For a brief explanation of some terms or abbreviations, please see the below Glossary.

 

A, G &T Able, Gifted and Talented (also referred to as G & T, see below)

Academy A state-maintained independent school established by sponsors from business, faith or voluntary groups working with the government and local HE partners

ADHD Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

AEN Additional Educational Needs, a term used by some schools and groups instead of Special Educational Needs

AfL Assessment for Learning

ALIS The Advanced Level Information System (ALIS) provides performance indicators for post-16 students across all sectors of education and includes analysis of A level, AS level, Applied A levels, BTEC National and International Baccalaureate examinations

APP Assessing Pupils’ Progress

ASD Autism Spectrum Disorder

ASET Advisory Service for the Education of Travellers

AST Advanced Skills Teacher — she/he is given time to spread best practice among colleagues, often in other schools

ATL Association of Teachers and Lecturers

Attainment Targets Age-related standards of achievement defined in the National Curriculum. They are expressed in terms of numbered levels, from 1 to 8

Bench Marking Establishing, often by means of some objective or diagnostic test, a base level of achievement for a pupil, against which future progress may be measured

BESD Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties

BfL Behaviour for Learning

BTEC National Qualification equivalent to two A levels

CAT Cognitive Abilities Test. Assessment of reasoning skills, using words, numbers and shapes. Often applied to Year 7 pupils at the beginning of the school year, to help teachers define their expectations

Catchment Area The area from which a school takes its pupils

CEDP Career Entry Development Profile – a document completed by the trainee at the end of the training year, and used to set the agenda for the NQT or Induction year

CEO Chief Education Officer

Child Protection Reister Lists children who may be at risk of abuse, neglect, or who are liable to harm

CLPE Centre for Literacy in Primary Education

Cluster A group of schools working together, perhaps on Curriculum initiatives, e.g. a consortium of secondary schools sharing 14 – 19 courses

Cohort The number of pupils on roll for a specific age group

COSHH Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (includes regulations for the storage of correction fluid)

CPD Continuing Professional Development

CRB Criminal Record Bureau. It is mandatory for anyone working alone with children or the otherwise vulnerable to hold a current certificate

CTC City Technology College

DCSF Department for Children, Schools and Families. Previously known as the DfES (Department for Education and Skills), and, before that, as the DfEE (Department for Education and Employment)

DfE Department for Education. Replaced the DCSF (see above) in May 2010 on the election of the new government.

Diplomas Diplomas are new qualifications for 14-19 year olds. Created to provide an alternative to more traditional education and qualifications and offer validation for more vocational subjects than GCSEs

Directed Time Time when a teacher must be available to carry out duties under the direction of the Head. As well as teaching lessons, it covers other duties such as attending staff meetings and parent consultation meetings and taking part in training activities. A full-time teacher’s directed time amounts to a maximum of 1265 hours in any one school year, teaching on 190 days with five days for INSET

Disaffected Often used to describe pupils who are challenged by the education process

Disapplication A term used where National Curriculum requirements may not apply to a pupil

Disciplinary procedure A formal procedure followed in the event of a teacher’s conduct or performance proving unsatisfactory

EAL English as an Additional Language

EAZ Education Action Zones

EBacc English Baccalaureate, controversially introduced in 2010, is an award offered to those who gain a C or above in the following GCSEs: English, Maths, two Sciences, one Modern Language and one Humanities subject (either History or Geography).

EBD Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

EBITT Employment based Initial Teacher Training. See also ( SCITT ) and GTP

EBSD Emotional Behavioural and Social Difficulties

ECM Every Child Matters

EDP Education Development Plan

EiC Excellence in Cities

EHT Executive Head Teacher

EMA Education Maintenance Allowance

EMAG Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant

EO Education Officer

ESL / EFL English as a Second Language/English as a Foreign Language (However, the preferred term in schools is EAL, see above)

EWO / ESW Education Welfare Officer/Educational Social Worker. A professional worker who visits pupils’ homes and deals with attendance problems and other welfare matters

Exclusion Term used when pupils are barred from attending school. This can be for a fixed term or permanent

Extended School A school that provides a range of services and activities beyond the school day

EYFS Early Years Foundation Stage

FE Further Education

FFT The Fischer Family Trust is an independent charity which provides analyses and data, to help schools to make more effective use of pupil performance data and value added testing. Often used to support target-setting.

