Education is an acronym-filled world. As you start your teacher training year, you should get to know the basics.
From job roles and key institutions to more general teaching lingo, here are the must-knows.
Teacher training
ITT – Initial Teacher Training
A teacher training course that awards trainees with Qualified Teaching Status. Some courses also award a PGCE.
SCITT – School-Centred Initial Teacher Training
An initial teacher training programme that takes place in schools. Trainees benefit from practical, on-the-job learning.
PGCE – Postgraduate Certificate in Education
An academic qualification awarded by universities covering educational theory, research, and teaching practices.
You don’t need one to become a qualified teacher, but there are benefits to completing a PGCE.
QTS – Qualified Teacher Status
A status that accredits you as a fully qualified teacher. You need QTS to teach in most primary and secondary schools in England.
ECT – Early Career Teacher
A teacher in the first two years of their career. ECT replaced the term NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher).
CPD – Continuous Professional Development
Learning activities that increase knowledge and understanding of a certain subject area or topic. For teachers, this could be a training course or a formal qualification such as a National Professional Qualification (NPQ).
Completing regular CPD helps you to develop and enhance your career.
AfL – Assessment for Learning
Another term for formative assessment. It guides learning by helping teachers figure out where their pupils are now, where they need to be, and the best way to help them get there.
Job roles
TA – Teaching Assistant
A teaching assistant supports a classroom teacher by helping pupils in classes, preparing for lessons, creating displays, and supporting school trips and events.
HLTA – Higher Level Teaching Assistant
HLTAs do the same things as a regular TA, with some additional responsibilities. They may lead a class on their own and cover teacher absences.
LSA – Learning Support Assistant
An LSA supports children and young people who may find learning difficult because of a disability or health condition, family circumstances, or other emotional and behavioural factors. They work with teachers to create suitable learning environments to help pupils make the most of education.
SLT – Senior Leadership Team
Senior leadership teams can vary by school but usually consist of the Headteacher, Deputy Head(s), Assistant Head(s), and Vice Principal(s).
HOD – Head of Department
A teacher who leads a department e.g. Head of Science, Head of English, Head of Sport.
HOY – Head of Year
A teacher who leads a year group e.g. Head of Year 8, Head of Year 10, Head of Sixth Form.
LP – Lead Practitioner
A teacher who models and leads improvement of teaching skills. They coach and mentor other teachers, advise on best practice, and develop and implement policies or ways of working that contribute to overall school improvement.
DSL – Designated Safeguarding Lead
A person responsible for making sure schools adhere to their safeguarding policies and duties. DSLs ensure school staff have access to and knowledge of safeguarding procedures and protocols and are the first point of contact for anyone with a safeguarding concern.
SENCO / SENDCO – Special Educational Needs Coordinator / Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator
A teacher responsible for assessing, monitoring and supporting pupils with special educational needs.
General teaching lingo
PPA – Planning, Preparation and Assessment
Dedicated time for teachers to plan and prepare for lessons and mark pupils’ work.
SEN – Special Educational Needs
Pupils with special educational needs have learning difficulties or disabilities. These include behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, speech, language and communication, and impairments.
TLR – Teaching and Learning Responsibility
Teachers who take on extra responsibility such as curriculum planning or pupil development. They are rewarded with additional pay in the form of TLR payments.
INSET – In-service Education and Training
A compulsory training day for teachers to learn new skills and improve their current knowledge, to help them deliver the best possible outcomes for their pupils. Pupils do not attend school on INSET days.
PP – Pupil Premium
Funding to improve education outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.
TES – Times Educational Supplement
An online magazine that gives educational professionals the latest news, analysis, and research in the world of teaching and learning.
“Have you read the latest TES article about the national curriculum?”
PTA – Parent Teacher Association
A group of parents and teachers who work together to support and advocate for the education and well-being of pupils. They meet to discuss relevant matters and make sure the school is a better place for children to learn.
SPAG – Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar
Primary school children are taught skills in spelling, punctuation and grammar and are tested on them. The abbreviation is also commonly used by teachers when marking work.
Key institutions
DfE – Department for Education
The section of the UK government responsible for children’s services and education.
ISA – Independent Schools Association
A registered charity that represents the Heads of hundreds of the best independent schools and promotes excellence in independent education.
ISI – Independent Schools Inspectorate
An independent inspectorate, appointed by the DfE, to inspect independent schools in England.
LA – Local Authority
An organisation responsible for governing an area of a country, covering everything from education to waste and recycling, social care, and local planning.
MAT – Multi-Academy Trust
A charitable organisation responsible for running a number of academies. MATs operate independently from Local Authorities.
Ofsted – Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills
The regulatory and inspection body for both education and children’s social care providers. Ofsted aims to improve the lives of children and young people by raising standards.
Curriculum
EAL – English as an Additional Language
Pupils who don’t have English as their first language will often receive EAL support or tutoring to help them improve their written and spoken English.
EYFS – Early Years Foundation Stage
A framework that sets the standards that all early years providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children from age 0-5.
KS – Key Stage
The different stages of the national curriculum. They are often written as ‘KS’ followed by a number, e.g. KS1, KS4.
Typically, Key Stages 1 and 2 are taught in primary schools, 3 and 4 in secondary schools, and Key Stage 5 in secondary school sixth forms and further education colleges.
MFL – Modern Foreign Languages
Languages other than English that are in common use around the world, such as Spanish, French, German, and Mandarin.
STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths