Why us?
Our new National Professional Qualification (NPQ) for Senior Leadership gives you the chance to learn evidence-based school leadership and put it into practice. It also gives you the opportunity to focus on specific leadership challenges in your school or trust.
The programme uses the latest evidence-based learning and shows you how to put your findings into practice in your school setting. You will train alongside other leaders with similar responsibilities with content organised around the key challenges that you face in your role.
Our NPQs are designed to be highly flexible to fit around your day job. Our ‘little and often’ approach to how the curriculum is delivered will support you to see and feel that you are continually getting better.
Throughout your NPQ, you will have access to Steplab, the market leading professional development platform, built by teachers, for teachers. It has been designed to aid teacher education and maximise the impact of deliberate practice, with practice activities to help you get better faster.
Deadline: Tuesday 12 October.
Benefits for you
Train to your timetable
This programme is designed to be flexible to fit with your busy working role. Training is delivered in bite-sized chunks, which is useful for knowledge retention, and you can learn at a time and pace that suits you.
Build your confidence
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
Our programmes are designed to support you to apply and translate what you’ve learned to your own school context. We do this by providing models and examples that seek to make the link between theory and practice concrete.
Benefit from peer-to-peer support
Learn from a network of like-minded peers and have the opportunity to share insight 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 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.
Learning backed by evidence
Participants 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.
Evidence-informed
This is one of six new and reformed NPQs that have been developed as a series. Each share the same common language and framework to help drive improvement across schools.
Curriculum
Our programmes are designed for participants to engage in both live, facilitated sessions and modules that you can complete at any time.
Over 18 months, this includes:
- Two full day conferences (6hrs each).
- Nine courses (each course lasts six weeks).
- Each course includes six modules.
- Six two-hour clinics (facilitated sessions).
- One two-hour assessment clinic.
- Nine communities (one-hour group sessions).
What you'll learn
This programme develops your leadership skills and knowledge and covers the content listed in the Department for Education’s NPQ 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 content is delivered through blended learning. This includes a mix of Covid-safe face-to-face conferences, real-time, interactive online sessions and self-guided modules you can complete in your own time. You will put what you learn into practice in your school and can track your progress and get feedback as you go.
Note: programme content is subject to change.
Partners
You can join our central cohort for this programme, or work with a delivery partner in your region for an experience that’s more tailored to your local context. Either way, we work to give you the best possible experience.
What our partners can do for you
Ambition Institute provides high-quality content and materials, built on our experience in schools and our deep knowledge of the evidence and practice.
Our partner in your region will contextualise this knowledge and manage your experience on the programme, from high-quality facilitation to day-to-day support.
Tailored approaches
Our partner in your region will provide more information on how your NPQ will be delivered. The timings and methods of activity, sizes of cohorts and the cost of the programme may vary across delivery partners.
Contacting partners
Contact local delivery partners in your area for more information.
Assessment
The assessment window starts at the end of the 18-month programme and runs for three months. During this time, participants will be given an eight-day window to sit an ‘open book’ style assessment in which they respond to a short case study.
There are two assessment windows every year, and participants can sit the assessment two times, if they need to.
You need to complete the course to qualify for the NPQ accreditation.
We will offer a webinar and live clinic in advance of the assessment window to support participants.
Cost
The National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership costs £1,140 plus VAT.
DfE-funded scholarships are available for this NPQ. They are available to 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 in England that is within the top 30th percentile in relation to pupils on Pupil Premium as of the end of the previous academic year.
Contact us to find out if you’re eligible.
If you believe you are eligible for scholarship funding, once you have completed an expression of interest with us, you will also need to register for your NPQ using the DfE’s online registration portal here.
Apply
Applications are now open for our November cohort. Fill out this quick enquiry form and a member of our team will be in touch with next steps.
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.
Places are only available to those working in schools in England.