The government announced last week it will review the full suite of national professional qualifications (NPQs), with a particular focus on teaching pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and operational aspects of leadership, such as budgeting.

It’s an unsurprising move given Labour’s pre-election promise to offer a new teacher training entitlement “to ensure teachers stay up to date on best practice with continuing professional development” - especially in a sector experiencing a retention crisis.

The timing also retains the four-year life cycle of the programme, after the last review in 2021 led to replacements of those created in 2017.

Since 2021, though, NPQs have been hit with concerns over take-up and affordability, especially after funding for 2025 was slashed.

“The sector is not convinced by NPQs,” Keziah Featherstone, executive headteacher at The Mercian Trust and NPQ review panel member, tells Tes.

Her concerns are echoed by Matthew Shanks, CEO at Education South West, who says it is clear NPQs need a “thorough review”.

So, what are the problems with the current NPQs and what might change?

1. Flexibility

Featherstone says more flexibility in courses and how content is delivered is key, noting that, for some, the NPQ curriculum feels “like a straitjacket”.

Shanks agrees the existing framework is “too repetitive, with a disproportionate emphasis on knowledge over practical application”, and adds: “There needs to be more opportunities for programme members to implement their learning.”

Echoing this is Sam Gibbs, trust lead for curriculum and development at Greater Manchester Education Trust, who delivers NPQs. She says: “One of the problems is it’s stacked with content, so you’re just ploughing through it”.

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Gibbs also believes there needs to be more written into the programme to allow teachers to implement what they have learned. Currently, teachers “do NPQs in silos”, she says. “They do their NPQ one day, and they do their job the next day, and they’re not connecting the two.”

Hilary Spencer, CEO of NPQ provider Ambition Institute, also says that more could be done on how different NPQs can work together in terms of progression.

“How you can create proper career progression supported by the NPQs is something that needs more working through,” she says.

Cat Scutt, deputy CEO of the Chartered College of Teaching, agrees that some of the leadership NPQs - such as the NPQ for Executive Leadership - are “so broad” that they need to be made more focused.

And Richard Kueh, director of strategy and improvement at the Cam Academy Trust, says content overlap needs to be looked at, too.

“They need to cut repetition between NPQs, which prevents the very thing they were designed to achieve: professionals progressing through them,” he says.

2. Localisation

Featherstone adds that she would like to see greater ability for providers to tailor NPQs to the context of the user - for example, the differing needs of rural and urban schools.

Gibbs agrees: “I would like to see a move to a more local, regional model”, which would allow delivery to be contextualised to users’ place and need.

She adds that she already does this to an extent with the “flex route” offered by the Church of England NPQs, which allows her to input some of her own case studies, making the content more “relevant” for staff.

On this point, Andy Wolfe, executive director of education at the Church of England, said it remained committed to ensuring NPQs could be ”responsive to the needs of schools, particularly those in rural or underrepresented areas”.

Gibbs, though, acknowledges this is only possible for her because of her role leading CPD across a trust, which means she has the time and capacity to create relevant content. “That’s not going to be the same for the small primary school down the road,” she says.

Shanks notes, however, that giving providers and schools too much scope for adaptation could be potentially problematic: ”[We need a] consistent way for providers to assess NPQs, as providers work across regions.”

3. Relevant evidence

Others have concerns over the content of the NPQs.

Teacher Development Trust (TDT) CEO Gareth Conyard says part of the reason TDT stopped providing NPQs was because of outdated evidence: “We were delivering some that started to run counter to the evidence.”

For example, he explains the framework for the NPQ in early years leadership cites evidence around behaviour by Tom Bennett. “His work has a place on behaviour in schools, but it’s different when you’re talking about babies and toddlers,” adds Conyard.

Spencer also recognises the need to ensure evidence remains robust: “We are supportive of keeping NPQs under review to make sure that it stays a really high-quality, evidence-based programme.”

Melanie Renowden, chief executive officer of NPQ provider the National Institute of Teaching, also says the reviews would help ensure content remained relevant.

