The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) (inheritor of the site and functions of the National College for School Leadership (NCSL)) was an executive agency of the Department for Education (a United Kingdom Government Ministry whose responsibilities extended to England only, not Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland). The NCTL had two key aims: to improve academic standards by ensuring there was a well qualified and capable force of teachers in sufficient numbers to meet the needs of the school system and to support and improve schools.

The NCTL also supported the quality and status of the teaching profession by ensuring that teachers were prohibited from teaching in cases of serious professional misconduct, overseeing teachers' inductions, and awarding the Qualified Teacher and Early Years Teacher Status.

In April 2018 the National College for Teaching and Leadership was discontinued; its functions were absorbed by a new Teaching Regulation Agency for the regulation of the teaching profession, and by the Department for Education for other matters.

The National College for Teaching and Leadership was formed on 29 March 2013, merging the activities of the National College for School Leadership and the Teaching Agency. NCSL had originally been established as a non-departmental public body but became an executive agency of the Department for Education on 1 April 2012.

Established in 2000 as the National College for School Leadership, its physical centre – a learning and conference centre (LCC) situated in a building designed by Sir Michael Hopkins on the Jubilee Campus of the University of Nottingham – was opened on 24 October 2002 by then Prime Minister Tony Blair. It cost £28,000,000 and was known as the Sandhurst of teachers.

The NCTL 2015–16 annual report and accounts set out their key areas of operational delivery as follows:

• Providing over £210m of funding in the form of bursary and salary contributions to initial teacher training providers to meet the teacher trainee recruitment targets;
• Delivering a range of projects to provide innovative solutions to the overall recruitment of teachers as well as subject-specific recruitment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM);
• Designating and funding 576 Teaching Schools Alliances to develop school-led initial teacher training activities, offering a range of continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities for teachers and leading on school-to-school support;
• Designating 1,134 national leaders of education to support schools in challenging circumstances;
• Working with licensees to deliver national professional qualifications to secure 9,895 participants into headship programs;
• Managing over 1,000 referrals made during 2015–16 to consider allegations of serious misconduct against teachers, and holding case hearings to decide whether individuals should be prohibited from teaching in any school in England;
• Delivering national teacher recruitment media, television, and digital campaigns to encourage people to join the teaching profession.

• Training and Development Agency for Schools

• Official website

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