The Teacher Development Trust (TDT) will stop offering National Professional Qualifications and has withdrawn its bid to deliver the Early Career Framework.

The education charity announced today that is is withdrawing from National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) in order to prioritise CPD. NPQs will receive less government funding from next year.

Explaining the decision, Gareth Conyard, chief executive officer at the TDT, said: “First, we have felt increasingly that by delivering government contracts, we have been constrained in our ability to respond to the latest evidence in a nuanced way, and to be a critical friend to the government and others in the crucial area of CPD.

“It has limited our ability to support schools and teachers as effectively and impartially as possible.

“Second, it has become more difficult to operate in a volatile and increasingly dysfunctional market, with unequal relationships between different providers and the government.”

Government-funded CPD ‘needs reassessment’

Mr Conyard added that the TDT believes the market for government-funded professional development needs a “significant reassessment”.

The TDT is currently one of eight main NPQ providers, having delivered the qualifications for four years.

Under the previous government, the Department for Education announced in March that NPQs would no longer be fully funded from the next year onwards.

Instead, they would only be funded for teachers and leaders from schools with the highest proportion of pupil premium students and from 16-19 settings with the highest levels of disadvantage.

Anyone currently enrolled on a TDT NPQ will still get the support needed to complete their course.

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Another charity, Education Development Trust, dropped out of offering NPQs earlier this year after the funding change.

The previous government also announced earlier this year that it would combine the Early Career Framework and initial teaching training (ITT) curricula into one framework, taking effect from September 2025.

The DfE is still considering the procurement of the new ECF.

Mr Conyard said he hopes that removing the TDT as a competitor for limited funding will help other providers to continue to operate, so that schools can still have some choice in who provides their NPQs or ECF.

Labour’s training promise

Mr Conyard added that NPQs and the ECF are positive for the education system, and said the current government’s commitment to CPD could promise “transformational change”.

Labour’s election manifesto says the party will introduce a new teacher training entitlement to make sure that teachers are up to date on best practice with CPD.

The TDT intends to build on its other work, such as its Expert Schools Programme, which helps schools to diagnose how to improve staff training.

David Weston, founder and emeritus director at the TDT, said: “This proactive decision brings focus to the original principles, which were to lead thinking and research on professional development to help teachers and school leaders make the best choices.

“The TDT has always been about the mission, not any particular mechanism.”

The DfE has been contacted for comment.