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 four leadership NPQs in senior leadership, headship, executive leadership and early years leadership.

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

Teachers and leaders undertaking existing NPQs

Anyone who previously undertook NPQs under the existing contracts and frameworks, prior to the reforms, were required to complete these courses, including assessment and moderation, by August 2022.

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 18 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 (from autumn 2022)

The four 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.

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.

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.

National Professional Qualifications available from 2024

From 2024, two additional NPQs will become available:

  • A National Professional Qualification for Leading Primary Mathematics will be available from Spring 2024. This is for teachers who have, or are aspiring to have, responsibilities for leading primary mathematics teaching across a school, key stage or phase;

  • A National Professional Qualification for SENCOs will be available from Autumn 2024. This is a leadership level qualification, primarily for SENCOs, school leaders or aspiring SENCOs.

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

As part of the Government’s long-term Education Recovery Plan, funding for fully funded NPQ training scholarships is available in the 2023/24 academic year.

The organisations eligible to access scholarships are:

  • state-funded schools;

  • state-funded 16 to 19 organisations;

  • independent special schools;

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

  • hospital schools not already included in other categories of eligible organisations;

  • young offender institutions.

Local authority-employed supply teachers will also be able to access scholarships.

Training scholarships for the NPQ Early Years Leadership are available to those leaders qualified to at least level 3 with a full and relevant qualification and are or are aspiring to be:

  • managers of private, voluntary and independent nurseries;

  • headteachers or leaders of school-based or maintained nurseries;

  • childminders with leadership responsibilities.

They also need to be employed in:

  • a maintained nursery school in England;

  • a pre-school class or nursery that is part of a maintained school in England;

  • a pre-school class or nursery that is part of an independent school in England providing free early years entitlements places;

  • a nursery that is registered on the Ofsted Early Years Register: or

  • as a childminder and registered on the Ofsted Early Years Register, or with a registered Childminder Agency.

Additional eligibility criteria

Participants are only eligible for funding for each NPQ once.

If a participant is given scholarship funding for a reformed NPQ and subsequently withdraws from it or fails, their programme will not be eligible for scholarship funding for the same NPQ in the future. If a participant is unable to continue with their NPQ, providers are expected to offer support by deferring their programme and restarting at a later date.

Participants who received scholarship funding for a legacy NPQ (prior to November 2021) and who withdraw from their programme will be eligible for scholarship funding for the new reformed NPQs.

Access to funding remains conditional on successful validation of participants’ registration information against Teaching Regulation Agency records. Teachers and leaders need to ensure the information supplied to their NPQ provider matches their teacher record. This can be checked and updated via the Teaching Regulation Agency’s teacher self-service portal.

If you are not eligible for scholarship funding, NPQs can still be undertaken. Those interested should contact their local teaching school hub, lead provider or other delivery partners directly for more information.

Targeted support funding

For the 2023/24 academic year, smaller schools and primary schools in England will be paid a pre-agreed amount for each teacher or leader they employ who takes an NPQ. The aim of this is to help teachers and leaders who work in smaller and primary settings who may find it harder to engage with professional development. It will be paid for each NPQ participant in these eligible settings.

The eligible settings and levels of funding are:

  • State-funded primary schools with 1 to 150 pupils will receive a grant payment of £800 for each teacher or leader they employ who starts an NPQ in the 2023 to 2024 academic year;

  • state-funded primary schools with more than 150 pupils will receive a grant payment of £200 for each teacher or leader they employ who starts an NPQ in the 2023 to 2024 academic year;

  • state-funded secondary schools with 1 to 600 pupils will receive a grant payment of £200 for each teacher or leader they employ who starts an NPQ in the 2023 to 2024 academic year;

  • state-funded 16 to 19 educational setting with 1 to 600 pupils will receive a grant payment of £200 for each teacher or leader they employ who starts an NPQ in the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

Funding is not available for participants taking the early headship coaching offer unless they are also taking another NPQ course.

Payments will be grant funded in arrears via existing Education and Skills Funding Agency (EFSA) channels the summer after NPQ participants begin their course. Eligibility for targeted support funding will be determined automatically as participants complete the registration process and there is no need to apply for this funding separately.

Teachers and leaders are advised to contact [email protected] with any questions.

Funding from autumn 2024

The DfE has confirmed that funding for Autumn 2024 will target those teachers and leaders who work in the most challenging schools or educational settings. This is to focus on serving more disadvantaged communities. 

Scholarship funding to cover the full NPQ course cost will be 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, but will be limited to the following NPQs: 

  • leading primary maths;

  • SENCO;

  • headship.

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 have completed, or be in the process of completing, the headship NPQ.

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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