectations in which staff and pupils can thrive.

  • Leading literacy - learn how to effectively teach and promote literacy across the whole school, year group, key stage or phase.

  • Leading primary mathematics - learn how to use mastery approaches to lead maths teaching in your school.

The leadership NPQs are:

  • Senior leadership - develop leadership knowledge and expertise to improve outcomes for teachers and pupils.

  • Headship - develop the knowledge that underpins expert school leadership and apply it to become an outstanding headteacher.

  • Executive leadership - develop the expertise needed to become an outstanding executive leader, leading change and improvement across a group of schools or multi-academy trust.

  • Early years leadership - develop expertise in leading high-quality early years education and care, as well as effective staff and organisational management. 

National professional qualifications frameworks have been developed for each NPQ, setting out what participants should know and be able to do after completing the qualification. Providers have used these frameworks to design their courses.

SENCO NPQ

A new SENCO NPQ has been in place since 1 September 2024 and is the current mandatory qualification for SENCOs. This course enables SENCOs to learn how to effectively perform the role and set the strategic direction of a special education needs policy in a school.

The DfE’s web page on the SENCO NPQ provides further details on funding, the course content, providers, assessment and how to apply.

Early headship coaching offer

In addition to the reformed NPQs, an early headship coaching offer has been introduced for new headteachers. This is a package of structured support and networking opportunities for teachers who are early on in their headship role.

To be eligible for this programme, individuals must meet all the following criteria:

  • be in their first five years of headship;

  • employed in England in a state-funded school or state-funded 16 to 19 organisation on starting the training;

  • have either completed an NPQH before taking up their first headship post or currently taking one; and

  • have not withdrawn from the additional support programme previously.

The exact content of this support will depend on the provider chosen. Activities may include a combination of group coaching, one-to-one support discussions and peer network support. More information can be found by contacting a local teaching school hub, lead provider or other delivery partner.

NPQ providers

The DfE website has a list of providers for each NPQ on the Professional Development for Teachers and Leaders page.

Providers of the reformed suite of NPQs will be subject to a quality assurance mechanism through Ofsted inspection, with a view to ensuring they continue to offer the best support for schools and teachers.

Applying for an NPQ

Once teachers and leaders have chosen an NPQ and provider, they need to:

  • register with the DfE;

  • apply directly with your chosen provider - they will send you an application form once you’ve registered with DfE.

The DfE’s Professional Development for Teachers and Leaders guidance has advice on how to apply for each NPQ.

Funding and eligibility

Scholarship funding covering the full NPQ course cost is available to teachers and leaders from:

  • the 50% of schools with the highest proportion of students who attract pupil premium funding;

  • 16 to 19 educational settings identified as having high disadvantage.

For the early years leadership NPQ, highly disadvantaged early years settings will also be eligible.

Scholarships will continue to be available to all teachers and leaders from publicly funded schools and 16 to 19 educational organisations for the following NPQs:

  • leading primary mathematics;

  • special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO);

  • headship.

Funding for these three NPQs is also available to:

  • hospital schools;

  • young offender institutions;

  • staff working in local authority virtual schools (local-authority-run organisations that support the education of children in care);

  • other local authority staff with a responsibility to deliver curriculum content, for example local authority supply or peripatetic teachers.

Leading teacher development NPQ

For the leading teacher development NPQ, scholarship funding is available for people who are, or will be, taking on the role of lead mentor for an initial teacher training provider accredited to deliver initial teacher training from September 2024.

Early headship coaching offer

For the early headship coaching offer, funding to cover the course fees will be available if you are in your first five years of headship in England in a state-funded school or state-funded 16 to 19 organisation. You should also be doing or have done the headship NPQ.

You can use the DfE’s NPQ funding page to check if your setting is eligible for scholarship funding.

Funding restrictions

You can only receive scholarship funding for each NPQ once. If you receive scholarship funding but then withdraw from or fail your programme, you cannot receive scholarship funding for the same NPQ again.

Being eligible for an NPQ scholarship does not guarantee either suitability for the course or that a funded course place is available. NPQ providers are responsible for determining suitability through their application process.

Before applying for an NPQ, you should check availability of funded places with your chosen NPQ provider. If funded places are not available, the DfE states that you can: 

  • approach a different NPQ training provider to enquire about the availability of funded course places;

  • choose to join your chosen provider’s waiting list;

  • choose to pay for a course place.

Next steps

NASUWT will continue to monitor for further updates or additional information on the NPQs and will provide further updates to members as appropriate.

 


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