Foundation Stage The first stage of education when children enter primary schools (age 3 to end of reception year at school)

Free Schools According to the DfE, Free Schools are 'all-ability state-funded schools set up in response to what people say they want and need in order to improve education for children in their community.' Like Academies, they can devise their own curriculum and are not bound by the National Curriculum.

FSM Free School Meals

FTE Full-time equivalent. When staff or pupils are part-time they may be counted as a fraction of a full-time employee or pupil, e.g. two staff employed for half the week = 1 FTE

G&T Gifted and Talented

GCSE General Certificate of Secondary Education

GM Grant Maintained

GNVQ General National Vocational Qualification (Last awarded in 2007; replaced by the BTEC and Diploma, see above.)

GTC General Teaching Council - the professional body for teaching in England

GTP Graduate Teacher Programme

HLTA Higher Level Teaching Assistant

HMCI Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools. (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate are not the same as OfSTED)

HMI Her Majesty’s Inspectorate

Home School Agreements Non-binding documents setting out respective rights and responsibilities of parents and schools to be drawn up by the governing body under the 1998 Act

IBN International Baccalaureate

ICT Information Communication Technology

IEP Individual Education Plan. A set of short-term learning targets set down for a child with special educational needs – a practice sometimes extended to other children. To be used to support lesson planning and other provision

IGCSE International General Certificate of Secondary Education

IIP Investors In People

Inclusion Educating all children including those with special educational needs

Independent schools Schools that are not funded by the state

INSET In-Service Education and Training

ISW Inclusion Support Worker

ITE Initial Teacher Education (the term preferred by some universities in place of ITT below)

ITT Initial Teacher Training

IWB Interactive White Board

Key Stages The four stages of the National Curriculum

KS1 (Years 1-2) children up to 7 year olds

KS2 (Years 3-6) 7 to 11 year olds

KS3 (Years 7-9) usually 11 to 14 year olds, although some schools now organise their curriculum so that KS3 runs in Years 7-8 and KS4 runs from Year 9 - 11, to enable them to give more time to GCSE courses

KS4 (Year 10-11) 14 - 16 year olds

KS5 A term often used informally to refer to post-16 / A Level studies, but not officially recognised

LA Local Authority

LAC Looked After Children

LOtC Learning Outside the Classroom

LSA Learning Support Assistant

LSC Learning and Skills Council

LSU Learning Support Unit

MAST Multi Agency Support Team

MidYIS Middle Years Information System. Non-compulsory tests for students in Years 7-11

MLD Mild Learning Difficulty

MPS Main Pay Spine

NAA National Assessment Agency

NACE National Association for Able Children in Education

NAGC National Association for Gifted Children

NAHT National Association of Head Teachers

NAS/UWT National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers

NASG National Association of School Governors

NATE National Association for the Teaching of English

NC National Curriculum

NCPTA The National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations

NFER National Foundation for Educational Research

NGfL National Grid for Learning (which ran from 1998 - 2996 as a Government-funded gateway to educational resources on the internet)

NLS National Literacy Strategy

NOR Number on roll. The number of pupils registered at a school

NQF National Qualifications Framework (a framework that ranks all educational awards in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, ranging from Entry Level - e.g. Foundation Diploma, to Level 2 - e.g. GCSEs at A*-C, and so on up to Level 8 - e.g. doctorate)

NQT Newly Qualified Teacher

NUT National Union of Teachers

NVQ National Vocational Qualifications. A work-based qualification

Ofsted Office for Standards in Education. The official body for inspecting schools

OOSH (L) Out of School Hours (Learning)

