Leading literacy national professional qualification
A course to help teachers learn how to effectively teach and promote literacy across the whole school, year group, key stage or phase.
Applies to England
Who this course is for
This course is for teachers and middle leaders who have, or want to have responsibilities for leading literacy across a school, year group, key stage or phase.
Overview
This one-year course will help you gain confidence and develop skills in:
- running literacy improvement strategies
- supporting colleagues who want to develop their pupils’ reading
This course will:
- take 12 months to complete
- involve an average of 1 to 2 hours of study each week
- be a mix of self-study and group sessions
- have a written assessment
Funding
Teachers and school leaders in many state funded settings in England will be eligible for funding to cover their NPQ course fees, subject to eligibility criteria.
Eligibility for funding does not guarantee a place on a funded NPQ course.
Course content
This course covers how to support colleagues to develop all pupils’:
- language capability and wider understanding of language
- word reading
- reading comprehension
- writing skills
You’ll also learn how to:
- contribute to effective professional development linked to teaching, curriculum and assessment across the school
- design and implement literacy improvement strategies
Benefits for you and your school
Wider understanding of language
You’ll be able to use techniques from the course to help your school’s development of pupils’ language and vocabulary.
Practical skills to encourage reading
You’ll learn how to build a school-wide culture that promotes reading for pleasure.
Making use of existing resources
The course has been designed to ensure teachers responsible for leading literacy don’t need to create new resources.
Help with teaching phonics effectively
You’ll be able to support colleagues to develop all pupils’ word reading by ensuring the school uses systematic synthetic phonics methods.
Course structure
The course covers 6 topics, outlined in the course framework. Providers use this framework to design their course.
The course includes:
- independent study
- group coaching
- face-to-face sessions with other participants
You’ll need to spend 1 to 2 hours a week working on this NPQ.
Providers
You can train with one of the following providers:
- Ambition Institute
- National Institute of Teaching
- Teach First
- University College London (UCL) Institute of Education
They work with delivery partners, such as teaching school hubs, to provide training.
Assessment
To get your NPQ accreditation, you’ll need to complete the course and pass a written assessment (1,500 words).
Apply
Learn how to apply for an NPQ.
Updates to this page
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Updated information about funding and removed one provider.
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Removed 'Education Development Trust' from the list of providers.
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Updated the funding section and the course start date, to autumn 2024.
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Updated the NPQ start date to February 2024.
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First published.