NPQ Overview

National Professional Qualifications are a set of prestigious qualifications, widely recognised by the sector. They are voluntary and are designed to support the professional development of teachers and school leaders at all levels, across primary and secondary schools. There are leadership NPQs and specialist NPQs - see the individual pages for a breakdown of each one to find the one suitable for you. Astra TSH delivers the suite of NPQs with Best Practice Network and UCL.

The DfE has confirmed that there will be one cohort for the 2026/27 academic year and applications will open on 23 June 2026. In the meantime if you or a member of staff is interested in applying for an NPQ, please complete this short google form to register your interest and we will contact you directly once we have further information from the DfE.

Scholarship Funding Eligibility for academic year 2026/27

All maintained schools in England are eligible for fully funded scholarships for: NPQEYL, NPQSENCO, NPQH and NPQSL
Only the top 50% of maintained schools in England with the highest % of pupil premium enrolments and 16-19 educational settings identified as having high disadvantage are eligible for limited scholarships for NPQs in: NPQLT, NPQLBC, NPQLTD, NPQLL, NPQLPM and NPQEL

There is a handy tool to check if your school is eligible for scholarship funding. Please check on the link below which shows eligibility for 2025/26; we are awaiting details from the DfE on the eligible schools for 2026/27 but anticipate there will not significant changes

https://www.bestpracticenet.co.uk/npq-scholarship-checker

Numbers for each programme are limited though. If an applicant is unsuccessful in securing scholarship funding, a school could opt to use their apprenticeship levy, or self-fund the NPQ. Further details on these options are as follows:

Apprenticeship Levy

Some NPQ providers offer apprentice level NPQs. Completing an NPQ through the apprenticeship route has different expectations and demands. Further information on how the Leadership NPQ programmes differ on the apprenticeship route can be found at this link: https://www.bestpracticenet.co.uk/leader-apprenticeship-NPQ Maintained schools wanting to use the Apprenticeship Levy funds must make a claim to Buckinghamshire Council using the form on their schools web page https://schoolsweb.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/hr-zone/apprenticeships/. The Council will approve the claim amount and confirm the school can go ahead and contract with the NPQ training provider.

Please note, when applying for one of the Leaders Apprenticeships please select Astra TSH in the partner drop-down when prompted to do so on your application.