OTTP Overseas Trained Teacher Programme

P Levels The P levels are intended as a form of teacher assessment for children working significantly below age-related expectations, who are unlikely to achieve beyond level 2 by the time they leave secondary school

PAF Performance Assessment Framework

PANDA Performance and Assessment now replaced by RAISEonline

Peripatetic Teacher Teacher employed to teach in a number of schools, usually to give specialist instruction of some kind, e.g. in music

PfS Partnership for School

PGCE Post Graduate Certificate in Education - a teaching qualification acredited by a university, which includes a period of practical teaching experience and assignments completed at Master's level (Level 7) OR Professional Graduate Certifcate in Education, as above but completed at Honours level (Level 6)

PMLD Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties

PPD Postgraduate professional development

PRU Pupil Referral Unit. Also known as PRUIS

PSHE Personal, Social and Health Education (or Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education)

PTA Parent Teacher Association

PTE Part-time Equivalent

PTR Pupil Teacher Ratio

QCA Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency

QTS Qualified Teacher Status

RAISEonline RAISEonline provides interactive analysis of school and pupil performance data. It replaces the OfSTED Performance and Assessment (PANDA) reports and DCSF's Pupil Achievement Tracker (PAT)

SATs Standard Assessment Tasks. The principal official means of testing children for KS1 (7 years) and KS2 (11 years). Some schools also offer tests at the end of KS3 (14 years), although this is no longer compulsory. More properly (but rarely) referred to as ‘National Tests’

School Causing Concern The 1998 Act allows LEAs to issue a warning notice to a school where standards are unacceptably low (or are at risk of becoming so) and to undertake remedial action

SCITT School-Centred Initial Teacher Training

SDP (SIP) School Development / Improvement Plan

SEAL Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning. A whole curriculum framework for developing all children’s social, emotional and behavioural skills

SEBD Social Educationally and Behaviourally Disturbed

SEF (SED) Self Evaluation Form (Self Evaluation Document); schools are required to complete a SEF and it is used as the basis of an Ofsted inspection

SEN Special Educational Needs – learning difficulties for which special educational provision has to be made. May include children with physical disabilities or emotional and behavioural disorders. For a full definition of Special Educational Needs, see the SEN Code of Practice (2001)

SENCO Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator. Member of staff responsible for SEN provision

Serious Weaknesses

A school that is not failing may have a serious weakness, as defined by OFSTED. Action is required to make improvements within one year

SHA Secondary Heads Association

SIP School Improvement Plan

SLD Severe Learning Difficulties

SMT / SLT Senior Management Team / Senior Leadership Team

Special Measures Classification by OFSTED

Special School A school for children whose educational needs cannot be met within a mainstream school

Special Unit A unit attached to a mainstream school to cater for children with specific special needs

SSR Staff Student Ratio

Statementing The procedure by which a child is formally assessed as having significant special educational needs

Supply Teacher A teacher employed to fill a temporary vacancy or to take the place of an absent teacher. Sometimes also known as a 'cover' teacher

TA / LSA Teaching Assistant / Learning Support Assistant

TDA Training and Development Agency

Teachers’ TV Channel devoted to education. It was closed in 2011 but its programmes are now hosted on several websites, including the TES.

TES Times Educational Supplement

Threshold Teachers may apply to be assessed to be paid above the threshold of the incremental pay spine

TLR Teaching and Learning Responsibility

TPS Teacher’s Pension Scheme

TTRB Teacher Training Resource Bank

UPS Upper Pay Spine

Value Added A way of expressing numerically the difference a school may be held to have made to pupils’ levels of attainment

Vertical Grouping Classes formed with children of different age groups. Increasingly common as a way of organising tutorial groups

VLE Virtual Learning Environment

WBL Work Based Learning

WFR Workforce remodelling as a result of The National Agreement 2003

WRL Work Related Learning

YELLIS The Year 11 Information System which provides tests widely used in the UK and elsewhere, forming a baseline for value added measures in secondary schools

YOT Youth Offending Team