Education has its own professional language. Staff meetings, policies, inspection reports and training sessions regularly refer to acronyms such as KCSIE, SEND, ECTE, PP, DSL and CPD, often without explaining them.
Understanding these terms is not simply a matter of decoding jargon. They describe the legal duties, professional standards, funding arrangements and accountability systems that influence everyday work in schools.
Education is devolved across the UK, so frameworks differ between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This guide focuses mainly on schools in England. Staff working elsewhere should use the guidance issued by their own government, inspectorate and professional bodies.
Government, regulation and inspection bodies
DfE: Department for Education
The Department for Education is the UK government department responsible for education, children’s services, apprenticeships and skills policy in England.
It publishes statutory guidance, funding rules, curriculum documents and policies affecting schools and colleges. Important DfE publications include safeguarding guidance, the SEND Code of Practice and the Teachers’ Standards.
Staff can access current information through the official Department for Education website.
Ofsted
Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. It inspects state-funded schools, many independent schools and a range of early years and further education providers in England.
Ofsted began using its renewed Education Inspection Framework for school inspections in November 2025. Instead of a single overall effectiveness judgement, school report cards provide grades and explanations across several evaluation areas.
The current evaluation areas include:
- leadership and governance;
- curriculum;
- developing teaching;
- achievement;
- behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines;
- attendance;
- personal development and wellbeing;
- inclusion.
Safeguarding is evaluated separately as either met or not met. Staff should use the latest inspection toolkit and operating guidance rather than relying on materials written for the previous framework.
Ofqual
Ofqual is the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. It regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England, including GCSEs, A levels and many vocational qualifications.
Its role includes maintaining standards, monitoring awarding organisations and protecting the interests of students.
ESFA and funding administration
The Education and Skills Funding Agency name may still appear in older documents and school systems. Its functions have increasingly been incorporated into the Department for Education.
When using older guidance, staff should check whether the organisation, process or funding arrangement has since changed.
Local authority or LA
A local authority is the council responsible for statutory education functions within its area. Its duties may include admissions coordination, SEND assessment, school-place planning, attendance services, safeguarding support and alternative provision.
The authority’s direct role in an individual school depends partly on whether the school is maintained or an academy.
School structures and governance
Maintained school
A maintained school is funded through and overseen by a local authority. Types include community, foundation, voluntary-controlled and voluntary-aided schools.
Maintained schools must follow the national curriculum in England. The allocation of responsibility for land, admissions, staffing and governance depends on the school category.
Academy
An academy is a state-funded school operated by an academy trust rather than maintained by a local authority. Academies receive public funding and do not charge ordinary tuition fees.
They have more freedom over aspects of the curriculum and organisation but remain subject to requirements covering safeguarding, admissions, SEND, exclusions and financial accountability.
Free school
A free school is legally a type of academy. The term generally refers to a new state-funded school created through the free-school process and operated by an academy trust.
Academy trust
An academy trust is the charitable company responsible for running one or more academies. It employs staff, holds funding agreements and is legally accountable for governance and finance.
MAT: Multi-Academy Trust
A MAT is an academy trust responsible for more than one academy. Schools within a MAT may share leadership, staff, policies, procurement and professional development.
SAT: Single-Academy Trust
A single-academy trust operates one academy. Some SATs later join or develop into multi-academy trusts.
Trust board and trustees
The trust board is the academy trust’s governing body. Trustees oversee strategy, finance, educational standards, safeguarding and executive leadership across the trust.
Members
Members sit above the trust board within an academy trust’s governance structure. Their role is limited but important. They may appoint certain trustees and make decisions about changes to the trust’s constitution.
Members are not equivalent to shareholders and do not receive profits from the trust.
Local governing body
A multi-academy trust may establish a local governing body, academy committee or similar group for an individual school. Its authority depends on what the trust board delegates through its scheme of delegation.
Governing body
A maintained school has a governing body. Governors provide strategic oversight, monitor educational and financial performance and hold the headteacher to account.
Scheme of delegation
A scheme of delegation explains which decisions are retained by the trust board and which are delegated to executive leaders, local committees or individual schools.
