Early Career Framework and National Professional Qualifications Framework 2022

The Department for Education (DfE) is seeking to appoint Providers to a national (England) multi-lot Framework Agreement relating to the National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) and Early Career Framework (ECF).

The procurement will be made up of 4 lots covering ECF and NPQ services:

• Lot 1 Early Career Framework – a single provider to design and deliver a Full Induction Programme for the national rollout of the ECF, as launched in 2021, from September 2022.
• Lot 2 reformed suite of NPQs – multiple providers to design and deliver the six reformed NPQs launched in 2021, from September 2022.
• Lot 3 NPQ for Early Years Leadership and NPQ for Leading Literacy - additional NPQs for the reformed suite – multiple providers to design and deliver the new, additional NPQs from September 2022.
• Lot 4 Future Services – to design and deliver new and additional Services, including additions to the suite of NPQs to strengthen leadership across the sector, improve capacity and support teacher development objectives.

Early Career Framework

The Department is fully funding the national roll-out of the ECF reforms from September 2021, giving all early career teachers access to a two-year package of structured training and support linked to the best available research evidence. Making sure new teachers receive excellent support at the start of their careers and embedding the early career reforms nationwide are vital elements of the Department's education recovery strategy.

Procuring an additional ECF lead provider via Lot 1 will expand the choice of high-quality early career teacher training programmes available to schools in their local area and will ensure the market remains sustainable and resilient so future early career teachers will continue to be able to access this high-quality support.

National Professional Qualifications

Beyond the first few years of teaching, our priority is to help all teachers and school leaders to continuously develop their expertise throughout their careers so every child in every classroom in every school gets the best start in life. We have replaced the existing Middle Leadership National Professional Qualification (NPQ) with three new specialist NPQs to best address the broad range of responsibilities of current and aspiring middle leaders. The new suite of specialist NPQs (Lot 2), which will be available for teachers and leaders from November 2021, consist of NPQs in Leading Teaching, Leading Behaviour and Culture, and Leading Teacher Development. The suite of reformed NPQs also includes refreshed school leadership programmes covering the knowledge and skills that school leaders need for the future. The frameworks for these qualifications can be found at the link below.

As part of the Government's education recovery plan the Department have developed additional NPQs to ensure teachers and leaders have access to best possible training and support. These additional NPQs (Lot 3) consist of qualifications in Leading Early Years education and in Leading Literacy. In addition, we will continue to consult with sector representatives to ensure that the suite of NPQs remain responsive to the needs of teachers and leaders and have included a mechanism to launch further NPQs via Lot 4 of the Framework Agreement.

It is anticipated that Providers will deliver their service in partnership with other high-quality education training providers including the national network of Teaching School Hubs. Teaching School Hubs, along with other delivery partners, play a key role in the delivery of the ECF and NPQs.

Further information, including the ECF and NPQ service requirements, can be found within the tender documents available at education.app.jaggaer.com ↗