What action is the Welsh Government taking to ensure that there are adequate numbers of suitably qualified and experienced head teachers for special schools in Wales?
The National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) is a statutory requirement for all those wishing to become headteachers in local authority maintained schools including special schools in Wales. The Welsh Government is the awarding body for the NPQH and in partnership with the four regional education consortia, funds, administers and delivers the national assessment programme which focuses on the required skills and attributes of headship as articulated in the The Head Teachers' Qualifications and Registration (Wales) Regulations 2005 leadership standards.
We know that many previous participants on the NPQH programmes have not chosen to move into headship on attainment of the qualification. To address this, the selection process for NPQH was revisited in 2015. The revised selection process initiated with the last cohort, (the 2015-16 round), replaced the national selection process and quota of candidates with a regional process.
These changes to last year's programme resulted in a total of 171 candidates being assessed: 40 more candidates than the previous year. Following a process of regional and national moderation 136 were judged to have met the Leadership Standards and were awarded the NPQH.
It also needs to be recognised that it is a big step up from assistant or deputy headship to full headship. The current NPQH qualification is delivered as an assessment centre which enables participants to compile evidence in order to demonstrate that they meet the standards determined within NPQH (the leadership standards). The current provision however does not offer professional development for candidates in order to prepare them for the challenge of headship. Even when participants are able to evidence the standards they may require support and professional development to ensure they are more fully prepared by the NPQH to take up headship.
To address this, working with the regional consortia, my officials have developed an enriched and augmented NPQH offer for 2016-17. The augmented offer supplements the delivery of NPQH to include development days as part of the process.
Additionally, in June I announced a major review of the school governance framework to make it easier to recruit governors with the relevant skills experience and expertise. One of the most important jobs that governors have to undertake is the appointment of a headteacher. In order to strengthen the appointment process and make it more robust, the proposals for the new regulations include giving governing bodies additional support for headteacher and deputy headteacher appointment panels, for all types of schools. Governing bodies will be required to appoint at least one independent person with relevant professional experience and expertise. This person will have an automatic vote. Currently the chief education officer has an automatic right to attend headteacher and deputy headteacher appointment panels to advise the governors. To further strengthen the process the Welsh Government proposes that this person or his / her representatives also have an automatic vote.