National Programme for Specialist Leaders of Behaviour & Attendance


CfBT Lincolnshire School Improvement Service, in partnership with then then Department for Education and Skills (DfES) delivered a successful trialling of the materials for the National Programme for Specialist Leaders of Behaviour & Attendance (NPSLBA) in Lincolnshire.  The NPSLBA  is an innovative programme leading to accreditation ranging from a DfES (now Department for Children, Schools and Families) NPSLBA DCSF Certificate to MA in Education.

  • On joining the NPSLBA participants become part of a rapidly growing network of B&A leaders within the region and across the country, working at varying levels of responsibility within schools. The course is not specifically for teachers or those in a position of responsibility within the school setting; BiP and Learning Mentors, EWOs, support staff, teachers, EiP Coordiantors and senior leaders attend the current courses. The programme is sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of all participants, with the definition of leadership being "at which promotes and facilitates necessary change".

The programme offers:

  • An opportunity for professionals at all levels of responsibility to develop and enhance their leadership skills within the context of behaviour and attendance, building on a distributed leadership model.
  • A choice of study topics including links to other relevant National Strategy materials. The NPSLBA study topics are also cross-referenced to a wider range of other sources and websites
  • A focus on leadership within Behaviour and Attendance leading to professional recognition where none had previously existed.
  • An opportunity Prior to joining the programme participants will be asked to complete a formal application form and learning agreement, signed by their employer, confirming their and their employer's commitment to the programme. Further details about the NPSLBA nationally can be found at

Initially the programme was offered to schools in the Education Improvement Partnership/Behaviour Improvement Programme as part of a strategy to develop capacity to address the needs of children and young people where behaviour and/or attendance is a barrier to learning. The programme was also offered to BESD schools to enable trialling of the BESD materials to take place.  The programme rolled out to all schools and agencies in Lincolnshire in September 2007 as part of the School Improvement Service's Professional Development Agreement offer and as part of a wider roll out within the county. Lincolnshire is now into its third successful year of delivering the programme in partnership with the DCSF and National Strategies.

For information about the NPSLBA in Lincolnshire please contact Sara Gregory (sgregory@cfbt.com), Joan Beale (jbeale@cfbt.com), Corrie Melvin (cmelvin@cfbt.com), Liz Neal (lneal@cfbt.com) or Lucy Wood (lwood@cfbt.com) who are all registered Local Leads for the NPSLBA Programme.