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NPQs


What is an NPQ?

Whether you're at a Church of England, Catholic, state or independent school, and wherever you are in your career, we have the qualifications to help you transform your professional practice and make a difference to your pupils. 99.5% of our Alumni say our NPQs had a positive impact in their role, with participants commenting that "I am better prepared to deal with the challenges of my role", "I now lead more effectively" and within my school "students [are] better supported, and staff also". 

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Which NPQ is for me?

The Church of England are a lead provider of a wide range of National Professional Questions. NPQs are a suite of specialist and leadership qualifications designed to support teachers and school leaders to develop leadership expertise across a range of areas. NPQs are not recommended for Early Career Teachers.

We offer nine NPQs for all stages of your leadership journey. NPQs can:

  • Provide training and support for teachers and leaders at all levels.
  • Be completed around existing commitments.
  • Improve outcomes for children and young people.
  • Support staff development.

NPQs are developed in collaboration with the sector, informed by the best available research and evidence endorsed by the Education Endowment Foundation.

NPQFunding: There is limited scholarship funding available for NPQs in Autumn 24. Please read about the changes to scholarship funding here.

Specialist NPQs:

Specialist NPQs can help you develop your classroom teaching or specialism. We offer four specialist NPQs. All specialist NPQs will take you 12 months to complete.

Leading Teacher Development: support the development of teachers.

This course is for staff who have, or want to have, responsibility for:

  • leading the development of other teachers in their school
  • mentoring trainees or early career teachers

Leading teaching: support improvements in the quality of teaching and learning.

This course is for teachers and middle leaders who have, or want to have, responsibilities for leading teaching in a subject, year group, key stage or phase.

Leading behaviour and culture - promote a culture of good behaviour and high expectations.

This course is suitable for all teachers and leaders who are, or want to be, involved in developing and implementing behaviour and wellbeing strategies in their school.

Leading primary mathematics - use mastery approaches to lead maths teaching in your school.

This course is for:

  • Teachers and leaders with responsibility for leading maths across a primary key-stage or school, or those who want to have this responsibility.

Leadership NPQs

Leadership NPQs can help you develop your leadership skills or progress to a leadership role. Leadership NPQs will take you 12 months to complete.

Senior leadership - develop whole-school leadership expertise to improve outcomes for teachers and pupils.

This course is for teachers and leaders who are or want to be senior leaders with cross-school responsibilities. You will develop skills in:

  • leadership knowledge and the specialist expertise needed to tackle school improvement priorities.
  • contributing to your school’s strategic direction and establishing an environment for pupil success.

Headship - become an expert school leader and outstanding headteacher.

This course is for experienced senior leaders or new Headteachers who want to develop their leadership knowledge & expertise to lead at whole-school level. You’ll be equipped with school-focused leadership knowledge, which you can use to establish the culture and conditions where staff and pupils can thrive.

Executive leadership - develop the expertise to run a multi-school organisation and lead change and improvement.

This course is for school leaders who are or want to be an executive headteacher or in a school trust chief executive role with responsibility for leading several schools. You will lean about:

  • Developing processes and systems that enable and encourage collaboration between staff within and across schools.

Special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) – perform a SENCO role effectively and set the strategic direction of special educational needs policy in a school. NEW FOR AUTUMN 2024

The course is for those who are a SENCO or who aspire to be a SENCO, in a mainstream school or academy, independent school, special school, alternative provision setting or 16-19 organisation. This course will enable you to:

Co-ordinate special educational needs provision throughout your school.

Collaborate with other leaders to build a culture in which pupils with SEND can participate meaningfully in the full life of the school. 

Early headship coaching offer

If you’re in your first 5 years of headship, you may also be eligible for the early headship coaching offer. This offer provides unassessed structured support, coaching and networking opportunities.

How will I fit it in?

We have three routes that you can take to complete our full suite of NPQs; Standard, Flex and Small.

NPQ Standard

NPQ Standard is our most popular route. Participants studying an NPQ via this route attend National webinars, and benefit from regional face-to-face delivery with credible, experienced Delivery Partners.

NPQ Small

NPQ Small is specifically designed with small schools in mind. Both the delivery (fully virtual with a choice of when to attend some of the sessions) and the content (including case studies and examples from small schools) are designed to help you develop as a leader in small schools and beyond. For more information about how we can help you make an impact in your small school, please visit: NPQ Small

 NPQ FLEX

This route is only available for participants who have been invited to apply via this route. Please do not apply for NPQ Flex unless you have been asked to do so.

The Church of England NPQ Flex model provides a unique opportunity for teachers and school leaders to develop their leadership expertise with colleagues in their school or MAT. Through the NPQ Flex approach, you will complete the NPQ in your school/MAT setting alongside your colleagues.

