NPQEL: National Professional Qualification for Executive Leadership

Spring cohort 2025

Register your expression of interest for a National Professional Qualification (NPQ)

About the programme

• Join UCL
• What will you learn?
• What are the benefits for you?
• What are the benefits for your school?
• Is this programme for me?
• How long will it take?
• When will it start and how much will it cost?
• Are scholarships available for this programme?
• Programme route map
• How to apply
• What do leaders of schools say?

Why join UCL?

The UCL Centre for Educational Leadership looks forward to working with you on their newly designed NPQ supporting you to deepen your knowledge of Executive Leadership within a collaborative, professionally challenging and open learning environment.

Based on the latest research and evidence this new programme will enable you to develop your new learning, extend your skills and put them into practice.

Our programmes put you and your schools at the heart of the programme through a professional learning group approach that helps you to share your thinking and understanding within a well-planned framework. You will experience a blended approach of two residential events, self-directed study materials and in school support to enable you to progress professionally and grow the networks that will enhance your career.

What will you learn?

• Trust culture – you will establish and sustain an effective trust culture through communicating its strategic direction, supporting leaders to prioritise, allocate and manage human and financial resources whilst fulfilling all statutory duties to enable a thriving trust community with ambitious standards for all.
• Teaching – you will learn how to establish and sustain effective teaching across the trust to support school leaders to embed teacher’s pedagogical knowledge and classroom skills to enable the best outcomes for all children and young people no matter what their starting point is.
• Curriculum and Assessment – you will learn how to support school and trust leaders to sustain high quality planning, teaching and learning. Ensure that assessment and data collection is readily available and reliable and informs both the design and delivery of professional development for teachers within and across the trust.
• Operational management – you will learn how to run a group of schools effectively, considering long term strategic and financial planning, the use of cross-trust staff and a range of operational structures.
• Behaviour and support – you will be able to ensure that your schools establish and sustain high standards of behaviour and learning across the whole trust community. Within your schools you will develop the expertise to oversee an approach with all leaders and key stakeholders to build a safe, inclusive learning environment for all.
• Implementation – you will learn how to work with leaders to implement change across the trust successfully by understanding the complexity of multiple implementation projects and aligning them with wider trust priorities.
• Trust governance – you will learn how to apply robust risk management strategies within the context of trust governance, the national policy space and the regulatory environment associated with it.

What are the benefits for you?

Our participants have noted many benefits to studying for an NPQEL. Overall, they outline how the programme has given them professional confidence, time and space to reflect on themselves and the kind of executive leader they want to become and increased knowledge in their chosen area of study. 

You will be able to:

• Address the importance of culture, implementation and professional development and how all work together to achieve a desired outcome.
• Prioritise where you invest most of our energy, understanding 'within school factors' – where local headteachers can have high impact; and beyond-school factors where we may have influence but not direct control.
• Understand how governance has changed over time and the complexities and responsibilities of the Trust and its Trustees.
• Reflect on how the external environment impacts on the children and links to a developing understanding of the layers of leadership from trust to civic level and how we use our civic leadership more positively to be advocates of our community.
• Build and strengthening your trust to enable a model of cooperative collaboration across a MAT or Trust.
• Conduct leadership strategy/strength reviews in your own settings triangulating performance management evidence with keeping in touch meetings.
• Have excellent opportunities to discuss the challenges that are faced within different settings and to talk through the advantages and disadvantages of various approaches.

What are the benefits for your school?

We know that our children and young people need teachers who are committed to their education and are confident learners themselves. Our programmes have been developed with teachers and leaders to:

• Create professionally confident teachers and leaders who can lead at scale.
• Grow the next generation of leaders with the skills and knowledge to use the evidence-base for the benefit of their children, young people and wider communities.
• Retain and develop the best teachers who are excellent, collaborative role models for their schools and communities.
• Inspire leaders who can harness the power of rich learning environments for their children and young people no matter the current circumstances.

Is this programme for me?

Yes, if you aspire to leading a group of schools as an executive headteacher or school trust CEO.

How long will it take?

18 months followed by an eight day open book summative case study task.

When will it start and how much will it cost?

The programme will start in May 2025 with an online induction module followed by a residential in either Manchester or Oxford (dates to be confirmed), depending on your location and availability.

Scholarships may be available for this programme.

The programme fee is £4,099 (+VAT) for schools and participants in England required to pay for the programme. The same fee applies to independent schools in England.

British International Schools: please follow the links to your preferred International Delivery Partner for fee information. 

Are scholarships available for this programme?

Information for scholarship funding will be available soon.

Programme route map

*Please note, NPQ Mentors will be asked to complete a short School Impact Report at the end of module 2 and 3 to gauge how engagement with the programme is supporting School / Improvement. This is separate from the Line Manager / Mentor Check-in which is more participant focused.

**You will also have access to coaching support throughout the programme.

Runs over 18 months: Implementation Project: Work-based reflective learning, integrating research with practice and aligned to the EEF process model for school improvement (not assessed).

After 18 months: Final Summative Assessment (April 2026 / May 2026)

How to apply

The DfE registration platform will be closed for a period of time from Monday 4 November to allow for essential maintenance, but you can register an expression of interest to apply for a UCL NPQ. 

What do leaders of schools say?