In 18 months, and delivered locally for the first time this year, you will develop your leadership knowledge and expertise to become an effective executive leader, leading change and improvement across a group of schools or multi-academy trust.
Throughout the NPQEL course, you’ll get access to the key research on areas including curriculum, assessment and governance across multiple schools and the importance of a positive culture to improve outcomes. You will engage with current CEOs and executive leaders and be assigned a coach. Rather than spending your time sourcing the latest insights, you’ll instead focus on putting your learning into practice.
Our carefully sequenced and evidence informed NPQ is designed around the key problems you face as an executive leader.
Develop skills on school and trust improvement: throughout the course, you’ll develop your knowledge and skills on school improvement at executive level and you’ll learn to implement your learning into practice across more than one school. This programme aims to develop expertise that is flexible and allows you to respond to the challenges you will encounter across a range of contexts.
- Gain a nationally recognised NPQEL accreditation
- Combine insight and practice to drive change
- Enjoy flexible learning to suit your work patterns and timetables
- Learn from leadership experts
- An assigned coach
Who is this NPQ suitable for?
Are, or are aspiring to be, an executive headteacher or have a school trust CEO role with responsibility for leading several schools. Example roles include: Headteacher / Principal; Head of School; Director of Teaching School Hub; Deputy CEO, CEO, head of federation
Benefits for you
- Excel as an executive leader: Set an ambitious vision for your schools or trust and create the conditions and culture needed for staff and pupils to thrive.
- Learn from the best: Ambition Institute has a proven track record in delivering continuous professional development. Your leaders will benefit from the latest evidence-informed learning and develop expert knowledge in all areas of school leadership. You will access a coach and listen to cutting edge and current practice and theory from those in executive roles.
- Form a strong support network: connect with other school leaders, share your collective expertise and build a tight-knit network with people who face the same challenges as you.
Benefits for your school
- Focus on your specific needs: traditionally, professional development in leadership has focused on personal traits, such as the qualities of dynamic and charismatic leadership. The new and reformed NPQs pay more attention to the knowledge leaders need to tackle the persistent problems of their daily roles.
- Share a common knowledge base – National Professional Qualifications are aligned, so all educators will be working to the same framework and be able to share a common language for developing a school or trust.
- Learn from the best: Ambition Institute has a proven track record in delivering continuous professional development. Your leaders will benefit from the latest evidence-informed learning and develop expert knowledge in all areas of school leadership.
- Gain expert knowledge: this programme is led by experts, giving your executive leaders the chance to connect with a network of talented educators and put what they learn into practice at your organisation.
About the course
This programme develops your executive leadership skills and knowledge and covers the content listed in the Department for Education’s NPQ Executive Leadership Framework.
You will learn how to:
- create a positive and effective culture across your schools or trust
- support school leaders and your senior team to put in place an evidence-informed approach to designing the curriculum
- give clear feedback to teachers and make sure they are supported with guidance and training to do their jobs effectively
- create and sustain a positive, safe and predictable environment for all pupils across your schools or trust
- work with school leaders and your senior team to make sure professional development priorities are aligned with plans to improve your school or trust
- work effectively in partnership with parents, the community and other schools and trusts
- participate in governance and be fully transparent and accountable.
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 school: 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 a number of 2-hour online facilitated twilight sessions across the year 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 EL, 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 are not available yet on the tool. If you work in a nursery and / or you cannot see your school or setting, please contact us directly at [email protected]
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 £4050 + VAT
How to apply
Applications close in early September in readiness for an October start.
How to apply