NPQLL (National Professional Qualifications for Leading Literacy)
- Programme starts: Autumn 2025 (date TBD)
- Duration: 12 months
- Cost: £1,375
Interested in enrolling in this NPQ programme for Autumn 2025?
The first step is easy. Just let us know your interest by completing the NPQ Interest Form, and we will take you through the journey step-by-step.
This programme is for:
- Teachers and leaders responsible for leading literacy across a year group, phase or school, or aspire to do so in the future. The programme is suitable for teachers in Primary and Secondary phases.
What you will learn:
- Teaching – you will use what you learn to support teachers at all levels in your school to develop their knowledge of literacy development and literacy learning and to improve their literacy teaching, including language, reading and writing.
- Developing language – you will learn about the crucial role of language development in general academic success and in particular how oracy underpins literacy development. Within the context of your role, you will learn how to develop your school’s oracy teaching and provision and how to support your colleagues to maximise the opportunities to model and develop high-quality speaking and listening and to ensure high-quality talk is prioritised in the classroom.
- School culture – you will learn how to enhance literacy teaching and to champion all aspects of literacy across a school, strengthening your ability and that of your colleagues to contribute to a school culture in which pupils can thrive and succeed.
- Developing reading – you will learn how language development underpins reading development, you will deepen your knowledge of the key theories of reading development and explore the development of the component skills involved in reading and from the perspectives of different learners.
- Developing writing – you will deepen your knowledge of how to develop pupils' written transcription by working with colleagues to ensure that they know how to teach, spelling, handwriting and sentence construction.
- Professional development – you will deepen your knowledge of the best ways to provide effective professional development in literacy curriculum, pedagogy and assessment across the whole school community. You will engage in leading and developing a team of teachers focused on improving literacy attainment across your school.
- Subject and curriculum – you will learn about the fundamental importance of literacy and recognise the impact it has on pupils’ future achievement and life chances. You will learn how to support and improve high quality teaching, learning and assessment in your subject or phase. You will acquire the essential knowledge, skills and concepts that underpin successful literacy teaching.
- Implementation – focusing on literacy, you will learn how to implement change successfully within your context by understanding the stages of implementation and applying them with the support of your facilitators and colleagues.
Interested in exploring other NPQ Specialist Programmes?
Click on any of the programmes below to learn more.
NPQLPM (NPQ Leading Primary Mathematics)
Teachers and leaders with responsibility for leading maths across a primary key-stage or school, or those who want to have this responsibility.
Cost: £1,375
NPQLTD (NPQ Leading Teacher Development)
For teachers who have, or are aspiring to have, responsibilities for leading teaching in a subject, year group, key stage or phase.
Cost: £1,375
NPQLT (NPQ Leading Teaching)
For teachers who have, or are aspiring to have, responsibilities for leading behaviour and/or supporting pupil wellbeing in their school.
Cost: £1,375
NPQLBC (NPQ Leading Behaviour and Culture)
A teacher who has, or aspires to have responsibility for leading literacy across a year group, key stage, phase or school.
Cost: £1,375
What’s unique about our programme:
In addition to the DfE required content, our programme includes an Implementation Project which provides you with a great opportunity to reflect on and apply what you have learned throughout the programme in the context of your school, aligning to the EEF process model for school improvement (not assessed).
Programme route map:
Interested in the detailed structure, timeline and the hours you can expect to invest in the programme? Click on the below route map to learn more.
Assessment and accreditation:
To receive the DfE accreditation, you will need to (1) ensure 90% engagement in the programme throughout, and (2) pass the open-book summative case study task scheduled for an eight-day period following the programme completion.
Interested in exploring other NPQ Specialist Programmes?
Click on any of the programmes below to learn more.
NPQLPM (NPQ Leading Primary Mathematics)
Teachers and leaders with responsibility for leading maths across a primary key-stage or school, or those who want to have this responsibility.
Cost: £1,375
NPQLTD (NPQ Leading Teacher Development)
For teachers who have, or are aspiring to have, responsibilities for leading teaching in a subject, year group, key stage or phase.
Cost: £1,375
NPQLT (NPQ Leading Teaching)
For teachers who have, or are aspiring to have, responsibilities for leading behaviour and/or supporting pupil wellbeing in their school.
Cost: £1,375
NPQLBC (NPQ Leading Behaviour and Culture)
A teacher who has, or aspires to have responsibility for leading literacy across a year group, key stage, phase or school.
Cost: £1,375
Benefits to you:
Our participants have noted many benefits to studying for an NPQLL. Overall, they outline how the programme has given them professional confidence, time and space to reflect on themselves about the kind of leader they want to become and increased knowledge in their chosen area of study.
You will be able to:
- Develop the skills, confidence and knowledge to implement new literacy initiatives successfully through a supported implementation project.
- Develop the skills to implement meaningful interventions as part of a whole school literacy approach.
- Learn how to help students develop ways to improve oracy developing confidence that transpires into academic progress.
- Learn practical approaches to develop language, reading and writing skills in your school context.
- Recognise the key elements of pupils’ literacy journeys from Primary school into Secondary settings.
- Access research and materials and have many opportunities to discuss a variety of literacy approaches and models with other teachers.
Benefits for your school:
We know that our children and young people need teachers who are committed to their education and are confident learners themselves.
Our NPQ programmes have been developed with teachers and leaders to:
- Create professionally confident teachers and leaders.
- Grow the next generation of leaders with the skills and knowledge to use the evidence-base for the benefit of their children and young people.
- Retain the best teachers who are excellent, collaborative role models for their schools and communities.
- Inspire leaders who can harness the power of rich learning environments for their children and young people no matter the current circumstances.
Watch: Laura Yandell, Deputy Head, AISL Harrow Hong Kong International School, discusses how NPQ programmes help develop a strong leadership pipeline for the school.
Interested in exploring other NPQ Specialist Programmes?
Click on any of the programmes below to learn more.
NPQLPM (NPQ Leading Primary Mathematics)
Teachers and leaders with responsibility for leading maths across a primary key-stage or school, or those who want to have this responsibility.
Cost: £1,375
NPQLTD (NPQ Leading Teacher Development)
For teachers who have, or are aspiring to have, responsibilities for leading teaching in a subject, year group, key stage or phase.
Cost: £1,375
NPQLT (NPQ Leading Teaching)
For teachers who have, or are aspiring to have, responsibilities for leading behaviour and/or supporting pupil wellbeing in their school.
Cost: £1,375
NPQLBC (NPQ Leading Behaviour and Culture)
A teacher who has, or aspires to have responsibility for leading literacy across a year group, key stage, phase or school.
Cost: £1,375
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