National Professional Qualification for Early Years Leadership (NPQEYL)

Our NPQ for Early Years Leadership course follows the Department for Education’s National Professional Qualification: Early Years Leadership Framework.

You will learn how to:

• Set a strategic direction for your early years setting and apply ambitious standards for all children
• Champion evidence-based practice
• Plan and deliver care and a high-quality curriculum to support children’s development
• Establish communication, language and literacy approaches to support children’s learning
• Make sure all children experience success
• Identify children who need support and make appropriate referrals
• Create an environment for all children and colleagues where everyone feels welcome and safe.

Note: programme content is subject to change.

Our NPQEYL is designed so you can engage in live, facilitated sessions alongside modules you can complete at any time.

Over 18 months, our NPQEYL includes:

• Two live conferences (each lasting six hours)
• Nine courses (each course lasts about six weeks and loosely aligns with a school half term)
• Each course includes six modules
• 54 insight and practice modules (completed at a time that suits you)
• Six two-hour online clinics (facilitated sessions)
• One two-hour assessment clinic
• Five online communities (1hr15mins group sessions)

The content is delivered through blended learning. This includes 12 hours of in-person delivery (via two full-day conferences and in-person twilight sessions), a mix of real-time, interactive online sessions and self-guided modules you complete in your own time.

The programme includes facilitator-led sessions with your peer group that focus on decision making. The programme starts with a one-day live conference.
Note: programme content is subject to change.

National cohort – Saturday online clinic sessions available
On our autumn 2025 NPQEYL National cohort, as well as a mid-week evening online clinic, we're trialling a Saturday morning online session. This is so you’ll have more flexibility to fit your learning around your busy early years timetable.

Thrive as a leader
This course is designed specifically for leaders of early years education. Through evidence-based professional development, you’ll learn what great early years learning looks like and how to lead others in your setting. You’ll also look at what others can learn from you.

Close the gap
Evidence* shows that high quality care and education in early years is fundamental for a child’s development, preparing them for school and later life*. We’ll help you to develop the knowledge to deliver this to the children you support.

Designed by early years experts
Benefit from a programme which is designed and delivered by early years specialists and experts from across the sector.

Tailor your training
The programme allows you to apply the theory to your early years’ setting. You’ll be able to bring your own persistent problems and solve them with the support of expert facilitators and network peers.

Invest in your future
Ongoing professional development helps you to grow and thrive as an early years practitioner. You will follow an evidence-informed framework and gain a professional accreditation at the end of the programme.

Learn at your pace
This programme is designed to fit around your busy teaching role. Much of the work can be completed in short bursts around your existing schedule.

Connect with your peers
You’ll train alongside other early years practitioners from similar settings. You’ll share your experiences and building a strong support network.

*Sources:
Barnett, W. S. (1995). “Long-term effects of early childhood programs on cognitive and school outcomes”. The Future of Children, 25-50.
Heckman, J., Pinto, R. and Savelyev, P. (2013). “Understanding the mechanisms through which an influential early childhood program boosted adult outcomes”. American Economic Review 103(6), 2052-2086.

Give young people the best start
Equipping your leaders with evidence-based training on what good education and care looks like will help to create a level playing field for children in the early stages of life.

Benefit from tailored training
This is the first NPQ that is designed specifically for early years practitioners. It will develop expertise that can be applied to identifying and addressing persistent and common challenges in early years leadership.

Invest in high-quality professional development
Participants will learn how to unpack and apply learning across all aspects of the early years – and support their colleagues to develop in these areas too.

Create a ‘golden thread’
The NPQs are all aligned. So, no matter what career stage your teachers are at, by joining this programme, they will benefit from an evidence-based framework. They will also share a common language with other NPQ participants that they can pass on to colleagues.

Tap into a network
Your leaders will train alongside peers from other early years settings, supported by expert facilitators who fully understand their needs.

Ambition Institute provides high-quality content and materials, built on our experience in schools and other learning environments, and our deep knowledge of evidence and practice.

Our partner in your region will put this knowledge into context and manage your experience on the programme, from facilitation to day-to-day support.

The timings and methods of activity, sizes of cohorts and the cost of the programme may vary across delivery partners.

The NPQ for Early Years Leadership is designed for early years practitioners who are qualified to at least level three, with a full and relevant early years or teaching qualification.

You will be, or will be aspiring to be:The NPQ for Early Years Leadership is designed for early years practitioners who are qualified to at least level three, with a full and relevant early years or teaching qualification.

You will be, or will be aspiring to be:

• A manager of a private, voluntary or independent early years setting
• A headteacher of a school-based or maintained early years setting
• An early years foundation stage leader in a state funded school (roles could include early years/KS1 phase leader, assistant or deputy headteacher, or class teachers aspiring to leadership)
• A childminder with leadership responsibilities.

The NPQ for Early Years Leadership is a 12-month programme, with a mixture of live, facilitated sessions and self-directed learning.

The NPQ for Early Years Leadership is designed to fit around your schedule with a 'little and often' approach that aligns with insights from the science of learning.

For previous cohorts, the DfE has made funding available so that teachers and leaders can train at zero cost to themselves or their school budget. Currently, no funding for future NPQ cohorts has been guaranteed by the DfE.

To be eligible for the NPQ for Early Years Leadership, you must be a serving teacher or early years practitioners in a school or eligible setting in England.