The National Professional Qualification for Headship: The key to effective school leadership?

Preparation for school leadership and management has become one of the major educational issues of the late 1990s. The Teacher Training Agency's National Professional Qualification for Headship is arguably the most important initiative because it leads to a threshold qualification for headship which is intended to become mandatory. This paper will examine NPQH and contrast it with both the recent history of school management provision in England and Wales and with international practice. The paper concludes that NPQH is likely to make an important contribution to the preparation of the next generation of school leaders but requires modification to address certain weaknesses.