National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) will no longer be fully funded by the government from next year, the Department for Education has confirmed.
Instead, NPQs will only be funded for teachers and leaders from schools with the highest proportion of pupil premium pupils and in 16-19 educational settings with high disadvantage, the department has announced.
The mandatory NPQ course for Sendcos, as well as the Leading Primary Maths and Headship NPQ, will also be funded, the DfE added.
However, it only confirmed this funding package for autumn 2024.
Scholarship funding will be available for the 50 per cent of schools with the highest proportion of pupils with pupil premium funding and 16-19 educational settings identified as having high disadvantage only, the DfE said.
Funded NPQs as part of Covid recovery plan
Tes understands that take-up will also be capped at 10,000 places.
Fully funded scholarships have been available to teachers and leaders working in state-funded educational settings to participate in NPQ courses since October 2021, as part of a three-year Covid recovery offer.
The government announced then it would invest £400 million in training and supporting teachers as part of its £1.4 billion Covid education recovery plan.
The reformed NPQ courses have been hit with concerns over take-up since they replaced a previous programme launched in 2017.
The DfE aimed to deliver 150,000 NPQ participant places over three years from autumn 2021 until the end of the 2023-24 academic year, but under half of that number were recorded as having started at the end of the second year.
Just 63,454 funded NPQ courses were started in the academic years 2021-22 and 2022-23 - 42 per cent of the target figure, according to government data.
Statistics for the latest year are yet to be published.
Funding changes ‘spark concerns’
Melanie Renowden, chief executive officer of the National Institute of Teaching, warned that the funding changes “spark some concerns about continued access for schools and teachers”, but said it was “important to remember the positive impact these qualifications have had”.
Ms Renowden also said that it was clear a long-term workforce strategy was “essential” and would “help provide clarity, confidence and commitment for schools and teachers, including on the funding and prioritisation of professional development”.
Hilary Spencer, CEO of Ambition Institute, said that the institute welcomed the government’s continued funding for some NPQs next year.
But Ms Spencer said that while Ambition supports “the logic” behind prioritising schools with the highest numbers of disadvantaged pupils, it would “encourage the government to make this cost-effective and well-evidenced professional development available to as many schools as possible”.
This is because ”all schools have disadvantaged pupils and many teachers move between schools across their careers”.
Reduction in NPQ funding ‘feels short-sighted’
Gareth Conyard, joint CEO of Teacher Development Trust, said: “Any reduction in NPQ funding feels short-sighted, especially in light of the latest recruitment and retention figures.”
He said that the fact that the funding is only being guaranteed for one cohort in the autumn “is a big cut”, and added: “NPQs can have an outstanding impact.”
He urged the government to “take note of our CPD Entitlement report and commit to fully funding NPQs in the future”.
A DfE spokesperson said: “High-quality teaching has the greatest impact on children from disadvantaged backgrounds, which is why we are extending further funding to all NPQs for those teaching in schools with the highest proportion of pupils eligible for pupil premium.”
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