Harris Federation named as one of nine lead providers of the new specialist NPQs.

What are NPQs?

National professional qualifications (NPQs) are a national, voluntary suite of qualifications designed to support the professional development of teachers and leaders.

In early 2019, the Department of Education announced that as part of a wider teaching retention strategy, development of six new specialist qualifications aimed at opening up career opportunities outside the traditional school leadership route will keep experienced teachers in the classroom.

As part of the national integration this April, the Department of Education has named Harris Federation one of nine organisations that will be lead providers. With the Ambition Institute, Education Development Trust, Teach First and UCL Institute of Education among the other named lead providers.

How are the NPQs changing?

From September 2021, a reformed suite of NPQs will be available for teachers and leaders who want to develop their knowledge and skills in school leadership and specialist areas of teaching practice. These reforms include:

· Reforming the 3 existing NPQs in senior leadership, headship and executive leadership has been adapted based on an evidence base

· Discontinuation of National Professional Qualification for Middle Leaders

· Replacing the current NPQ in middle leadership with 3 new NPQs:

· NPQ for Leading Teaching (NPQLT).

· NPQ for Leading Behaviour and Culture (NPQLBC).

· NPQ for Leading Teacher Development (NPQLTD).

In the introduction of the new NPQs, Department of Education has named Harris Federation one of nine organisations that will be lead providers. The

Ambition Institute, Education Development Trust, Teach First and UCL Institute of Education are among the lead providers. As part of the DfE’s “fair and open” procurement process, Providers of the reformed suite of NPQs will be subject to a quality assurance (QA) mechanism through Ofsted inspection to ensure the best support for schools and teachers. Ofsted’s QA role will be distinct from and not apply to the current suite of NPQs. The current QA agent (Tribal) will continue to provide QA for all NPQ programmes until contract closure in August 2022.

Lead with Harris

With a dedicated and robust framework for leadership development, the newly renamed Harris Leadership College is excited to deliver the full suite of new NPQ programmes, including the new NPQs – Leading Teaching; Leading Behaviour and Culture; Leading Teacher Development.

Each will be designed to build on what we know from practice works, enabling leaders to enhance their leadership and improve opportunities and outcomes for the pupils they serve. School-Led Network are a group of successful schools, with extensive experience of delivering NPQs, and improving schools.

School Led Network collaboration

The School-Led Network encompasses Harris Leadership College, North East Teaching Schools Partnership (NETSP) including Newcastle University, Outwood Institute of Education and Star Institute. Together, these organisations share a vision of a school-led system with a culture of professional learning within and between schools that drives school improvement and ensures that all pupils can achieve beyond expectations.

Sir Dan Moynihan, Chief Executive of Harris Federation said: “We formed the School-Led Network because we are motivated by the imperative for schools to have the choice of a genuinely school-led NPQ provider. Our programmes will build on exceptional practice that works to enhance leadership skills and improve outcomes for all young people.”

All programmes will use ‘see it, name it, do it’ as an organisational structure for scaffolding learning to the point of mastery. The model is a highly applied and personalised approach coined by the internationally renowned

Leverage Leadership Institute. The approach goes beyond theory to enable leaders to practise and refine their skills using models of exemplary practice and formative assessment alongside experiential learning.

By using the most successful leaders from our partnership and national experts to design programmes, and spotlighting the most successful schools for case studies, visits and materials, participants will see and learn from exceptional leadership in practice.

Learn more about the new NPQs here. 

Lead with Harris. Learn more about the Harris Leadership College here. 

For more information on the School Led Network, visit www.school-led.org.uk or email npq@school-led.org.uk