NPQ for SENCOs

What is the National Professional Qualification for SENCOs (NPQSEND)?

A leadership level qualification, primarily for SENCOs, school leaders or aspiring SENCOs.

This NPQ will be the mandatory qualification for SENCOs from September 2024. 

Our NPQSEND programme will:

Recognise the statutory requirements of the SENCO role and reflect the diversity of settings in which SENCOs work.

Collate essential knowledge, skills and concepts that underpin successful SEND leadership within a school.

Set out what those leading SEND provision or in another senior leadership role with responsibility for SEND should know and be able to do to enable their school to keep improving.

Develop expertise that can be applied to both identifying and addressing persistent and common challenges in leadership as a SENCO. This should be flexible and allow participants to respond to the challenges they will encounter in a range of contexts.

Provide fellow professionals with a network, common language and access to a continuous debate through which the collective expertise of our education system can grow and develop in the best interests of all pupils.

Programme delivery is based on a 4-stage learning cycle which offers a rich blend of online, asynchronous and face-to-face learning experiences.

Cycle One

School Culture

Statutory Framework

Cycle Two

Identification of need

Teaching

Cycle Three

Behaviour

Leading and managing provision

Cycle Four

Professional development

Implementation

How much is the programme?

Funding for Autumn 2024 will target those teachers and leaders who work in the most challenging schools or educational settings, serving more disadvantaged communities. Scholarship funding to cover the full NPQ course cost will be available to teachers and leaders from: (i) the 50% of schools with the highest proportion of students who attract pupil premium funding; (ii) 16 to 19 educational settings identified as having high disadvantage.

Scholarships will continue to be available to all teachers and leaders from publicly funded schools and 16 to 19 educational organisation for the following NPQs:

  • SEND
  • Leading Primary Maths
  • Headship