National Professional Qualification for Early Years Leadership – NPQEYL

Benefit from our evidence-informed curriculum to help you put your learning into practice in your setting.

You will develop expertise and resilience and learn skills that will support you to identify and address persistent and common challenges in early years leadership. You will learn how to unpack and apply learning across all aspects of the early years – and support colleagues to develop in these areas too. Sessions will be delivered flexibly online and face to face to ensure times work with most people’s busy working patterns.

This course is designed for leaders of early years education. This includes teachers, EYFS and senior leaders in schools, leaders in nurseries and childminders with leadership responsibilities.

• Become an early years expert and help to give all children up to the age of five the best possible start in life.
• A nationally recognised DfE accredited 18-month Early Years Leadership qualification.
• Designed specifically for early years leaders.
• Flexible learning to suit your working patterns.

Who is this NPQ suitable for?

To apply, you need to be an early years practitioner who is qualified to at least level three, with a full and relevant early years or a teaching qualification.

NPQs are not suitable for active Early Career Teachers.

You will be, or will be aspiring to be:

• A manager or leader of a private, voluntary or independent early years setting
• A headteacher of a school-based or maintained early years setting
• An early years foundation stage leader in a state funded school (roles could include EYFS / KS1 phase leader, assistant or deputy headteacher, or a class teachers with an interest in EY and aspiring to leadership)
• A childminder with leadership responsibilities

Benefits for you

• Thrive as a leader: This course is designed specifically for leaders of early years education. Through evidence-based professional development, you’ll learn what great early years learning looks like and how to lead others in your setting. You’ll also look at what others can learn from you.
• Close the gap:  evidence shows that high quality care and education in early years is fundamental for a child’s development, preparing them for school and later life. We’ll help you to develop the knowledge to deliver this to the children you support.
• Designed by early years experts: benefit from a programme which is designed and delivered by early years specialists and experts from across the sector.
• Tailor your training:  the programme allows you to apply the theory to your early years’ setting. You’ll be able to bring your own persistent problems and solve them with the support of expert facilitators and network peers.
• Invest in your future:  ongoing professional development helps you to grow and thrive as an early years practitioner. You will follow an evidence-informed framework and gain a professional accreditation at the end of the programme.
• Learn at your pace:  this programme is designed to fit around your busy teaching role. Much of the work can be completed in short bursts around your existing schedule.
• Connect with your peers:  you’ll train alongside other early years practitioners from similar. You’ll share your experiences and building a strong support network.

Benefits for your school or early years setting

• Give young people the best start:  equipping your leaders with evidence-based training on what good education and care looks like will help to create a level playing field for children in the early stages of life.
• Benefit from tailored training: this is the first NPQ that is designed specifically for early years practitioners. It will develop expertise that can be applied to identifying and addressing persistent and common challenges in early years leadership.
• Invest in high-quality professional development: participants will learn how to unpack and apply learning across all aspects of the early years  – and support their colleagues to develop in these areas too.
• Create a ‘golden thread’ – the NPQs are all aligned. So, no matter what career stage your practitioners or leaders are at, by joining this programme, they will benefit from an evidence-based framework. They will also share a common language with other NPQ participants that they can pass on to colleagues.
• Tap into a network:  Your leaders will train alongside peers from other early years settings, supported by expert facilitators who fully understand their needs.

About the course

This course follows the Department for Education’s National Professional Qualification: Early Years Leadership Framework.

You will learn how to:

• Set a strategic direction for your early years setting and apply ambitious standards for all children
• Champion evidence-based practice
• Plan and deliver care and a high-quality curriculum to support children’s development
• Establish communication, language and literacy approaches to support children’s learning
• Make sure all children experience success
• Identify children who need support and make appropriate referrals
• Create an environment for all children and colleagues where everyone feels welcome and safe.

Our programme structure

Our ‘little and often’ approach means you can engage with our NPQs around your work schedule, with minimal time needed out of your setting: there is one face to face launch conference to introduce you to the programme, and a second conference in year 2 where you will meet with your fellow participants and your facilitators.  There are seven 2-hour online facilitated twilight sessions across the programme to reinforce your guided self-study online.  Your online study which can be done at a time to suit you and will take around 45 minutes to an hour each week.

Final assessment

Our NPQ courses no longer include a large project at the end. Instead, you’ll sit an ‘open book’ style assessment in which you respond to a short case study.

The assessment window starts at the end of the 18-month programme.

During this time:

• You’ll be given an eight-day window to complete the case study.
• There are two assessment windows every year, and participants can sit the assessment twice, if they need to.
• You need to pass the assessment and engage with 90% of the course to qualify for the NPQ accreditation.
• We will offer two webinars and live clinic in advance of the assessment window to support you.

Costs and scholarship funding

New funding arrangements for NPQs – applications open on 1st July 2024

The DfE have announced that NPQ funding from Autumn 2024 will be targeted to those teachers and leaders serving more disadvantaged communities.

There will now be a capped number of funded 10,000 places nationally. Funding for the April 2025 cohorts and beyond has not been confirmed.

Scholarship-funded places are extremely limited on each NPQ programme, so access to funding will be subject to availability. 

To have the best chance of claiming a funded place, please apply as soon as possible to the DfE AND Ambition Institute via our application process once applications open on 1st July 2024: participants from eligible schools identified below will be prioritised on a first come first served basis. Other places are available at a cost to schools and settings.

For the NPQ in Early Years Leadership, funded scholarships will be available on a first come first served basis for those who meet the following criteria:

• Work in the 50% of schools with the highest proportion of students who attract pupil premium funding or early years settings identified as having high disadvantage in England

If you’re unsure whether you will qualify for this ‘pupil premium’ based on funding, please use Ambition Institute’s online eligibility check tool.

Some nurseries and settings are not available yet on the tool. If you work in a nursery or are a childminder and / or you cannot see your school or setting, please contact us directly at [email protected] and provide us with the name of your setting, your postcode and the setting’s Unique Reference Number (URN) if you know it.

Scholarship-funded places are limited, so access to funding will be subject to availability. To have the best chance of claiming a funded place, please apply as soon as possible once applications open.

Costs for others, such as those in independent schools or those who do not meet this criteria is £1139 + VAT

Important – Teacher Reference Number To apply for an NPQ, you will need a Teacher Reference Number (TRN). Not everyone who works in an early years setting will have one of these. If you do not have a TRN, you can request one. You can find out how to do that here.

How to apply

Applications close in early September in readiness for an October start.