How do you learn on our NPQs?

You will take part in an induction, followed by a conference(s), courses, clinics and communities, and a final assessment. These learning elements are designed to have the flexibly to fit around the responsibilities of your day-to-day role. Our ‘little and often’ approach to learning means that you will access pieces of programme content at regular intervals. This will give you the space to explore content from your programme and apply it to your school context.

Induction

All programmes begin with a two-hour, online orientation on the learning platform, Steplab. You will be given an induction into your programme, as well as some guidance on using Steplab and the My Ambition online portal.

Conferences

Conferences are in-person events where you meet peers on your programme, engage in networking and spend time thinking about the area of leadership you are developing in, consider persistent problems of school leadership, and experience your first clinic. 

Each NPQ has a conference at the start of the programme. If you are doing a leadership NPQ, you will have a second conference mid-way through your programme. 

All conferences start at 9am and finish by 4pm and are held at our training facility at Heaton Avenue, a SHARE Primary, Cleckheaton, BD19 3AE.  Breaks and lunch are provided. 

Courses

Courses are designed to build your knowledge of a subject over a half-term. They are made up of alternating ‘study modules’ and ‘apply modules’ which you will complete each week on Steplab.

Study modules introduce you to key concepts and the evidence that underpins them. You will have access to the latest research on the topic, alongside further reading and resource materials. Quiz questions and reflective prompts will test your knowledge and track your progress throughout your course.

Apply modules are an opportunity to start to put what you have learnt into practice. You will decide which area of your practice you would like to focus on, before reviewing models from your study module. Through Steplab you will then try out the action you have seen modelled with a buddy (a peer on the programme), receive feedback and agree an action to take forward in your practice.

We recommend that you spend 50 minutes a week on your self-study modules.

Courses will help you to consider how evidence can inform decisions in your setting. The buddy relationship is also a space for you to make professional connections and share findings.

Clinics

Clinics are a further opportunity for you to apply your learning from the course you studied in the previous half-term. Leadership NPQs have up to seven clinics and Specialist NPQs have five clinics. These two-hour live sessions are usually delivered 4-6pm via Zoom by an expert facilitator and provide plenty of opportunity for discussion and questions.

Your facilitator will introduce ideas for the session, then provide you with a case study to read independently alongside reflective prompts. You will discuss your findings with the group using knowledge gained in your study modules and any insight from your own context. This will help you to consider deeply how the NPQ content can be applied to real-life situations.

Clinics are sequenced so that you can revisit and retrieve key ideas from your courses. This will help you to build mental models around the core module principles of your NPQ. The insights gained from your facilitator and peers will also spark new avenues of thinking to consider in your buddy sessions.

Communities

Communities are structured, peer-led sessions where you will consolidate and contextualise your learning by working together. You will explore a brief scenario to get you started before discussing relevant problems you are experiencing in your context. This is an opportunity to draw on one another's experience and expertise to develop solutions to genuine problems you are facing. These sessions are one hour and 15-minutes long and can either take place online or in-person. 

These sessions will help you to embed a supportive network with peers on the same learning journey. This helps broaden and consolidate your understanding of key concepts of your NPQ.

Assessment Clinic

Towards the end of your NPQ, you will have an assessment clinic – an opportunity to receive detailed guidance on the assessment.  This two-hour live session will be delivered in-person at our training facility at Heaton Avenue, a SHARE Primary, Cleckheaton, BD19 3AE.  

Assessments

Subject to you completing a minimum 90% of the NPQ, you will be entered into the eight-day assessment window during which you will submit a 1,500-word response to a case study. All assessments are open-book, meaning you will have full access to all programme content and materials to help you with your answer.

The final assessment is an opportunity to pull together learning from your entire NPQ. This is a time to look back at what you have learnt and demonstrate to your assessor how you have grown in your practice.

You will get online guidance materials and a face-to-face clinic to support you to complete the assessment.

NPQ for Headship: School visit

If you are completing an NPQ for Headship, you will spend a day visiting another school. This school visit will be organised by you, so that you can choose a suitable school and schedule of activities to get the most from the experience.

Before your school visit, you will reflect on your current school context and the parts of your leadership expertise you would like to develop. You will then choose one of six persistent problems of leadership to focus on during your school visit.

You will learn what leadership strategies are in place in different schools, how they have been implemented, and why the leaders in your host school made these choices in their context. This will develop your expertise in your identified problem area of school leadership.

How much time away from the school timetable will I need to do an NPQ?

NPQs are carefully designed to minimise disruption to your role. The only off-timetable requirements for your NPQ will be the in-person session(s). The number of in-person sessions you have will vary depending on whether you are taking a specialist or leadership NPQ.