National Professional Qualifications starting Autumn 2026
Our NPQs are suitable for bursary funded and fee-paying participants, including those working in international settings.
Funding information -
The DfE have announced funded opportunities available for the Autumn 2026 cohort. Funding will be on a is on a first come, first served basis, so early registration is advised. For full details relating to funding, visit our funding page here.
The DfE Registration Service is now open and you can complete your DfE registration here. Applications for the Autumn 2026 cohort are now open. Funded places are limited and we would encourage you to apply early. You can start your application here.
LLSE are proud to be a Lead Provider for the reformed NPQs. Building on ten years of NPQ experience we are delivering the new NPQs in over 69 Local Authorities across England and in 25 countries globally.
Ofsted judged our NPQs to be Outstanding (April 2024). Read our report here.
The LLSE course you will study to achieve your chosen NPQ has been carefully designed to ensure that it delivers against our curriculum intention.
"Enlightening and has brought me up to date with current educational thinking and pedagogy…as well as giving me the tools to continue this into the future 'teach a man to fish'! LLSE NPQ Participant
Inspire Enable Flourish
The LLSE curriculum inspires current and future leaders, enables them to lead with confidence and clarity, and equips them with the knowledge, skills and self-awareness required to flourish.
Our curriculum furnishes participants with essential knowledge to make evidence informed, contextually relevant decisions in their leadership. It demonstrates fidelity to the framework statements and evidence base and supplements these with example scenarios and input from sector experts and partners to contextualise that knowledge, linking it in a very practical way to the lived experience of school leadership today.
Our curriculum enables participants to envision how they will lead and what will be improved because of their leadership. It enables them to establish and articulate a clear commitment to those changes. Supporting them to prioritise their leadership actions, work in a manner which secures buy-in and deals intelligently with resistance. Our curriculum supports participants to plan for the culture change journey they will lead, acknowledging the need to design concrete steps, work in an evidence informed manner, support habit change, monitor progress, adapt to the unforeseen and make the change impactful and sustainable.
What are the new National Professional Qualifications?
The National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) provide high quality training and professional development for teachers and school leaders at all levels, from those who want to develop expertise in high quality teaching practice, such as behaviour management, to those leading multiple schools across trusts.
The four Specialist NPQs (Leading Teaching, Leading Teacher Development, Leading Behaviour and culture and Leading Literacy) are suitable for teachers and leaders with team, departmental or whole school responsibility for the specialist area. The specialist NPQs are relevant for those currently in or aspiring to hold both middle and senior leadership positions.
The four Leadership NPQs (Senior Leadership, Headship, Executive Leadership, Early Years Leadership) develop those who are, or aspire to whole school leadership roles.
Why should I choose an LLSE course?
- High quality content written by experienced school and college leaders with contributions from our leading strategic partners.
- Support from expert facilitators who are on hand to guide, support and challenge you.
- Contextualised programmes that recognise the different experiences of teaching and leadership across subject, phase, setting, locality
- An excellent online learning platform making your learning accessible anytime anywhere.
- Manageable workload because of a carefully designed curriculum with regular structured learning activities
- Regular face to face learning through in-person and online workshops help to build connections with other teachers and leaders
- Individual coaching built into every NPQ to support your learning
- Support to lead real change in your setting through implementation planning throughout your programme
- Join a community of leaders and network with others on your programme nationally as well as locally
- Personal, friendly and professional service from LLSE and our local delivery partners
What is LLSE’s ambition for the NPQs?
Creating teachers and leaders who are invested in and excited about their learning by designing intriguing meta questions about which participants genuinely want to enquire during expertly facilitated sessions.
Making the learning relevant to the teachers' and leaders' contexts by using case studies and communities of practice to support the experiential learning process, which is vital to adult professional learning and development.
Developing teachers and leaders who are confident reflective thinkers who critically engage with research to justify their chosen strategies and approaches based on robust, triangulated evidence (Master's-level).
Nurturing teachers and leaders who can lead sustainable and lasting change by structuring learning around the four stages of implementation, so that participants will be able to grow into system leaders themselves.
Leading teachers and leaders to form new habits by helping them to question their assumptions, and to reflect on and improve their practice, focusing relentlessly on tangible improvements in teaching and pupil outcomes.