NPQLL

Ambition Institute has designed this ground-breaking new NPQ to help you learn the essential knowledge and skills to successfully lead high quality, literacy development and teaching in your school.

Ambition’s approach uses the latest research to help you put your learning into practice. You’ll train alongside other literacy leaders with similar responsibilities.

This is a new National Professional Qualification (NPQ) developed by the Department for Education (DfE). Each of the new NPQs share the same common language and framework to help drive improvement across schools and other educational settings.

With no project work and minimal time out of school, this NPQ is designed to fit around your busy timetable.

Benefits for you

Make a real difference

This programme will help you to offer all children in your school access to high-quality literacy in their education.

Excel at literacy leadership

Become a true champion of literacy. You’ll develop a thorough understanding of how you can improve literacy in your subject, phase and school, using the latest evidence-based research.

Build a network

You’ll have the opportunity to connect with other literacy leaders, sharing your experiences and building a strong support network.

Learn at your own pace

This programme is designed to fit with your busy teaching role and can be completed in bite-size chunks around your existing schedule.

Tailor your training

The programme allows you to apply theory to your school context.

Benefits for your school

Build brighter futures

By expertly championing literacy leadership in your school, you can make sure that every young person has the literacy skills to succeed across all curriculum areas.

Improve literacy at all levels

Participants will work on applying learning and improving literacy across your school and different subject areas – and support colleagues to do this too.

Create a ‘golden thread’

The new NPQs are all aligned. Your literacy leaders will benefit from an evidence-based framework with a common language which they can pass on to their colleagues.

Put knowledge into practice

This programme gives literacy leaders a comprehensive and accessible evidence base. This allows them to bridge the gap between what they know and how to apply it effectively in your school, to improve literacy and outcomes for pupils.

Invest in your leaders

By aligning staff professional development with wider school improvement priorities, you can make sure all pupils have access to high quality literacy support in their education.

What you’ll learn
This programme follows the Department for Education’s National Professional Qualification: Leading Literacy Framework.

You will:

• Learn how to support staff, of all subject specialisms, to develop pupils’ language and literacy skills
• Learn how pupils develop aspects of literacy, including:
• understanding how children learn to talk, and how developing effective spoken language supports literacy development at every age and stage
• understanding how children learn to become fluent readers and how teachers can help with this, from primary all the way through to secondary

• exploring the importance of subject-specific vocabulary and different strategies to teaching this

• knowing how to support pupils’ writing – whether learning to write in primary school, through to writing academically at key stage five
• Learn how to support, develop and teach pupils literacy using evidence-informed approaches
• Learn how to lead literacy through curriculum, culture and motivation
• Understand how effective literacy education can support your school
• Contribute to effective professional development for literacy, linking it to teaching, the curriculum and assessment across the school.

Note: programme content is subject to change.

How you’ll learn

Each of the six courses within the programme is taught through a combination of independent self-study modules, a facilitated live clinic, and a peer-led community session. The programme starts with a one-day live conference.

Note: programme content is subject to change.

The assessment window starts at the end of the 12-month programme and runs for three months. During this time, participants will be given an eight-day window to sit an ‘open book’ style assessment in which they respond to a short case study.

There are two assessment windows every year, and participants can sit the assessment two times, if they need to.

You need to complete the course to qualify for the NPQ accreditation.

Ambition Institute will offer a webinar and live clinic in advance of the assessment window to support participants.

Scholarship funding for autumn 2025

Scholarship funding is available for teachers and leaders in publicly funded schools (including maintained nursery schools) and 16 to 19 educational settings in England for the following NPQs:

• special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs)
• headship

Funding for these courses is also available to:

• schools eligible for targeted regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) intervention
• hospital schools
• young offender institutions
• local authority virtual school headteachers, staff in a defined deputy headteacher role and staff in direct teaching roles
• other local authority staff in direct teaching roles – for example, local authority supply or peripatetic teachers

Scholarship funding is also available for the following NPQs based on disadvantage criteria:

• leading teaching
• leading behaviour and culture
• leading literacy
• leading primary mathematics
• senior leadership
• executive leadership
• early years leadership
• leading teacher development

For these NPQs, scholarship funding to cover the full NPQ course cost will be available to teachers and leaders from eligible schools and 16 to 19 settings that have high levels of disadvantage. 

For the NPQ in early years leadership, highly disadvantaged early years settings and maintained nursery schools will also be eligible. 

For the NPQ in leading teacher development, scholarship funding is also available if you’re taking on the role of lead mentor for an initial teacher training (ITT) provider accredited to deliver ITT from September 2024.

To be eligible, your school or setting must be on one of the disadvantage eligibility lists.

Eligibility lists

Details of eligibility lists based on disadvantage are set out as follows.

Schools

The top 50% of publicly funded schools that have the highest proportion of students attracting pupil premium. This does not include maintained nursery schools.

Further education

The top 50% of 16 to 19 settings where the highest proportion of funded students attracting a disadvantage uplift. This is based on a combination of disadvantage block 1 and block 2 funding.

Early years

The top 50% of early years settings where the highest proportion of children get early years pupil premium or disadvantaged 2-year-old entitlement funding.

This includes private, voluntary, independent (PVI) settings, Ofsted-registered early years childminders and maintained nursery schools.

These settings are eligible for the early years leadership NPQ only.

Maintained nursery schools are also eligible for headship and SENCO NPQs regardless of disadvantage.

Schools eligible for targeted RISE intervention

This includes schools that:

• were previously scheduled for structural intervention after 1 January 2025 but have since had this intervention revoked
• are stuck schools – a stuck school is defined as a school that was graded Requires Improvement or equivalent at its most recent Ofsted inspection, and was also graded below Good at its previous inspection and is still within the same structure

The eligible settings are fixed for the autumn 2025 recruitment period.

Early headship coaching offer

For the early headship coaching offer, you can get funding to cover the course fees if you’re both:

• in your first 5 years of headship in England in a state-funded school or 16 to 19 organisation
• currently doing, or have completed, the NPQ for headship

Funding restrictions 

You can only receive scholarship funding for each NPQ once.

If you receive scholarship funding but then withdraw from or fail a course, you cannot get scholarship funding for the same NPQ again.

Being eligible for an NPQ scholarship does not guarantee that:

• the course is suitable for you
• a funded course place will be available

NPQ providers determine suitability through their application processes.

The total amount of scholarship funding is limited, so some eligible teachers and leaders may not secure a funded place. Check with your provider before you register to see if a funded place is available.

NPQ providers manage applications for the courses they deliver and may prioritise applications according to the number of funded places they have available. For example, priority will be given to applications for the NPQ for SENCOs to those needing to take the NPQ as a mandatory qualification for their role as a SENCO.

If a funded place is not available

If funded places are not available with your chosen NPQ provider, you can:

• contact another provider to enquire about funded places
• join your provider’s waiting list
• self-fund your course place

Find out more about providers and the NPQ courses they offer.

Legacy NPQs 

If you received scholarship funding for a legacy NPQ before November 2021 and withdrew from the programme, you’re still eligible for scholarship funding for the current NPQs.vailable if you are in your first 5 years of headship in England in a state-funded school or state-funded 16 to 19 organisation. You should also be doing or have done the headship NPQ.  

To apply, you must be leading, or aspiring to lead, literacy in any phase of education.

For example, you might be a head of literacy or literacy coordinator at your school or multi-academy trust.

Complete the form below and a member of the team will be in touch.