Training Aspiring Heads on NPQH: Issues and progress

Abstract

The paper explores the political and historical origins of the new qualification for headteachers, the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH). The distinctive features of the NPQH training programme are explored to draw attention to the strengths and weaknesses: conceptual pluralism, the separation of leadership from management, the emphasis on process and practical application and the downplaying of theory, the separation of the training and assessment processes and the inevitable pressure to cover content. Attention is drawn to the issues which need resolution to achieve the Teacher Training Agency's goal of ensuring excellent leadership in schools: the conflict between central direction and the importance of situational leadership and the political imperative for programme outcomes. Existing difficulties in professional development for teachers have not been resolved by the NPQH: differentiation, funding, taking account of prior learning, pressures on professionals' lives and on their schools and appropriate diversity among aspiring headteachers.