Staff should not assume that a local governing body has the same powers in every MAT.
Curriculum and teaching frameworks
National curriculum
The national curriculum sets out the programmes of study and attainment expectations for maintained schools in England.
Academies are not required to follow every national curriculum programme of study, but they must provide a broad and balanced curriculum and teach specified subjects.
The current programmes can be found in the official national curriculum guidance.
EYFS: Early Years Foundation Stage
The EYFS is the statutory framework for the learning, development and care of children from birth to the end of Reception.
It includes requirements covering safeguarding and welfare, learning and development, assessment and the early learning goals.
Key stages
- KS1: Years 1 and 2, normally ages five to seven;
- KS2: Years 3 to 6, normally ages seven to eleven;
- KS3: Years 7 to 9, normally ages eleven to fourteen;
- KS4: Years 10 and 11, normally ages fourteen to sixteen;
- KS5: post-16 education, commonly Years 12 and 13.
Schools may organise their curriculum differently, particularly around the beginning of GCSE courses, but statutory curriculum and assessment requirements still apply where relevant.
Curriculum intent, implementation and impact
These terms became widely used under the previous inspection framework and remain common in school planning.
- Intent: what the curriculum is designed to achieve;
- Implementation: how it is taught and enacted;
- Impact: what pupils learn and can remember or apply.
Schools should avoid reducing these concepts to separate written statements created for inspection. The important question is whether the planned curriculum is taught effectively and leads to secure learning.
Curriculum sequencing
Sequencing describes the order in which knowledge and skills are taught. A well-sequenced curriculum allows pupils to build on earlier learning and prepares them for more complex ideas.
Substantive and disciplinary knowledge
Substantive knowledge is the content pupils learn within a subject. Disciplinary knowledge concerns how knowledge is developed, tested and used within that discipline.
In history, for example, substantive knowledge includes people, events and periods. Disciplinary knowledge includes evaluating evidence, interpreting sources and constructing historical arguments.
Pedagogy
Pedagogy refers to the methods and principles of teaching. It includes explanation, modelling, questioning, practice, feedback and classroom interaction.
Adaptive teaching
Adaptive teaching means responding to differences between pupils while maintaining ambitious learning goals. It may involve adjusting explanations, examples, scaffolds, resources, grouping or the level of support.
It does not necessarily mean creating a separate task or worksheet for every pupil.
Scaffolding
Scaffolding is temporary support that helps pupils complete a task or understand a concept they could not yet manage independently.
Examples include worked examples, prompts, sentence stems, diagrams and partially completed models. Effective scaffolding is reduced as pupils become more secure.
Retrieval practice
Retrieval practice involves recalling previously learned information from memory. It may include quizzes, flashcards, verbal questioning or closed-book tasks.
Retrieval should help teachers identify what pupils remember and what requires further teaching. It should not become a repetitive activity disconnected from curriculum priorities.
Metacognition
Metacognition involves pupils understanding and regulating their own learning. It includes planning an approach, monitoring progress and evaluating the result.
The Education Endowment Foundation provides guidance and evidence summaries through its education evidence resources.
Assessment and school performance
Formative assessment
Formative assessment gathers information during learning so that teaching can be adjusted. Examples include questioning, observation, quizzes, discussion and reviewing pupils’ work.
Its main purpose is to identify what pupils understand and what should happen next.
Summative assessment
Summative assessment evaluates attainment after a period of learning. Examples include end-of-unit tests, mock examinations and formal qualifications.
Diagnostic assessment
Diagnostic assessment identifies specific strengths, gaps or misconceptions. It may be used before teaching begins or when a pupil is not making expected progress.
Baseline assessment
A baseline assessment establishes a starting point against which later progress may be considered. It should be proportionate and used for a clear purpose.
Standardised assessment
A standardised assessment is administered and scored consistently and compared with a reference group. Results may include standardised scores, age-standardised scores or percentile ranks.
A standardised score should not be interpreted without understanding the assessment, confidence interval and reference population.
