NPQH
National Professional Qualification for Headship
who is it for?
For school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, a headteacher or head of school with responsibility for leading a school.
The DfE NPQH Framework can be found here.
Areas of Study
- School culture
- Teaching
- Curriculum and Assessment
- Behaviour
- Additional and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
- Professional Development
- Organisational Management
- Implementation
- Working in Partnership
- Governance and Accountability
Delivery Model
A flexible and accessible blended learning model combining in-person workshops, online seminars, webinars and a range of independently organised learning activities and peer networking.
| Participant | description | duration |
|---|---|---|
| Face to face workshops | Opportunities to bring learning to life in your context, reflect with other professionals and benefit from expert facilitation. | 16 hrs |
| Webinars | In person facilitated online learning to complement in-school implementation and private study. | 12 hrs |
| Coaching | The opportunity to unleash your strengths and engage in focussed professional dialogue about your development. | 6 hrs |
| Multimedia Content | Engage with virtual learning aligned to your subject / phase / contect allowing for increased specialisation in the content covered. | 10 hrs |
| Self-Directed Learning | Engage with a wide range of online content including the EEF evidence base materials. | 10 hrs |
| Communities of Practice | Establish and build a community of likeminded leaders serving in your locality as well as participating in regional and national groups where applicable. | 6 hrs |
| Formative Assessment | Opportunities to work with your coach and other colleagues to reflect on the progress you make as you learn more and can do more as a result of your participation and engagement with the NPQ materials. | 6 hrs |
| Application of Learning | Opportunities to bring learning to life in your context, reflect with other professionals and benefit from expert facilitation. | 10 hrs |
Assessment
Formative assessment takes place throughout the programme, helping you understand the progress you are making, and facilitators to adapt your learning experiences.
Summative assessment takes the form of a 1500-word response to a case study, completed in a single 8-day window at the end of your programme. The assessment will give you the opportunity to demonstrate how you would deploy the knowledge, skills and understanding gained through the NPQ to lead and implement a specific aspect of change.
Further information about assessment can be found here.
Duration
The taught elements of your NPQH course will take place over an 18 month period. This will be followed by the completion of your summative assessment which must be submitted within an 8 day period following completion of your course. The whole of the assessment process including submission of your summative assessment, marking and moderation will take a total of 3 months.
If you join a November 2021 start cohort, the taught elements of your course will be complete by May 2023. The following assessment period to include submission, marking and moderation will be complete by August 2023.
If you join a February 2022 start cohort, the taught elements of your course will be complete by August 2023. The following assessment period to include submision, marking and moderation will be complete by November 2023.
Participant Expectations
That participants are teachers who will be able to meet all of the following criteria:
- Active engagement in every aspect of the programme - face-to-face and online elements
- A commitment to accurate, evidence-informed self-evaluation and reflection
- The ability to proactively arrange and participate in coaching sessions
- A commitment to submit a 1,500-word assessment within 8 calendar days of it being set at the end of the programme
- A commitment to thoughtfully engage with evaluations about their entire programme learning experience that will support our continued quality improvement
Quality
Our participants are crucial to our continuous quality improvement. The regular evaluations of our entire NPQ experience help us to give you the very best learning experience, as we are able to respond quickly to any issues, and share best practice rapidly. "incisive self-evaluation which drives continuous improvement." (Tribal 2019)
Funding and eligibility criteria
Fully funded NPQ for Headship is available to all teachers who meet the following criteria:
- Are employed in state-funded school in England
- Are employed in a state-funded organisation that offer 16-19 places in England
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 in your application matches your teacher record. You can check and update your record via Teaching Regulation Agency Teacher Self-Service Portal
If you have already applied for an NPQ starting November 2021 your eligibility will be automatically updated and you will be notified by the DfE of your new funding status.
Cost
£1975 for teachers from Independent schools
APPLications
Applications are via LLSE website. Delivery partner is Thames Gateway and Cluster is EKLA.