Do You Know
Do you know that as a governor some of your areas of responsibility are :
GLOSSARY OF EDUCATIONAL TERMS
A, B, C:
D, E, F:
G, H, I:
J, K, L:
M, N, O:
P, Q, R:
S, T, U:
V, W, X. Y, Z:
Do you know that as a governor some of your areas of responsibility are :
·Helping to establish ( with the head) the aims and policies of the school and how the standards of education can be improved;·deciding the conduct of the school - that is, how in general terms, it should be run;
·helping to draw up ( with the head and staff ) the school improvemnent plan and the School's Self Evaluation Form (SEF);
·helping to decide how to spend the school's budget;
·making sure that the National Curriculum and religious education are taught;
·selecting the head, negotiating his/her yearly targets and assessing his/her performance with respect to the agreed targets;
·appointing, promoting, supporting and disciplining other staff;
·meeting with Ofsted inspectors and drawing up an action plan after an inspection and monitoring how the plan is put into practice. Back to top
GLOSSARY OF EDUCATIONAL TERMS
WE HOPE THAT YOU WILL FIND THIS A USEFUL LIST, PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU CAN DEVELOP THIS FURTHER Back to topA, B, C:
AACE: Advisory Centre for Education. An advisory service for parents. Tel: 0207 354 8321 1b Aberdeen Studios, 22-24 Highbury Grove, London N5 2DQ)
ACG: The Association of Croydon Governors
AEO: Assistant Education Officer
Agreed Syllabus: A non-denominational syllabus of religious education, locally determined and legally binding on county and controlled schools as required by the Education Reform Act 1988
ALS: Additional Learning Support
AMP: Asset Management Plan
APM: Annual Parents' Meeting which governing bodies must hold to present their Annual Report to Parents
Appraisal: Review of employees' performance, especially for purposes of staff development
APT&C: A grading structure for Administrative, Professional, Technical and Clerical Staff
Articled Teacher: A teacher who is being trained on the job
ASB: Aggregated Schools Budget; the total amount delegated to governing bodies through a formula
AST: Advanced Skills Teacher
ATL: Association of Teachers and Lecturers
Attainment Targets: ATs provide the objectives for what is to be learned in each subject set in the National Curriculum at ages 7, 11, 14 and 16
Autumn Package: Comparative data on pupil achievement, standards, etc.
AWPU: Age Weighted Pupil Unit - the basis for calculating most of the money allocated to a school.
B:
BEd: Bachelor of Education. A professional degree in educational studies
BV: Best Value
C:
CASE: Campaign for State Education (Tel: 0208 944 8206, 158 Durham Road, London SW20 0DG)
CARE: Christian Action Research and Education
CASS: Collaborative Arrangements for Small Schools
CATE: Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education
CATS: Cognitive Ability Tests
CCT: Compulsory Competitive Tendering
Circulars: Periodic documents issued by the Secretary of State to explain, interpret and give advice about legislation, including Regulations
Core Curriculum: English, Mathematics and Science
COSHH: Control of Substances Hazardous to Health
CPD: Continuing Professional Development Back to top
D, E, F:
D:E:
EAZ: Education Action Zone
EBD: Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties
EBP: Education Business PartnershipEDP: Education Development Plan
ELS: Early Learning Skills
ESO: Education Supervision Order. An LEA may apply for such an Order under the Children Act 1989 to acquire powers to deal with cases of poor attendance at school
ETS - Excellent Teacher Scheme - the ETS scheme enables schools to create teaching posts for Excellent teachers without the outreach duties required of ASTs. Will take effect from 1st September 2006. Teachers are eligable if they have been paid on U3 for not less than two years, employed in a school where a vacancy for ET exisys or have been assessed already as meeting the AST Standard.
