Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people (a) applied for and (b) completed the National Professional Qualification for Headship in the financial year (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11, (iii) 2011-12, (iv) 2012-13 and (v) 2013-14.

a) In financial year 2009/10 1620 people applied for the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) and 1089 graduated from the programme.

b) In financial year 2010/11 1573 people applied for NPQH and 1345 graduated from the programme.

c) In financial year 2011/12 2591 people applied for NPQH and 1165 graduated from the programme

d) In financial year 2012/13 1532 people applied for NPQH and 120 graduated from the programme.

e) In financial year 2013/14 1262 people applied for NPQH and 194 graduated from the programme.

There are two NPQH application rounds per annum. NPQH has a learning journey of 12-18 months and therefore participants commencing during one financial year may not present for the final assessment for a further two financial years.

In order to commence NPQH applicants take part in a two-stage assessment process, where they are required to demonstrate a range of leadership competencies showing their readiness for headship. Those deemed not ready to progress onto the programme at first application, following the overall assessment, ranges between 10% and 25% (depending on the quality of applications during any one intake round).

NPQH is no longer mandatory for first time serving headteachers, as the mandatory status was withdrawn in February 2012; this allows multiple routes for senior school leaders to secure headteacher positions.

NPQH was last reviewed in 2012/13 following the government white paper ‘The importance of teaching’ (2012).