NPQSL
National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership
APPLICATIONS for NPQ cohorts starting in February 2023 are now open. Click here to apply.
EKLA is both delighted and excited to be delivering NPQs in partnership with LLSE and Thames Gateway Teaching School Hub.
The National Professional Qualifications (NPQS) provide and support for teachers and school leaders at all levels, from those who want to develop expertise in high quality teaching practice, such as behaviour management, to those leading multiple schools across trusts.
COURSE DURATION
18 months
TIME
1.5 - 2.5 hours per week
Who is it for?
For school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, a senior leader with cross-school responsibilities.
FUNDING & COST OF COURSE
£1130
NPQs are currently fully funded by the DfE for teachers and leaders working in:
- State-funded schools,
- State-funded 16 to 19 organisations
- Independent special schools
- Virtual Schools (LA run organisations that support the education of children in care)
- Hospital schools (not already included in other categories of eligible organisations)
- Young Offender institutions
If you are an international applicant, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for information on prices.
In addition to the scholarship funding, this year there will be Targeted Support Funding available for small schools to enable them to support their teachers and leaders to undertake NPQs. State-funded schools and 16 to 19 education settings in England, that have between 1 and 600 pupils on roll, will be paid £200.00 for each teacher or leader they employ who undertakes an NPQ. Eligibility will be based on the roll numbers that were submitted in the January 2022 pupil census and will be updated on GIAS in July 2022. Further information can be found here.
WHAT WILL YOU BE STUDYing?
The course is comprised of four modules. Each of the modules takes 12 weeks to complete. As part of each module, you will undertake some online study (approximately 2 hours per week of the 12 weeks), participate in two live interactive webinars (90 minutes each), and attend a face-to-face session (half day).
As part of the online learning, you will have the opportunity to engage with relevant research and evidence, learn how leaders in other schools carry out their role and participate in discussion forum activities with everyone else completing the same qualification as you. You will also complete a series of activities to build a personal online learning journal. This will record your progress, help you to reflect on the new knowledge, understanding and skill you are acquiring and act as a repository for all of the key information you don’t want to forget.
You will be expertly guided through your modules with support from your two facilitators and your in-school coach.
The key topics covered over the course of the four modules are:
- School / college culture
- Teaching
- Curriculum and assessment
- Behaviour
- Additional and special educational needs and disabilities
- Professional development
- Organisational management
- Implementation
- Working in partnership
- Governance and accountability
With each explored through the lens of the work of a senior leader.
Within each module there are opportunities for you to complete formative assessment activities which will enable you and your facilitator to reflect on and evaluate the progress you make whilst completing the qualification.
Assessment
Formative assessment takes place throughout the programme, helping you to understand the progress you are making, and facilitators to adapt your learning experiences.
There are two overall criteria to achieving the qualification:
- Engagement with a minimum of 90% of the course
- Successful completion of the summative assessment
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 details on assessment.
Participant Expectations
As with any professional development the more you put into the process of learning the more you will be able to take from it. This qualification requires commitment and time as well as a willingness to try new things, make mistakes and extend your knowledge, skill and understanding. We have designed the course with flexibility in mind and whilst you might complete the online elements of the course on your own and at a time which best suits you and your wellbeing, you will be part of both a local and national cohort of other teachers and leaders studying exactly as you are, we refer to this as your community of practice. You will gain most from the course by seizing each opportunity to engage with your community of practice – an enquiring mind is a must.
We recognise that each school and college, whilst similar to others will operate with its own unique culture, set of strengths and challenges, it is for this reason that we have engaged with practitioners across the country to provide contextualised case study input and allow you to see how the ideas covered in the course work in the real world. This means we welcome collaboration with you as the course participant to create new content for others to learn from, so, as you complete the course, if you think you have a case study within your own school or college, get in touch and let us celebrate what you and your colleagues are achieving.
In short we expect that participants are teachers and leaders 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
The taught elements of your course will take place over a 12-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.
APPLications
Apply by clicking the Apply Now button. Delivery partner is Thames Gateway and Cluster is EKLA.