EWO: Education Welfare Officer, employed to help pupils and parents where there are problems, particularly regarding attendance. They are a valuable link between home and school
Exclusion: Heads may exclude pupils from school for serious misconduct but the chair of governors and the LEA must be informed and the parent has a right of appeal. Exclusions must now be either fixed or permanent
F:
FE: Further Education
FSM: Free school meals
FTE: Full-time equivalent; used when calculating or comparing how much time is worked Back to top
G, H, I:
G:GCSE: General Certificate of Secondary Education; the common public examination usually taken by students at age 16+
GNVQ: General National Vocational Qualification
GTC: General Teaching Council
H:
HASAW: Health and Safety at Work
HE: Higher Education
HEADLAMP: Headteachers Leadership and Management Programme
HMI: Her Majesty's Inspectorate (See OFSTED)
I:
ICT: Information and Communications Technology
IEP: Individual Education Plan; drawn up for children with Special Needs at Stage 2 of the Code of Practice
IIP: Investors in People
INSET: In-service Education and TrainingInstrument of Government: The legal document setting out the composition of the governing body
ISB: Individual Schools BudgetISR: Individual School Range
IT: Information Technology (ICT: Information and Communications Technology)
ITT: Initial Teacher Training Back to top
J, K, L:
J:K:
Key Stages: The National Curriculum is divided into four stages; KS1 for pupils aged 5-7 years; KS2 aged 7-11; KS3 aged 11-14; KS4 aged 14-16. See also NCTs, Attainment Targets
L:
LEA: Local Education Authority
LGA: Local Government Association
LMS: Local Management of Schools, under which schools manage their own budgets and have certain other powers and duties
LMSS: LMS Special Schools
LPSH: Learning Programme for serving heads
LSA: Learning Support Assistant
LSC: Learning and Skills Council Back to top
M, N, O:
M:MAs: Management Allowances ( no new MSa to be awarded after 31/12/05)
MLD: Moderate Learning Difficulty
MPS: Main Pay Scale
N:
NAGM: National Association of Governors and Managers. Telephone: 0121 643 5787. www.nagm.org.uk
NAHT: National Association of Headteachers
NASUWT: National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers
National Curriculum (NC): The curriculum required by law to be taught in all schools. The governing body shares with the LEA and the headteacher the responsibility for ensuring that it is implemented. (See also Core Curriculum)
NCPTA: National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations
NCT: National Curriculum Test. An external test to assess attainment targets at end of each Key Stage
NCVQ: National Council for Vocational Qualifications
NFER: National Foundation for Educational Research
NGC: National Governors' Council. Helpline: Telephone 0121-616-5104. www.ngc.org.uk
NGfL: National Grid for Learning
NNEB: National Nursery Examination Board
'Non-pupil Days': Five days in the year set aside for staff training when pupils do not attend school
NOR: Number on Roll
NPQH: National Professional Qualification for Headteachers
NQT: Newly Qualified Teacher
NRA: National Record of Achievement. A document now required for all children leaving school containing a record over time of a pupil?s achievements in and out of school
NTET: National Training and Education Targets
NUT: National Union of Teachers
NVQ: National Vocational Qualification
O:
OFSTED: Office for Standards in Education; the body which arranges and sets standards for school inspections; also produces some publications. (Tel: 0207 421 6673 Alexandra House, 29-33 Kingsway, London WC2B 6SE)OFSTED: Office for Standards in Education; the body which arranges and sets standards for school inspections; also produces some publications. (Tel: 0207 421 6673 Alexandra House, 29-33 Kingsway, London WC2B 6SE) Back to top
P, Q, R:
P:PAN: Planned Admission Number. The number of children the LEA (or the governing body of an Aided School) determines can be admitted to the school. It can be above the Standard Number (see below) but may not be below it
PANDA: Performance and Assessment Data
PAT: Professional Association of TeachersPFI: Private Finance Initiative
PGCE: Postgraduate Certificate of Education
PI: Performance Indicators
PICSI: Pre-inspection Context and School Indicators
PLASC: Pupil Level Annual School Census
Portage: A scheme for providing home-based pre-school education for children with special needs
Prescribed Expenditure Allocation: The LEA's annual capital expenditure allocation and the limit of capital expenditure which may be incurred by governors of aided schools, as authorised by the DfES
