Who is it for?

The NPQLTD is a specialist qualification aimed at middle or senior leaders who have responsibility for leading professional development of teachers. This may take the form of being responsible for teaching and learning in school, being an induction tutor, or professional tutor, or a mentor for early career teachers (ECTs) or initial teacher training (ITT) trainees.

The NPQLTD supports the path I wish to follow in developing a robust ECT training programme

Former NPQLTD participant

How will it benefit me?

Many teachers who end up in leadership roles haven’t had any formal training to become teacher educators. This programme fills that gap by giving you the knowledge and insight to make classroom teaching in your school the best it can be.

You will learn how to implement high quality professional development in your organisation and develop the practical capability to develop others with the skills to lead people and teams.

I was quickly able to start applying the learning in my own context, thinking about how we delivered CPD and whether it was, in fact, CPD at all.

kate atkins, professional development lead at synergy multi academy trust

Will it help move my career forward?

It certainly can! Previous participant Lilly Wreford found that the course covered key elements with which she was already familiar, but provided a practical and insightful approach to applying those active ingredients to her own setting. She was encouraged to think more concisely about the importance of involving colleagues, and making sure things were explained clearly and key pieces of thinking shared. She developed enough confidence in herself and her decision-making to apply for a senior leadership team (SLT) secondment, which allowed her to further expand her understanding of school-wide implementation and the development of staff. 

This was the perfect balance of teaching, supporting others, and developing my leadership skills and knowing that I was going about things in research supported way. 

lilly wreford, slt at Astley primary school

I'm a mentor for trainee teachers and ECTs - will this qualification help me?

Yes! Emma Newby undertook the NPQLTD in her previous school when she was asked to oversee early career teachers:  

The content is broad enough to be relevant to lots of middle leadership roles – and even senior leadership if you’re overseeing teaching and learning – but for my specific role the real value was in how the course helped me with supporting my ECTs: it helped me to adapt my mentoring and further support ECTs by understanding what underpins effective leadership teacher development. Now that I deliver training on the ECT induction programme, I use what I learned in the LTD to diagnose what participants know and can do, and adapt the course content to be relevant across a cohort from lots of different contexts.

Emma Newby, acting deputy director at the Julian tsh

Is there funding?

You can find out about funding here. If you're not sure if your setting qualifies for funding, please get in touch.

How do I apply?

You can apply now via Ambition Institute's website. Please be aware that even if the Julian TSH approves your application, you cannot take up a place until you have registered with DfE for your NPQ, even if you’re not eligible for scholarship funding.