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Teaching Glossary 

Below are some of the most commonly used abbreviations for the UK education sector. 

Please feel free to visit the download section for a more in depth document containing almost 200 UK education abbreviations.

Authorities, Associations or Governing Bodies

DBS - Disclosure and Barring Service 

DfE - Department for Education - Formerly DfES, DfEE, DFE, DES 

GTC - General Teaching Council

NUT - National Union of Teachers 

OfSTED - Office for Standards in Education - The body which arranges and sets standards for school inspections 

General Terms

PPA - Planning, Preparation & Assessment time

TA - Teacher Assessment

TES - Times Educational Supplement 

Key Stages, National Curriculum and Exams

A Level - Advanced level

AQA - Exam board formed from an amalgamation of former boards

BTEC - Business Technology Education Council

EAL - English as an Additional Language - Formerly ESL - English as a Second Language

ESL - English as a Second Language - Now EAL - English as an Additional Language

GCSE - General Certificate of Secondary Education

GNVQ - General National Vocational Qualification

KS1 - Key Stage 1 - Pupils in Years 1 & 2 (5-7 year olds)

KS2 - Key Stage 2 - Pupils in Years 3, 4, 5 & 6 (7-11 year olds)

KS3 - Key Stage 3 - Pupils in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 (11-14 year olds)

KS4 - Key Stage 4 - Pupils in Years 11 & 12 (14-16 year olds)

NVQ - National Vocational Qualification

OCR - Oxford & Cambridge Exam Board

SATs - Standard Assessment Tasks - National tests / tasks set by SCAA:

                                                                Age 7 - KS1 SATs
                                                                Age 11 - KS2 SATs
                                                                Age 13 - KS3 SATs
                                                                Age 16 - GCSE

Special Needs

EBD - Emotional & Behavioural Difficulties

MLD - Moderate Language Difficulties

PMLD - Profound & Multiple Learning Difficulties

SEN - Learning difficulties for when a child needs special educational help - www.dfes.gov.uk/sen

SENCO - Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator

SLD / SpLD - Severe Learning Difficulties eg. Dyslexia, Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, Dyspraxia. 

Teacher Type & Qualifications

BEd - Bachelor of Education

BEd (Hons) - Bachelor of Education with Honours

BScQTS - Bachelor of Science with Qualified Teacher Status

CACHE - NN Qualification

Cover Supervisors - Cover a class in absence of teacher, delivering prepared work.

HLTA - Higher Level Teaching Assistant

NQT - Newly Qualified Teacher with QTS - Teachers after their first year of training

PGCE - Post Graduate Certificate of Education - A teaching qualification which includes a period of practical teaching experience

PGDE - Post Graduate Diploma in Education

QTS - Qualified Teacher Status