Senior leadership national professional qualification

Who this course is for

This course is for teachers and leaders who are, or want to be senior leaders with cross-school responsibilities.

Overview

This 18-month course will help youstaff gain confidence and develop skills in: in:

• leadership knowledge and the specialist expertise needed to tackle school improvement priorities priorities

• supporting the development of a positive, predictable and safe environment for pupils 

  pupils
• contributing to your school’s strategic direction and establishing an environment for pupil success success
• helping ensure staff feel supported and valued valued

YouTeachers will get to train alongside peers with similar responsibilities. The course content focuses on the key challenges teachers and leaders face in their role. role.

Teachers and education experts designed this course to fit around busy teaching timetables. There’s no project work and minimal time out of school required. required.

This course will: will:

• take 18 months to complete complete
• involve an average of 1 to 2 hours of study each week week
• be a mix of self-study and group sessions sessions
• involve a written assessment assessment
• start inFebruary autumn 2024 2024

Funding Funding

Funding to cover the course fees for this NPQ is available for most teachers and school leaders in many state-funded settings in England. England.

Learn about funding.

Course content content

This course covers themes including: including:

• school culture culture
• effective teaching teaching
• supporting curriculum and assessment development development
• behaviour behaviour
• additional and special educational needs needs

• professional development 

  development
• organisational management management

You’ll also learn about: about:

• the latest evidence-based learning and approaches to teaching and leadership  
• implementation strategies strategies
• working in partnership with parents and carers carers
• governance and accountability

Benefits for you and your school

Undisruptive to existing workload

This programme is designed to be flexible to fit with your busy working role. Training is delivered in bite-sized chunks, and you can learn at a time and pace that suits you.

Access the latest research

Benefit from the latest evidence-based learning and approaches to great teaching and leadership.

Enact positive change

You’ll be encouraged to apply and translate what you’ve learned to your own school context. Your training provider will give you models and examples that will help you translate theory into practical skills you can use in your setting. setting.

Individualised training

YouYou’ll canbe able to focus on specific areas of leadership where you want to improve your knowledge.  knowledge. This will help you make evidence-informed decisions and action positive change.

Learning backed by evidence

You’ll be introduced to evidence-informed practices. This will enable you to develop strategies to improve teaching and pupil performance at your school.

Course structure structure

The course covers 10 topics, outlined in the the course framework. Providers use this framework to design their course. course.

The course includes: includes:

• independent study study
• group coaching coaching
• face-to-face sessions with other participants participants

You’ll need to spend 1 to 2 hours a week working on this NPQ. .

Providers Providers

You can train for this NPQ with one of the following providers: providers:

• Ambition Institute 
• Best Practice Network 
• Church of England 
• Education Development Trust 
• LLSE (Leadership Learning Securing Excellence)  
• National Institute of Teaching 
• Teacher Development Trust 
• Teach First 
• UniversityUCL College London (UCL) Institute of Education 

They work with delivery partners, such as teaching school hubs, to provide training. training.

Assessment Assessment

To get your NPQ accreditationaccreditation, you’ll need to complete the course and pass a written assessment (between 1,500 and 2,500 words). words).

Apply Apply

Before you apply to your chosen training provider, you need to register with the Department for Education.

Learn how to apply for an NPQ.