Who is it for?

The National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) is the qualification of choice for those aspiring to headship of schools and academies, whose next post is expected to be headteacher or principal and who will be ready to take up headship within 12-18 months.

Are YOU thinking about Headship?

A revised model of NPQH is under way with the first intake of registered applications complete.

The next application round for NPQH is from 23rd May 2013 to 9th July 2013.

For full National College information about NPQH click here. Follow the apply tab in the menu of the National College page to access the online application form and instructions.

Here is a summary of the NPQH stages:

Gateway Assessment of NPQH

Following application there is a two stage entry assessment process, conducted nationally by the National Professional Assessment Partnership (NPAP). SELT is the lead partner in this organisation and works with HTI (Coventry) and CEL (Manchester).

The whole of the assessment process is set against a Competency Framework which can be viewed here.

Stage 1: This entails the scrutiny of online applications including the required supporting evidence from the applicants sponsor, usually the Head/Principal of the school/college. A short online psychometric test of verbal and numerical reasoning is also undertaken at this stage.

Stage 2: Successful applicants from stage 1 are invited to a one-day assessment event, held at centres throughout England. These events provide a further opportunity to demonstrate the competencies within the framework.

Watch this space for details of forthcoming briefing sessions.

Information Session

As indicated above, a new application window is being planned. Watch this space for dates of information sessions.

You can view a list of proposed face to face and online information sessions on the National College website.

To book one of these sessions, contact Barbara Kippen, by email at barbara.kippen@selt.org.uk or by telephone on 01795 416 800 with your name, school, role, preferred email and telephone number, and the date you wish to take part.

NPQH Development Stage

Applicants who are successful in both stages of the gateway assessment are invited to register with one of the licensed providers listed in the link at the bottom of this section.

The following are key components of the NPQH Development Stage:

• Induction
• Home school learning
• Placement school learning
• Essential and elective modules from the National College Leadership curriculum

The offer from some of the licensed providers may include additional components such as coaching and online courses.

See here the context of the development stage as the core of NPQH between gateway assessment and final assessment

SELT is a strategic partner of the following licensed providers in the South East and South West:

For further details of the NPQH Programme click here.

To see the full list of National Licensed Providers click here.