National Professional Qualifications
FAQs – National Professional Qualifications
What are the reformed NPQs?
National professional qualifications (NPQs) are a national, voluntary suite of qualifications designed to support the professional development of teachers and leaders. We’re committed to ensuring that NPQs continue to offer the best support to teachers and leaders wanting to expand their knowledge and skills.
Three existing NPQs in Senior Leadership, Headship and Executive Leadership have been refreshed, ensuring that they are underpinned by the latest evidence of what works to ensure that National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) continue to offer the best possible support to teachers and leaders.
New for 2022/2023, National Professional Qualification in Early Years Leadership which supports programme members to develop expertise in leading high-quality early years education and care, as well as effective staff and organisational agreement.
The existing Middle Leadership NPQ has also been replaced with four new specialist NPQs to best address the broad range of responsibilities of current and aspiring middle leaders. These specialist areas cover:
National Professional Qualification for Leading Teacher Development:
Supporting the training and development of others, including early career teachers.
National Professional Qualification for Leading Teaching:
Developing teachers who are subject leads or responsible for improving teaching practice in a subject or phase.
National Professional Qualification for Leading Behaviour and Culture
Developing teachers who have responsibilities for leading behaviour and culture.
National Professional Qualification for Leading Literacy
Developing teachers who have or are aspiring to have responsibilities for leading literacy across a school, year group, key stage or phase.
When will the reformed NPQ programmes begin?
The DfE has announced NPQ programmes for 2022/2023 will start in October 2022 and February 2023.
Is anything changing with the National Professional Qualifications?
Yes. Delivering on the commitments set out in the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy, the National Professional Qualifications will complete ‘the golden thread’ and will build on the evidence base and expert guidance already established in the ITT Core Content Framework and ECF.
The eight new NPQ content frameworks will be available for teachers and leaders who want to develop their knowledge and skills in school leadership and specialist areas of teaching practice. They set out the details that participants should know and be able to do after completing an NPQ. These reforms include:
- reforming the 3 existing NPQs in Senior Leadership, Headship and Executive Leadership
- the addition of a new NPQ in Early Years Leadership
- replacing the current NPQ in Middle Leadership with four new NPQs for teachers and leaders who want to develop their expertise in specialist areas of teaching practice:
- NPQ for Leading Teaching
- NPQ for Leading Behaviour
- NPQ for Leading Teacher Development
- NPQ for Leading Literacy
Who are the accredited NPQ Lead Providers?
Nine providers have been accredited by the Department for Education who will design a programme of face-to-face and online training:
· Best Practice Network (home of Outstanding Leaders Partnership)
· LLSE
Can organisations other than Teaching School Hubs acts as Delivery Partners on NPQs?
Yes, Lead Providers can choose to work with other organisations such as large MATS who can deliver ‘at scale’. However, the DfE has invested in Teaching School Hubs so that they can provide an infrastructure to deliver the remit given by the DfE, including delivery of the suite of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs). There is an expectation from Lead Providers that Delivery Partners will be in a position deliver ‘at scale’, Teaching School Hubs are specifically resourced for this level of delivery.
What role will Ofsted play in relation to NPQs?
Providers of the reformed suite of NPQs will be subject to a quality assurance mechanism through Ofsted inspection to ensure the best support for schools and teachers.
What is the role of the online service?
Using the online service (NPQ registration) is the second step of the NPQ application journey. Participants should liaise directly with their chosen provider to establish the course that best suits them prior to accessing the service. Participants may complete an initial ‘expression of interest’/preliminary application form with the Provider directly. Providers will then direct participants to the service to register their details.
What are the NPQ scholarship criteria from 2022/2023?
The DfE has announced this years NPQ scholarship eligibility, all teachers and leaders employed in a state-funded school and state funded organisations that offer 16-19 places will be able to access a fully funded NPQ programme.
If you work in a 16 to 19 education setting you can check a list of 16 to 19 organisations eligible for targeted support funding in the academic year 2022 to 2023.