“This review is a great opportunity to consider how to best harness the evolving evidence base, adapt to the changing demands on schools and teachers and respond to what school leaders are saying about their development needs,” she explains.

4. Real impact on workload

Workload is another area of focus - both in terms of the work involved in doing an NPQ and also helping leaders learn how to reduce workload within their roles and pass this on, something Gibbs says is currently lacking.

“NPQs don’t train leaders in how to create cultures that keep teachers in the classroom,” she explains.

As such, Gibbs says she would like to see the leadership of wellbeing included in a future NPQ: “We are in a national mental health crisis and we see that exacerbated because of the retention crisis. We have to have leaders who understand those challenges.”

Featherstone agrees this is welcome - saying it could help develop a more “diverse leadership pipeline”, too, especially by allowing more female staff to work part-time in leadership roles.

5. Appropriate funding

NPQs are currently only funded for teachers and leaders from schools with the highest proportion of pupil premium pupils and in 16-19 educational settings with high disadvantage.

Featherstone expects the panel will raise this issue, noting that NPQs are currently “expensive” and can put some off - something Shanks also has concerns with, too, especially after funding cutbacks.

“Uncertainty around this has led to a significant drop in uptake since scholarships ended,” he says.

Indeed, government data shows it fell far behind its three-year target on NPQ take-up, recording less than half of the funded NPQ course starts in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

Given this, a spokesperson from NPQ provider Teach First says it is clear the funding situation must be improved.

“Demand for all NPQs, particularly Sendcos, far outstrips available places. A long-term government commitment is crucial to ensure everyone who needs this vital training can access it,” the spokesperson adds.

The NPQ identity problem

For others, the feeling is that NPQs as an offer need rethinking - not least that it is currently too broad.

Conyard, for example, says the offer “shouldn’t be as universal as it is…NPQs are qualifications that are very specific to someone at the right time. For the bulk of someone’s career, they shouldn’t be doing NPQs”.

Rebecca Waterson and Kay Shepherd, directors of learning at E-ACT, echo Conyard’s concerns.

“The lack of rigour in application processes sometimes places teachers on NPQs that do not align with their career stage or development needs,” they say.

“This risks diluting the qualifications’ value and turning them into a tick-box exercise rather than a rigorous career milestone.”

Scutt agrees that what career stage a teacher should take an NPQ was also an issue when designing the original suite of qualifications.

She says: “Are NPQs for those already in the role they are taking the qualification for? Or for those who are looking to enter the job and need a full induction?”

What about the ECF?

As well as the NPQ review, the Department for Education also said it would review the early career framework (ECF), its statutory two-year programme for new teachers, in 2027 - including “revising and improving delivery” of the programme.

Gibbs says the review is welcome, noting that it needs to be made to sit more naturally at the start of a teacher’s career than it currently does.

“For a lot of our early career teachers, they feel like it’s something to do and tick off - then after two years, the real development starts,” she says.

Spencer also says that more flexibility and contextualisation need to be made possible because, as all teachers must complete the ECF, it can be harder for providers to find ways to engage all learners.

“You are not necessarily making a conscious, proactive choice to follow an early career programme,” she says. “This means that you get a wider range of motives from those doing it.”

The future of teacher training

Will these reviews bring about the full-scale reform that teaching training needs?

Some are positive it will, with Gibbs saying that “we want evolution, not revolution” in the sector, and therefore these reviews are the right approach.

For some, though, it’s not enough, such as Allen Hall, assistant director of education at Endeavour Learning Trust. He says we need “a fundamental and radical big picture review”, and argues that the current system creates “silos” across the profession.

Meanwhile, for Conyard at TDT, which stopped offering NPQs this year, the reality of returning seems slim, whatever is proposed. “I think, increasingly, we don’t want to be delivering other people’s frameworks,” he says.

Nonetheless, for thousands of teachers and leaders, the NPQ review and the future ECF review will play a large part in their career journey and so the changes put forward will have a significant impact and be watched keenly.

What’s more, these reviews now sit alongside several other major changes in the system, such as the curriculum and assessment review, a new Ofsted process and school improvement reform. To what extent all these developments will complement one other remains to be seen.

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