The National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) have been, for the most part, a huge success - they remain one of the most widely recognised qualifications in the education sector for current and aspiring leaders both at home and abroad.
Yet ongoing cuts to funding pose a worrying development and one I hope is only short-term in the qualifications’ long history. Indeed, the NPQH, for headteachers, began as far back as 1997, when the incoming Labour government introduced it as a mandatory qualification.
I completed mine in 2012 and found it a useful preparation for the dizzying start to my time as a headteacher. I think most people feel that way.
Learning networks
When the opportunity came up to be a facilitator on the course 10 years later, I was keen to contribute. So since 2022, I have helped deliver the NPQH to aspiring headteachers, deputies and assistant heads in local schools - and those within the Wellington College family of schools around the world, helping to take the merits of the NPQs to all corners of the globe.
The courses have garnered such interest for so long because they bring together a strong combination of evidence-based research, individual online reading and activities, webinars and practical group sessions at face-to-face workshop days.
It is a great way of building a support network of people outside your school who know what you are going through.
It’s also a great way to build communities of leaders across the sector. We talk about wellbeing in every face-to-face session I facilitate, and the ongoing peer support that comes over a course that lasts for 18 months is an important feature of it.
Setting up a group WhatsApp, where leaders stay in touch, is another important side benefit of doing an NPQ.
Growing interest
It’s clear the sector welcomes all this: in 2023-24 the Department for Education recorded 41,011 participants across all NPQ programmes. This equates to 7 per cent of the state school workforce and the largest number for three years - which is perhaps no surprise given that they have been fully funded since the pandemic.
What’s more, teachers and leaders in the 30 to 39 age group had the largest number of funded NPQ participants (14,929), followed by teachers and leaders in the 40 to 49 age group (10,912) and those in the 25 to 29 age group (6,123).
This matters as, especially among the older cohorts, retention of staff is a big issue, so any high-quality continuing professional development is a vital way to keep talented teachers within the sector and ready to embrace a new career challenge.
Cut concerns
It is worrying, then, that cutbacks to NPQs mean we have gone from a fully funded model to one where just 10,000 were funded from this academic year - a development set to continue next year, which means some providers are dropping out.
As a facilitator, I have seen the impact of this at first hand. In spring 2022, my first group was 26-strong. In autumn 2023 it was down to 23. But by spring 2024, with the funding changes announced, this fell to 14. This autumn, no one had signed up. I am awaiting data on my next cohort with mild concern.
Facilitating an NPQH session is always the highlight of my week. Without fail, I leave the sessions inspired by the group I am working with, who have a passionate desire to make tomorrow better than today for their young people.
They are insightful, kind and highly aspirational. They grapple deeply with complicated issues. Even when the climate around schools is at its most challenging, they engage with the programme and our sessions, determined to develop their skills to serve their communities even better.
We need to continue to invest in them. Funding their leadership development programmes properly is an easy way to do this.
Chris Woolf is international director at Wellington College International
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