From autumn 2022, in addition, the following organisations eligible to access scholarships are:
· 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
The DfE has also announced additional funding will be available for schools and colleges with under 600 pupils. Schools will be paid £200 for each teacher or leader who takes an NPQ. This is to help teachers and leaders in smaller settings who may find it harder to engage with professional development.
If you work in a school you can search the Get Information About Schools (GIAS) database to check how many pupils are recorded for your school.
Scholarships for the NPQ for Early Years Leadership are available to those leaders qualified to at least level 3 with a full and relevant qualification: who are, or are aspiring to be:
· managers of private, voluntary and independent nurseries
· headteachers of school-based or maintained nurseries
· childminders with leadership responsibilities
And are employed:
· in a maintained nursery school in England
· in a pre-school class that’s part of a school in England
· in a nursery that is registered on the Ofsted Early Years Register
· as a childminder and registered on the Ofsted Early Years Register, or with a registered Childminder Agency
Is there any additional funding eligibility criteria?
Participants will only be eligible for funding for each NPQ once.
Participants who receive scholarship funding for a reformed NPQ available from November 2021 and who then subsequently withdraw from, or fail, 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 support them to defer their programme and restart at a later date if appropriate.
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, so you must ensure that the information supplied to your NPQ provider matches your teacher record. You can check and update your record via the Teaching Regulation Agency’ teacher self-service portal.
If you are not eligible for scholarship funding, you can still undertake an NPQ and should contact tsh@bright-futures.co.uk
Is there a limit to how many funded NPQ places schools can have?
No, there is no limit to the number of funded NPQ places each school can have.
Is there a cap on the number of funded NPQ places?
Yes, there is a cap. The supply of funded places is very generous and expected to meet demand.
Can someone who has completed the current NPQH re-apply for the reformed NPQH?
Yes, provided the individual did not withdraw or fail the same qualification previously. The framework has been revised and the content updated from the current NPQH.
N.B: for the transfer to be processed, capacity and provision issues would need to be discussed.
Will teachers and leaders who have previously undertaken an NPQ be eligible for the new suite?
Yes. Teachers and leaders who have previously undertaken an NPQ will be eligible for funding on the reformed suite (2021/22 cohorts only), subject to meeting the scholarship criteria. This includes all those who have previously deferred, withdrawn from or failed an NPQ prior to 2021 (including, but not limited to, the legacy 2017 suite). Participants wishing to apply for future cohorts will be subject to future funding criteria.
Is it still the case that once you have registered for a particular level of NPQ, you can reapply for the same level in the future?
Legacy participants will not be excluded from taking an NPQ at an equivalent level to their previous NPQ. However, a participant who fails or withdraws from an NPQ from the new 2021 suite will not be eligible for scholarship-funded access to the same NPQ.
Example 1: A teacher who completes a scholarship-funded Middle Leadership NPQ from the 2017 suite would be eligible for a scholarship-funded Specialist NPQ from the 2021 suite (subject to meeting 2021/22 scholarship criteria).
Example 2: A teacher who fails or withdraws from a Specialist NPQ in Leading Teacher Development would be eligible for scholarship funding to take a different Specialist NPQ, such as Leading Teaching.
I am unable to complete my NPQ on the legacy (2017) suite. Will I be able to transfer partially completed training to the same (or equivalent) qualification under the new suite?
Participants on the legacy (2017) suite should be aware that they have until 31 August 2022 to complete their NPQ course. This includes submitting work for assessment and moderation.
Participants on the legacy (2017) suite who are at risk of non-completion by August 2022 should, in the first instance, contact their provider to discuss the support available to enable them to complete.
The reformed (2021) NPQs have been designed to be substantially different from the 2017 suite, therefore legacy participants will not have the opportunity to transfer partially completed training to a qualification under the new suite.
Participants who are unable to complete their qualifications under the legacy (2017) suite will be required to reapply for and restart the new training.
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