Guidance

Funding for national professional qualifications (NPQs)

Funding for courses and educational settings to help teachers and leaders take NPQs for their professional development.

From:
Department for Education
Published
22 June 2023
Last updated
10 February 2025 — See all updates

Applies to England

National professional qualifications (NPQs) are flexible professional development courses for teachers and leaders to improve skills, progress careers and deliver improved outcomes for schools. 

You may be able to get your NPQ course fees paid for by the Department for Education (DfE). This is called scholarship funding. You do not need to apply for it.

When you register for an NPQ, DfE will tell you if you are eligible for funding. 

Scholarship funding for spring 2025 

Scholarships are available to teachers and leaders in publicly funded schools and 16 to 19 educational organisations for the following NPQs:

  • leading primary mathematics
  • special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO)
  • headship

Funding for these 3 NPQs is also available to:

  • hospital schools
  • young offender institutions
  • local authority virtual school headteachers, staff in a defined deputy headteacher role and staff in direct teaching roles
  • other local authority staff in direct teaching roles – for example, local authority supply or peripatetic teachers

For the following NPQs, funding is only available if your setting is on one of the eligible settings lists:

For these NPQs, scholarship funding to cover the full NPQ course cost will be available to teachers and leaders from eligible schools and 16 to 19 settings.

For the NPQ in early years leadership, highly disadvantaged early years settings will also be eligible.

For the NPQ in leading teacher development, scholarship funding is also available if you are taking on the role of lead mentor for an initial teacher training (ITT) provider accredited to deliver ITT from September 2024.

Early headship coaching offer

For the early headship coaching offer, funding to cover the course fees will be available if you are in your first 5 years of headship in England in a state-funded school or state-funded 16 to 19 organisation.

You should also be doing or have done the NPQ for headship.

Settings that are eligible for scholarship funding

These lists show which settings are eligible for funding.

List of eligible schools (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 424 KB): the top 50% of publicly funded schools that have the highest proportion of students attracting pupil premium.

List of eligible 16 to 19 settings (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 49.1 KB): the top 50% for proportion of funded students attracting a disadvantage uplift – combination of disadvantage block 1 and block 2 funding.

List of eligible early years settings (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 933 KB): the top 50% of settings that have the highest proportion of children attracting:

  • early years pupil premium
  • disadvantaged 2 year old entitlement funding

Ofsted-registered childminders are included in early years settings.

To check eligibility, read the early years list with the high-disadvantage schools and high-disadvantage 16 to 19 settings lists.

These lists are fixed for the spring 2025 recruitment period.

Funding restrictions 

You can only receive scholarship funding for each NPQ once. 

If you receive scholarship funding but then withdraw from or fail your programme, you cannot receive scholarship funding for the same NPQ again.

Being eligible for an NPQ scholarship does not guarantee either:

  • suitability for the course
  • that a funded course place is available

NPQ providers are responsible for determining suitability, through their application processes.

The amount of NPQ scholarship funding available nationally is limited. This means some teachers and leaders who are eligible for a scholarship may not be able to access a funded place.

NPQ providers manage the application process for the courses they deliver and may need to prioritise applications to manage the number of funded places they have available. For example, NPQ providers will need to prioritise applications for NPQ for SENCO places to support those needing to take the qualification to meet statutory requirements.

If funded places are not available with your chosen NPQ provider, you can:

  • approach a different NPQ provider to enquire about the availability of funded course places
  • choose to join your chosen provider’s waiting list
  • choose to pay for a course place

NPQ courses has more information about NPQ providers.

Suitability

The course suitability requirements may vary depending on the provider. You should check with your chosen course provider before you register.

You may meet the funding criteria but not the course suitability requirements.

Legacy NPQs 

If you received scholarship funding for a legacy NPQ (before November 2021) and withdrew from the programme, you’re still eligible for scholarship funding for the current NPQs.

Updates to this page

Published 22 June 2023
Last updated 10 February 2025 show all updates

  1. We have published lists of schools, 16 to 19 settings and early years settings which are eligible for funding for spring 2025. We have updated the page to reflect this.

  2. Updated information about funding for 2025.

  3. Updated to clarify NPQ scholarship criteria.

  4. Updated information about funding for autumn 2024 and added a 'Settings eligible for scholarship funding' section.

  5. Updated with details of scholarship funding for autumn 2024.

  6. First published.

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