National Professional Qualification for Headship- NPQH

Our carefully sequenced and evidence informed NPQ is designed around the key problems you face.

Develop skills on school improvement: throughout the course, you’ll develop your knowledge and skills on school improvement at headship level and you’ll learn to implement your learning into practice in your 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 NPQH accreditation
• Combine insight and practice to drive change
• Enjoy flexible learning to suit your timetable
• Learn from leadership experts

Who is this NPQ suitable for?

Must be, or are aspiring to be, a headteacher or principal with whole-school responsibilities. Participants must be at senior leadership level and part of a senior leadership team. NPQs are not suitable for ECTs.

Example roles include: Headteacher / Principal; Head of School; Director of Teaching School Hub; Deputy Headteacher / Vice Principal; Assistant Headteacher/Vice Principal; phase leader

Benefits for you

• Learn crucial skills and sector knowledge: All the knowledge you’ll learn on this programme is drawn from a single, evidence-based framework shared by other educators across England.
• Learning that sticks: training is delivered little and often, in regular bite-sized chunks, so there are no repeated long days of training that take you away from your day job. Learning in short, sharp bursts also helps you to retain knowledge.
• Thrive in your school setting: develop the knowledge and skills to work to the best of your ability and tackle the complexities and challenges of your daily role.
• Drive habit change: embedding new habits can be tricky. Our dual modules help you to apply what you learn, connecting theory to practice, to help those habits stick. Insight modules capture the very best the sector has to contribute on a given topic. Application modules help you to use the ideas in context, with support from peers.
• Build your network: you’ll connect with other senior leaders, sharing your experiences and building a strong support network that lasts long after you finish the course

Benefits for your school

• Create confident school leaders: Headteachers are equipped with school-focused leadership knowledge, which they can use to establish a culture and conditions where staff and pupils can thrive.
• Underpinned by the latest evidence: the framework for the new NPQ for Headship was developed using the latest evidence on effective professional development for teachers and leaders, approved by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).
• Shared learning: participants learn alongside colleagues whose context is similar, facilitated by delivery partners who know and understand your needs.
• Create a common knowledge base: all our NPQs are aligned, meaning teachers and leaders share a common language and framework to drive improvement in their school.
• Transform pupil outcomes: Education Policy Institute research shows that high quality professional development can improve pupil outcomes almost as effectively as having a teacher with 10 years’ experience in the classroom

About the course

Our NPQ in Headship course follows the Department for Education’s National Professional Qualification: Headship.

On this programme, you will learn how to:

• set clear goals and communicate shared values that improve classroom and school culture
• lead effective implementation in educational settings
• lead effective professional development to improve practice and outcomes 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
• establish good financial, human and educational resource management
• 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 staff know their professional responsibilities.

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 seven 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 NPQ in Headship, 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 £1949 + VAT

How to apply

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