NPQ funding for April 2025: All you need to know
The time has come to apply for the April 2025 cohort of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs), and we hope you will strongly consider this. The programmes are a great step for you, if you are an aspiring or serving school leader, to develop in a key area or across the whole school, set yourself up for the next stage of your career, and have impact in your current setting. If you lead a school, supporting colleagues to undertake an NPQ can lead to improvements in your school alongside supporting staff retention.
What funding is available?
For those of you working in schools serving more disadvantaged pupils, full scholarship funding is available, so the qualifications won’t cost you (or your school) a penny. Schools eligible to receive funding across all NPQs are:
- State schools with the top 50% of Pupil Premium pupils
- For FE colleges, the top 50% of settings with the highest proportion of disadvantage funding.
However, as with the previous cohort, all state schools regardless of the above criteria are eligible to receive full funding for the NPQ for Headship, NPQ for Leading Primary Maths, the NPQ for SENCOs and Early Headship Coaching offer.
Finally, additional funding is available for some professionals as follows:
- Ofsted-registered childminders are entitled to receive full scholarship funding for the NPQ for Early Years Leadership
- Lead mentors for Initial Teacher Training for an accredited provider (September 2024 onwards) are eligible for a fully funded NPQ for Leading Teacher Development
There is a national cap on scholarship funding, so early application is advised to ensure you are more likely to benefit from this.
DfE registrations opened on the 10th February. You can now check your eligibility for all of these funding options here.
How to secure your place?
The first step is to decide which provider to go with. If you choose to apply for an NPQ with the NIoT, please apply here.
Next, you will need to register on the Department for Education website, before starting your NPQ programme. Registrations are now open for the April 2025 cohort. This is a short, mandatory process that verifies you and enables you to enrol onto our programme. You will be asked which NPQ programme you wish to register for and which provider you want to go with so please make sure you have made these choices prior to registration. Register with the DfE here.
Why choose NIoT?
NPQs at the National Institute of Teaching provide a unique experience with schools at the heart. Your programme will be delivered by serving school leaders, who grapple with real challenges in real schools every day. A large proportion of the qualification can be undertaken flexibly, at a time that works for you. Perhaps most importantly, the programmes focus on enabling you to have real impact on the pupils you serve in your current setting right away.
What’s next for NPQs?
Future cohorts of NPQ participants are assured as the NPQ review commences, which will review particular aspects of programmes to enhance them. The NIoT’s Reuben Moore is part of this expert panel to assess, in particular, SEND, leadership aspects, the reduction of workload and the more operational aspects of leadership. We’re excited that NPQs continue to be supported by government to enable more people to have more impact on more pupils.