National professional qualification (NPQ) courses
Professional development courses for teachers and leaders to develop skills, progress careers and improve school outcomes.
Applies to England
NPQs can:
- provide training and support for teachers and leaders at all levels
- be completed around existing commitments
- improve outcomes for children and young people
- support staff development
Specialist NPQs
Specialist NPQs can help you develop your classroom teaching or specialism.
Leading teacher development - help teachers in your school develop their skills
Leading teaching - lead the teaching and learning of a subject, year group or phase.
Leading behaviour and culture - promote a culture of good behaviour and high expectations
Leading literacy - promote literacy across a whole school, year group, key stage or phase
Leading primary mathematics - use mastery approaches to lead maths teaching in your school
Leadership NPQs
Leadership NPQs can help you develop your leadership skills or progress to a leadership role.
Senior leadership - develop leadership expertise to improve outcomes for teachers and pupils
Headship - become an expert school leader and outstanding headteacher
Executive leadership - develop the expertise to run a multi-school organisation and lead change and improvement
Early years leadership - manage your staff and organisation to provide high-quality early years education and care
Special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) – perform a SENCO role effectively and set the strategic direction of special educational needs policy in a school.
NPQ providers
Providers are:
- chosen by the Department for Education (DfE) in a fair and open procurement process
- subject to quality assurance through Ofsted inspection
- not the same for every NPQ
The individual NPQ course pages list the providers for each NPQ.
All NPQs are underpinned by a framework that sets out what you should know and be able to do after completing an NPQ.
NPQ training providers use these frameworks to design their courses.
Course structure
Courses last between 12 and 22 months (including the time to undertake assessment and receive results), depending on your chosen NPQ. The course structure, curriculum and method of delivery may vary between different providers.
During your NPQ, you will:
- learn from an evidence-based curriculum of your chosen qualification, drawing on effective pedagogy, current research and international best practice to give you the knowledge and skills to improve in your current role or take the next step in your career
- take part in a mixture of face-to-face sessions, webinars and self-directed study
- answer an assessed case study question (the summative assessment)
NPQs are developed in collaboration with the sector, informed by the best available research and evidence endorsed by the Education Endowment Foundation.
Early headship coaching offer
If you’re in your first 5 years of headship, you may also be eligible for the early headship coaching offer. This offer provides unassessed structured support, coaching and networking opportunities.
Funding
Funding to cover the course fees for NPQs is available for teachers and school leaders in many state-funded settings in England, subject to eligibility criteria.
Eligibility for funding does not guarantee a place on a funded NPQ course.
Updates to this page
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Updated information about funding.
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Updated information on funding.
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Updated to reflect the fact that further details of the NPQ for SENCOs are available.
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First published.