National Professional Qualifications

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Applications for October 2023 are now open. If you have any enquiries please email martinl@onecumbria.education or head to our apply page to submit an application.

The reformed National Professional Qualifications came into effect in September 2021. They have been developed in consultation with an expert advisory group from across the education system. The changes to NPQs build on the evidence and expert advice already established in the new core content framework for Initial Teacher Training, and the Early Career Framework (ECF). This makes NPQs particularly suitable for more experienced colleagues, perhaps in or beyond the third year of their career. The content frameworks have been used as the basis for delivering each course and set out the things that participants should know and be able to do after completing an NPQ. They reflect the Teachers’ standards and Headteachers’ standards to ensure coherency with the requirements already used by the teaching profession.

NPQs available with One Cumbria

* This NPQ can be delivered for all our ITT and ECT mentors but more than that our vision is to have at least one person in every school or every cluster of small schools with this NPQ. They will also be the vanguard of One Cumbria, sharing all the latest information on professional development, opportunities for training and jobs. Find our more about our courses in our NPQ brochure or watch this video.

We also have an Early Headship Coaching Offer available. This is a targeted package of additional support tailored to the needs of headteachers new to the role of headship. You can find out more about this here or to apply for this support, please click the application form below.

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Facilitator Opportunities

Join the One Cumbria team

We are now planning the delivery of our fourth cohort of NPQs and in order to do this effectively, we would like to appoint new NPQ Facilitators from schools within our Teaching School Hub partnership. We are seeking to increase our team of facilitators to deliver the NPQ programme across the region. The facilitator role has fantastic benefits of working with schools, teachers and leaders across a wide range of schools and locations.

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One Cumbria Curriculum

View our curriculum overview.

Any school or trust can choose to deliver NPQs in their own way with their own partners, but the point of One Cumbria is that we deliver a unified suite across the county so there is uniformity in content and delivery to guarantee maximum portability across leadership roles in Cumbria. Additionally, having read everything to do with who we are and how we’re constructed you can be assured that the quality of leadership training with us will ensure portability across the country.

Watch the short presentation below to find out more about why you should choose One Cumbria.

These updated slides about the reformed NPQs from the DfE provide a helpful overview of Teacher Development reforms showing how NPQS sare part of a career long strategy to help all teachers achieve excellence. Last year, £184 million of new funding was announced to provide scholarship funding to enable colleagues in eligible schools to train at no cost. See slide 5 for information on this. Slide 6 contains some information about an additional support offer for the NPQ in headship for new headteachers.