Early Career Framework and National Professional Qualifications - September 2022 Market Engagement

The purpose of this Prior Information Notice (PIN) is to notify the market of forthcoming market engagement events relating to the National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) and Early Career Framework (ECF). For the ECF, the Department is looking to appoint an additional lead provider. For the NPQs, the Department will be procuring providers to deliver the reformed suite of six NPQs; three focused on middle leadership for those who want to develop their expertise in specialist areas of teaching practice (Leading Teacher Development, Leading Teaching and Leading Behaviour and Culture) and three for senior leadership, headship and executive leadership. There will also be two new and additional NPQs focused on Early Years and Literacy.

The Department will be undertaking two online events on 6 and 7 October 2021 for potential suppliers that are interested in responding to the planned procurement for these programmes.

Delivering on the commitments set out in the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy, the Department is creating a world-class teacher development system by transforming the training and support teachers and school leaders receive at every stage of their career.

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 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.

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, 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.

Additional information: 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 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 will include a mechanism to launch further NPQs via the Framework Agreement where required.

It is anticipated that lead 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.

The Department recognises that lead providers might need to build their capacity and partnerships over the term of the Framework Agreement. We are therefore proposing to create the flexibility for lead providers to add new delivery partners once they are appointed to the framework.

It is anticipated that the Department will appoint successful bidders up to a six year national Framework Agreement. The precise scope of the framework is still under consideration.

More information on the procurement process will be provided during the market engagement activity which is taking place on the 6 and 7 October 2021. These events are anticipated to last between 1 and 2 hours. For details on how to register to attend, please use the Eventbrite links.

Please note: timescales for commencing the procurement are indicative and are subject to change at the Department's absolute discretion.

All of the department's procurement opportunities are advertised through our Jaggaer eTendering Portal. We would encourage bidders who are not already registered on the portal to register at https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html

Your registration will ensure that you will receive notification of future opportunities as early as possible.

Please note that this PIN is not a call to competition and the department is not bound to enter into any procurement activity because of it. All procurement activity is subject to Ministerial priorities, funding and any or all procurement activity is subject to change at the Department's absolute discretion.