There’s nothing worse than sitting in a staff meeting and hearing lots of different acronyms, not having a clue what they mean! Or being a parent and reading your child’s school report – and wondering what the heck things mean! We’re here to demystify common education acronyms so that you can feel empowered and informed next time you go to a staff meeting, attend a parents’ evening or read an article about education – we’re here to help!
- 1FE/2FE/3FE – one form entry/two form entry/three form entry (so one class per year group = one form entry and so on)
- ADD/ADHD – attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactive disorder
- AHT – assistant head teacher
- AOB – any other business (during staff meetings this will be on the agenda and is a chance to discuss anything not on the agenda)
- ASC – autistic spectrum condition
- ASD – autistic spectrum disorder
- CAF – common assessment framework
- CP – child protection
- CPD – continued professional development (courses and training)
- DBS – disclosure and barring service (what you need to prove you can work with children)
- DfE – department for education
- DHT – deputy head teacher (this role is usually higher in the school hierarchy than AHT)
- DSL.- designated safeguarding lead (the person you talk to if you are worried about a child’s wellbeing and safety)
- EAL – English as an additional language
- ESL – English as a second language
- EP – educational psychologist
- EY – early years (aged 0-5)
- EYFS – early years foundation stage (the curriculum followed by children age 0-5)
- FSM – free school meals (accessible to children whose parents earn below a certain threshold, and other children such as looked after children – children who don’t live with their parents/live in care. FSM status allows the school to get extra funding for those children to enhance their learning opportunities).
- GB – governing body
- HLTA – higher level teaching assistant. HLTA can cover classes and often have teaching responsibilities. They are usually higher on the pay scale than other teaching assistants.
- HMI – her Majesty’s inspectors. (these are usually called in when a school is really struggling and are different to Ofsted).
- HT – head teacher
- IEP – individual education plan (usually used for children who have special needs and include individual targets).
- IWB – interactive whiteboard used in classrooms by teachers
- KS1/KS2 – key stage 1 (years 1 and 2) /key stage 2 (years 3-6)
- LA – local authority (i.e. the local council)
- MAT – multi academy trust
- NC – National Curriculum – the curriculum that every child in school in the UK has to be taught by law.
- NOR – number on roll (the number of children in a school)
- NQT – newly qualified teacher (a person in their first year of teaching)
- Ofsted – office for standards in education (the people who come and inspect schools and give judgements on how effective they are)
- PM – performance management (the way teachers are judged to see if they can go up the pay scale each year)
- PP – pupil premium (this is the money allocated to children on free school meals, looked after children and children in military families (who also get an extra £300 per year on top of PP money)
- PPA – planning, preparation and assessment (the time teachers get each week off timetable to prepare lessons and resource, and mark work.
- PSHE – personal, social and health education.
- PTA – parent teacher association (the parents and staff who help raise money for the school and organise events)
- RSE – relationships and sex education
- RQT – recently qualified teacher
- QTS – qualified teacher status (a person who has successfully completed their teacher training course has QTS before they can take up a teaching post).
- SDP – school development plan (prepared by the senior leadership team to show what areas the school is focusing on to improve)
- SIP – school improvement plan – the same as the above
- SEN – special educational needs
- SEND – special educational needs and disability
- SENDCO/SENCO – special educational needs co-ordinator (the teacher in a school who is the go-to person for anything to do with SEN.
- SLT – senior leadership team (made up of the HT, AHT, DHT and possibly key stage leaders/subject leaders
- SMT – senior management team (usually just the HT, DHT and sometimes the AHT too)
- TA – teaching assistant
- TA – teacher assessment
- TAF – teacher assessment framework
- VA – voluntary aided school (some schools are funded slightly differently and are VA)
- Y1/Y2 etc – year 1, year 2 etc etc
Can you think of any acronyms we haven’t included? Tell us about it by leaving a comment below!
