The National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre Leadership (NPQICL) is the first national programme to address the needs of leaders within multi-agency, early years settings. NPQICL is recognised as a qualification in working in multi-agency and multi-disciplinary environments across education, health and social services.
This qualification is for leaders of children’s centres with integrated services. It gives them the opportunity to collaborate across the community and provide seamless high quality services for babies, children and families.
Eligibility is given to leaders of Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) children’s centres due to be designated before programme delivery starts.
This will include leaders of designated children’s centres that have originated from Sure Start local programmes, neighbourhood nursery initiatives and maintained nursery schools that have become or been nominated as children’s centres. Within this criteria all sectors, including the private sector, are invited to apply.
Applicants must be:
Please note that the qualification is for practising leaders who will be delivering integrated services in a setting during the year that they undertake the qualification. All applicants must be capable of being assessed in the children’s centre for which they have day-to-day leadership responsibility.
The programme is not designed for strategic leaders or local authority advisers.
NPQICL has equivalency to the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) for maintained nursery schools (though not for other school phases). This means that an applicant to a headship post for a nursery school can hold or be working towards NPQICL or hold NPQH. However, eligibility to undertake NPQICL depends on both the applicant’s status and the status of their setting. Aspiring heads of nurseries and heads of nurseries who already have NPQH but would like to do NPQICL as well are only eligible to apply for NPQICL if they are in a senior leadership position in a designated children’s centre.
NPQICL is the more appropriate qualification for early years leadership but an aspiring head who is likely to move on to another phase. for example primary, may decide to do NPQH in preference to NPQICL. As the new model for NPQH allows greater personalisation it is likely that it can be tailored to better address the needs of heads of maintained nursery schools.
There were 400 places available for the 2008-09 programme delivery.
You can contact us by email at [email protected].