Regardless of which route you chose to complete your NPQ, you will:

Learn from an evidence-based curriculum of your chosen qualification, drawing on effective pedagogy, current research and international best practice to give

you the knowledge and skills to improve in your current role or take the next step in your career.

Take part in a mixture of face-to-face sessions, webinars, and self-directed study.

Answer an assessed case study question (the summative assessment).

How long will it take?

Specialist NPQs take 12 months to complete, whilst Leadership NPQs take 18 months to complete.

You can view an overview of the time commitments here

ProgrammeWho is this programme for?Total Course DurationCourse duration includes a 3 month assessment window Self-Led HoursLive Teaching Hours (this includes webinar and face to face)Coaching HoursWhere will learning take placeFul costDFE Funded?
NPQ Leading TeachingSubject/Curriculum/Key Stage leaders15 months24288Virtually/ F2F in collaboration with regional delivery partners.£889 Limited funding available for some schools.
NPQ Leading Behaviour & CulturePastoral/Behaviour Leaders, SENDCOs, Heads of Year/House, Chaplains15 months18258Virtually/ F2F in collaboration with regional delivery partners.£889 Limited funding available for some schools.
NPQ Leading Teacher DevelopmentCPD Leads, ECF mentors15 months16228Virtually/ F2F in collaboration with regional delivery partners.£890 Limited funding available for some schools.
NPQ Leading Primary MathematicsThose who lead or aspire to lead mathematics in a Primary School. 15 months24368Virtually/ F2F in collaboration with regional delivery partners.£889 Limited funding available for ALL state-funded schools.
NPQ Special Educational Needs Co-ordinatorAspiring/current SENCOs, and those who work in a supporting role alongside SENDCOS21304910Virtually/ F2F in collaboration with regional delivery partners.£1333Limited funding available for ALL state-funded schools.
NPQ Senior LeadershipAspiring/current Senior Leaders21 months304510Virtually/ F2F in collaboration with regional delivery partners.£1134 Limited funding available for some schools.
NPQ HeadshipAspiring/new Headteachers/Principals21 months3052.510Virtually/ F2F in collaboration with regional delivery partners.£1970 Limited funding available for ALL state-funded schools.
Early Headship Coaching OfferThose who have completed or started the NPQH prior to taking up their first head teacher role, and those who are in their first five years of headship12/24 monthsSelf-defined3610Virtually/F2F nationally in same regional areas as NPQH£800 Limited funding available for ALL state-funded schools.
NPQ Executive LeadershipAspiring/current Executive Leaders, MAT CEOs, Trust Improvement Directors, Executive Heads, Federation Leads21 months256220Virtually/National Residentials£4085 Limited funding available for some schools.
How much will it cost?

Specialist NPQs cost £899 to complete, this includes access to Blackboard with courses delivered by expert facilitators and coaches. This also includes the cost of the assessment. Specialist NPQs include:

  • NPQ Leading Teaching
  • NPQ Leading Behaviour and Culture
  • NPQ Leading Teacher Development
  • NPQ Leading Primary Mathematics

Leadership NPQs cost between £1134 and £4085 to complete, this includes access to Blackboard with courses delivered by expert facilitators and coaches. This also includes the cost of the assessment.

  • NPQ Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator – £1333
  • NPQ Senior Leadership - £1134
  • NPQ Headship - £1970
  • NPQ Executive Headship - £4085

Scholarship funding for autumn 2024

Funding for autumn 2024 will target those teachers and leaders who work in the most challenging schools or educational settings, serving more disadvantaged communities.

Scholarship funding to cover the full NPQ course cost will be available to teachers and leaders from:

the 50% of schools with the highest proportion of students who attract pupil premium funding.

16 to 19 educational settings identified as having high disadvantage

For the early years leadership NPQ, highly disadvantaged early years settings will also be eligible.

Scholarships will continue to be available to all teachers and leaders from publicly funded schools and 16 to 19 educational organisations for the following NPQs:

Leading primary maths

SENCO

Headship

For the early headship coaching offer, funding to cover the course fees will be available if you are in your first 5 years of headship in England in a state-funded school or state-funded 16 to 19 organisation. You should also be doing or have done the headship NPQ.

You can read more about funding eligibility here: Funding for national professional qualifications (NPQs) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Travel how frar?

We have a network of local schools, universities, Dioceses and trusts that will deliver face-to-face sessions in a venue in your region. This has the added benefit of allowing you to network and collaborate with peers from your local area who understand your context. Whilst some locations are still to be confirmed, you can expect courses in different locations across the following regions:

  • London
  • Southwest
  • Southeast
  • West Midlands
  • East Midlands
  • Northwest
  • Yorkshire and Humberside
  • Northeast
  • East of England
Additional Needs

We are delighted to welcome participants with any form of additional need, disability or access requirement. If you want to find out more about the support available, including how we might be able to implement reasonable adjustments to support you, please email npq@churchofengland.org in confidence.