Ongoing review

National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) have been one of the key methods of teacher development since the launch of the NPQH for headteachers in 1997. There are now ten qualifications with five Specialist NPQs including ‘Leading Primary Maths’ and ‘Leading Literacy’ and five Leadership NPQs covering roles like Executive Leadership.

Change is on its way, however. Funding once covered NPQs for teachers in all state schools in England but currently only the NPQH and the SENco qualifications are fully funded, while other NPQs are only funded for teachers working in disadvantaged areas. Further, in 2025 ministers announced a review led by an Expert Steering Group (ESG) which is ongoing.

We wanted a way for Higher Education to have its say. UCET has evaluated NPQs in the past, questioning whether the government’s so-called ‘Golden Thread’ is really a ‘Gilded Cage’ (Vare & Oberholzer, 2022) but has not, we argue, been sufficiently heard. Therefore, we looked again at NPQs from the perspective of three university academics with a background as former teachers and teacher educators.

‘A better way’

Our colleague, Professor Linda Evans, set out a framework which suggests professional learning consists of three key elements: ‘behavioural’, ‘attitudinal’ and ‘intellectual’ change (Evans, 2014). Professional growth can only occur, she argues, if all elements are present, and the professional accepts that any learning they engage in offers ‘a better way’ than their previous practice.

Other frameworks are available. Kennedy (2014), for example, set out a framework for considering whether professional development is focussed on mere ‘transmission’ or is truly ‘transformative’ (p.349). Evans’ (2014) framework, however, provided a means to systematically analyse the content of the current range of NPQ frameworks used to guide approved providers in their delivery.

Based on the funding available at that point, we picked three – the NPQH, the Leading Primary Maths NPQ, and the NPQ for Special Education Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) for our sample. The latter, a designated Leadership NPQ, was particularly important to look at because, as of 2024, it replaced the mandatory national award for SENCOs, the NASENCO.

A scripted play with privileged ways of performing

We argue that the current frameworks for professional development are so rigidly choreographed that teachers are required to perform their lines in the same way as actors in a heavily scripted play (Murtagh & Dawes, 2024).

NPQs lean heavily on the ‘behavioural’. They tell leaders and aspiring leaders how to act, speak and behave. Specific approaches are promoted, such as ‘modelling’, and ‘mastery’ in mathematics teaching. Teachers, like actors with precise stage directions, are required to simply ‘perform’ a limited range of select pedagogies.

Similarly, we found a restricted range of attitudes sanctioned by the NPQs, with job readiness and future financial success for school children are the order of the day. These aspects of education are important, of course, but there is sadly little evidence in the NPQs of valuing learning for learning’s sake, for example.

The most limited aspect we found was the ‘intellectual’. At first glance, the NPQs are well-referenced. References are often repeated, however, and come from a very limited range of sources, primarily the government-backed Education Endowment Foundation. Much research of likely value to teachers and their professional development is missing, reducing the opportunity for independent critical thinking.

From bit-part to co-author

We recommend a fuller overhaul of NPQs than is currently in the offing. The number of NPQs could be reduced to promote depth, and they should include a wider range of evidence, via more meaningful consultation with practitioners.

This could be done with invitations to professional bodies - such as UCET, but others too - to play an advocacy role in reforming professional development structures. This could result in, for example, greater alignment between NPQs and Master’s-level study, allowing for progression to deeper, research-informed qualifications including doctoral level study.

UCET’s own principles of professional development emphasise theory, reflexivity and agency. We concur and believe reflective, research-engaged teacher education is crucial to the success of the school sector. NPQs must let teachers step out of their scripted and pre-determined roles to embrace a position of true co-authorship in their own professional learning.