PRP: Performance Related PayPRU: Pupil Referral Unit
PSE: Personal, Social and Health Education
PTR: Pupil Teacher Ratio, obtained by dividing the number of pupils by the number of teachers
Pupil Profile: A broad evaluation of a pupil's personality, interests and capabilities. Part of his/her NRA (see above)
Q:
QCA: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (formerly SCAA)
R:
RE: Religious Education
Reading Age: A child's ability to read may be compared against an average national ability level at any given age. The age level a child attains is their reading age
RGI or RI: Registered Inspector; one recognised by OFSTED to carry out inspections on schools
Rising Fives: Compulsory schooling begins at the start of the term directly following a child's fifth birthday. Some LEAs, including Croydon, admit children before this point as 'Rising Fives' Back to top
S, T, U:
S:SACRE: Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education; the body in each LEA area set up under the Education Reform Act 1988 to advise the LEA about RE in community and voluntary controlled schools, and about worship in community schools
SATs: Standard Assessment Tasks
SBS: School Budget Share
School Leaving Age: Children must stay at school until the last Friday of June in the school year in which they reach 16 years. Previously some children could leave school before the end of the year.
SDP: School Development Plan
SEF: Self Evaluation Form ( replacing Form S4 for Ofsted )
SEN: Special Educational Needs.
SENCO: Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator: teacher responsible for co-ordinating SEN provision in a school.
SHA: Secondary Heads' Association.
Sibling: A brother or sister
SIMS: Schools Information Management System: a computer software package to assist schools in managing information on pupils, staff and resources.
SIP: School Improvement Partner
SIP: School Improvement Plan
SLA: Service Level Agreement
SLD: Severe Learning Difficulty
SMT: Senior Management Team
SOC: School Organisation Committee
Special Measures: A school which, when inspected, has failed to provide an acceptable standard of education will need special measures
Special School: For children and young people whose needs cannot be met in a mainstream school
S/S, SoS: Secretary of State
SSA: Standard Spending Assessment A Government assessment of what a local authority needs to spend in a given year. Part of this assessment relates to education but, at present, how an authority spends within this limit on its services is a matter for its own determination
SSD: Social Services Department
Standard Number (SN): The legally determined figure for the number of pupils in the admission year-group, below which the PAN (see above) may not be set
Statementing: The procedure by which a child is formally assessed under the 1981 Education Act as having significant educational needs. The statement, which must be reviewed annually, identifies these needs and the provision necessary to meet them.
STPCD: School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document
STRB: School Teachers Review Body
T:
TA: Teacher Assessment
TAs: Teaching Assistants
TES: Times Educational Supplement
TLRs: Teaching and Learning Responsibility Payments ( replacing MAs)
Truancy: See Unauthorised absence
TTA: Teacher Training Agency
U:
UCAS: Universities and Colleges Admissions Services
Unauthorised Absence: Absence by a pupil from school which is not otherwise authorised. Statistical information about such absences must be given in the governors Annual Report to Parents
UNISON: The union which represents the majority of clerical, administrative, professional and technical staff who work in local government
UPS: Upper Pay Scale Back to top
V, W, X. Y, Z:
V:VA: Voluntary Aided. A school set up and owned by a voluntary body (usually a church) largely financed through an LEA. The governing body employ the staff, control pupil admissions and religious education
VC: Voluntary Controlled. A denominational school wholly maintained by the LEA but with certain residual rights regarding religious education
Virement: The transfer of certain sums of money from one expenditure heading to another
W:
Walking Distance: The statutory distance beyond which the LEA must provide free school transport is two miles for children up to eight years and three miles for those aged eight and over
Work Experience: A planned programme as part of careers education which enables pupils in school time to experience a working environment of their choice.
X:
Y:
YELLIS: Year Eleven Information System
YT: Youth Training
Z: Back to top