National Professional Qualification - Special educational needs co-ordinator's (SENCO)

National professional qualifications (NPQs) are flexible professional development courses for teachers and leaders to improve skills, progress careers and deliver improved outcomes for schools.

All mainstream schools (including academies and free schools) must have a SENCO. The SENCO must be a qualified teacher, or the headteacher, working at the school. This mandatory National Professional Qualification (NPQ) course is for special educational needs co-ordinators to learn how to effectively perform the SENCO role.

The NPQ will be the mandatory qualification for SENCOs from September 2024, with teaching beginning in autumn 2024. The 3-year window to complete the mandatory qualification on taking up a SENCO post will remain following the introduction of the NPQ for SENCOs.

You may be able to get your NPQ course fees paid for by the Department for Education (DfE). This is called scholarship funding. You do not need to apply for it. When you register for an NPQ, the DfE will tell you if you are eligible for funding.  

Scholarships will continue to be available to all teachers and leaders from publicly funded schools and 16 to 19 educational organisations for the following NPQs: 

• special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO)
• leading primary mathematics
• headship  

Funding for these 3 NPQs is also available to:

• hospital schools
• young offender institutions
• staff working in local authority virtual schools (local-authority-run organisations that support the education of children in care)
• other local authority staff with a responsibility to deliver curriculum content (for example, local authority supply or peripatetic teachers)