We’re pleased to announce that we are partnering with education charity Ambition Institute to deliver the NPQ in Senior Leadership.
This 18-month programme helps you develop your leadership knowledge and expertise to improve outcomes for teachers and pupils in your school.
- Gain an NPQ Senior Leadership accreditation
- Enjoy flexible training to suit your timetable
- Access evidence-based learning
- Learn from leadership experts
Ambition Institute has designed this ground-breaking NPQ to give you the chance to learn about evidence-based school leadership and put it into practice in your school or trust.
Ambition’s ‘little and often’ approach uses the latest research to help you apply your learning to persistent problems. You’ll train alongside other leaders with similar responsibilities, focusing on the key challenges you face in your role.
With no project work and minimal time out of school, the NPQs are designed to fit around your busy timetable.
Benefits for you
Train to your timetable
The flexible programme is designed to fit in with your busy working role. Training is delivered in bite-sized chunks, which is useful for retaining knowledge, and you can learn at a time and pace that suits you.
Build your confidence
Learn how to excel as a leader and get the support you need to take the next step in your career.
Access the latest research
Benefit from the latest evidence-based learning and approaches to great teaching and leadership. See how it can improve schools and change lives.
Enact positive change
Translate what you’ve learned on this programme to your own school context. We’ll help you do this by providing models and examples that seek to make the link between theory and practice concrete.
Get peer-to-peer support
Learn from a network of like-minded peers and have the share insights with colleagues in your own school setting.
Benefits for your school or trust
Create a common knowledge base
NPQ qualifications are aligned, so you can have confidence that all your educators will share a common language and framework to develop your school or trust.
Support your leaders
Senior leaders will be given the tools to drill down into specific areas of leadership to improve their knowledge, make evidence-informed decisions and action positive change.
Learn from evidence
Senior Leaders will be introduced to evidence-informed practices straightaway. This will help them develop strategies to improve teaching and pupil performance at your school.
Make a leadership pipeline
The programme will help to identify future leaders and create a positive culture where teachers can develop and thrive.
Boost attainment
Studies show that high-quality continuous professional development can improve pupil outcomes almost as effectively as having a teacher with 10 years’ experience in the classroom.
What you will learn
This programme follows the Department for Education’s National Professional Qualification: Senior Leadership Framework.
You will learn how to:
- Set clear goals and communicate shared values that improve the culture in your classrooms and school
- Establish a safe and positive environment for pupils
- Support colleagues to meet individual needs and make sure all pupils have access to a rich curriculum
- Lead school-wide professional development for staff
- Make and act on evidence-informed decisions
- Work well with parents, carers, other schools and the wider community
- Lead by example, be accountable for decisions and make sure colleagues know their responsibilities.
Note: programme content is subject to change.
How you’ll learn
The programme is delivered through blended learning. This includes a mix of face-to-face conferences, real-time, interactive online sessions and self-guided modules to complete in your own time. You’ll put what you learn into practice in your school, tracking your progress and getting feedback as you go.
The assessment window starts at the end of the 18-month programme and runs for three months. During this time, you’ll be given an eight-day window to sit an ‘open book’ style assessment in which you respond to a short case study.
There are two assessment windows every year, and you can sit the assessment twice, if needed.
You need to complete the course to qualify for the NPQ accreditation.
Ambition Institute will offer a webinar and live clinic in advance of the assessment window to support participants.
NEW: Department for Education scholarship funding is available to all state schools and state funded organisations that offer 16-19 places in England.
DfE-funded scholarships are available for this NPQ for all those who meet the following criteria:
- Are, or are aspiring to be, a senior leader with cross-school responsibilities.
- Work in a state-funded school, or organisation that offers education to 16-19-year-olds in England.
If you don’t work in an eligible school, the NPQ in Senior Leadership costs £1,140 plus VAT.
Funding
As part of the government’s long-term education recovery plan, it was announced in May 2022 that funding for fully funded NPQ training scholarships will be available in academic years 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024.
Eligibility
From autumn 2022, the organisations eligible to access scholarships are:
- state-funded schools
- state-funded 16 to 19 organisations
- 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
Practising teachers employed by local authorities, such as supply teachers, will also be able to access scholarships.
Teachers and leaders who are employed as above are eligible for training scholarships for all 8 NPQs.
Support fund for small schools – Targeted support funding
The Department has updated the Targeted Support Fund offer for the 2023 to 2024 academic year to further incentivise state-funded schools and state-funded 16 to 19 educational settings in England to participate in NPQs.
For each teacher or leader they employ who takes an NPQ in the 2023 to 2024 academic year:
- state-funded primary schools with one to 150 pupils will receive a grant payment of £800
- state-funded primary schools with more than 150 pupils will receive a grant payment of £200
- state-funded secondary schools and state-funded 16 to 19 educational settings with one to 600 pupils will receive a grant payment of £200
Apply
To apply, you must be, or are aspiring to be, a senior leader with cross-school responsibilities. For example, you might be an assistant or deputy headteacher, or a head of department or faculty.
| Accreditation | NPQSL |
| Course length | 18 months |
| Application deadline | Friday 22nd December 2023 |
| Programme start | February 2024 |
