The Department for Education launched a new early years leadership qualification for Level 3 qualified and above practitioners working in private, voluntary and independent settings last October.
As part of the government’s long-term education recovery plan, funding for fully-funded NPQ training scholarships has been extended until the academic year 2023 to 2024.
The National Professional Qualification for Early Years Leadership is a professional development qualification, which aims to support early years leaders to develop expertise in leading high-quality education and care, as well as in effective staff and organisational management, working with their colleagues.
National professional qualifications (NPQs) are a national, voluntary suite of qualifications, designed to support the professional development of teachers and leaders.
Training scholarships for the NPQ in Early Years Leadership are available to those leaders qualified to at least Level 3 with a full and relevant qualification who are, or are aspiring to be:
- managers of private, voluntary and independent nurseries
- headteachers of school-based or maintained nurseries
- childminders with leadership responsibilities
- And are employed:
- in a local authority nursery in England
- in a pre-school class that’s part of a school in England
- in a private nursery that is registered with Ofsted
- as a childminder or nanny and registered with Ofsted
Full and relevant qualifications’ are defined as qualifications that demonstrate depth and level of learning appropriate to specified outcomes of full early years, childcare or playwork qualifications. The qualification should have valid, reliable assessment and awarding procedures and must include an element of assessed performance evidence.
The guidance is available here
Registration for NPQs starting in autumn 2022 is temporarily closed and will reopen soon. You can sign up for an email alert when registration reopens.