Teacher assessment
Teacher assessment is a professional judgement based on evidence from a pupil’s work and performance. It may be used alongside tests or as part of statutory assessment.
Phonics Screening Check
The Phonics Screening Check is a statutory assessment normally completed by pupils in Year 1 in England. It assesses whether pupils can use phonics to decode familiar and unfamiliar words.
MTC: Multiplication Tables Check
The MTC is an online statutory assessment normally taken by Year 4 pupils. It measures fluency in multiplication tables up to 12.
KS2 national curriculum tests
Statutory KS2 tests take place near the end of Year 6 in England. They cover reading, mathematics and grammar, punctuation and spelling, alongside statutory teacher assessment requirements.
End-of-KS1 national curriculum tests are optional rather than statutory for schools in England.
GCSE
GCSE stands for General Certificate of Secondary Education. GCSEs in England are generally graded from 9 to 1, with 9 representing the highest grade.
Attainment 8
Attainment 8 measures pupils’ achievement across eight qualifying GCSE subjects. The subjects are organised into specified groups or “buckets”.
Progress 8
Progress 8 is a secondary school performance measure that compares pupils’ progress between the end of primary school and their Attainment 8 outcomes.
It is primarily a school-level accountability measure rather than an individual pupil grade.
EBacc
The English Baccalaureate is a combination of GCSE subjects consisting of English, mathematics, science, a language and either history or geography. It is not a separate qualification.
Performance tables
Government performance tables publish information about schools and colleges, including attainment and progress measures where available.
Data should be interpreted within context. Cohort size, pupil intake, curriculum choices and disruption can all affect results.
SEND and inclusive provision
SEND
SEND means special educational needs and disabilities. A pupil has SEN when a learning difficulty or disability requires special educational provision beyond what is ordinarily available to pupils of the same age.
SENCO
SENCO stands for Special Educational Needs Coordinator. The SENCO coordinates SEND provision, advises colleagues and works with families, leaders and external professionals.
SEN support
SEN support is provision arranged by a school or setting for a pupil with identified special educational needs.
It should follow a graduated approach commonly described as:
- assess;
- plan;
- do;
- review.
EHCP or EHC plan
An Education, Health and Care Plan is a statutory document issued by a local authority for a child or young person whose needs require provision beyond what is normally available through SEN support.
It describes needs, outcomes and the education, health and social care provision required.
For a fuller explanation, read SEN Support vs EHCP: What Is the Difference?.
Ordinarily available provision
This refers to provision mainstream schools are generally expected to make from their normal resources for pupils with additional needs.
Local authorities may publish documents describing what they expect ordinarily available provision to include.
Reasonable adjustments
Reasonable adjustments are changes made to prevent a disabled pupil from experiencing a substantial disadvantage.
Adjustments may relate to teaching, communication, physical access, equipment, behaviour systems, school activities or assessment arrangements.
APDR: Assess, Plan, Do, Review
APDR is a cycle used to identify needs, plan provision, deliver support and review its effect. Repeating the cycle should refine support rather than reproduce the same intervention automatically.
Provision map
A provision map records additional support, interventions and resources available to pupils. It may be organised by pupil, need, year group or type of provision.
EAL
EAL means English as an Additional Language. It describes pupils who use or are exposed to a language other than English in their home or community.
EAL is not itself a special educational need. Staff should distinguish between the process of learning English and a separate learning difficulty.
SEMH
SEMH means social, emotional and mental health needs. It is one of the broad areas of need described in the SEND Code of Practice.
Behaviour may communicate an unmet need, but staff should avoid assuming that every behavioural difficulty automatically constitutes SEND.
TA and LSA
TA means teaching assistant, while LSA usually means learning support assistant. Job titles and responsibilities differ between schools.
Additional adult support should promote learning and independence rather than create unnecessary dependence.
Safeguarding and child protection
KCSIE
KCSIE stands for Keeping Children Safe in Education. It is statutory safeguarding guidance for schools and colleges in England.
As of July 2026, settings must continue to follow KCSIE 2025 until 31 August 2026. The published 2026 edition comes into force on 1 September 2026.
Schools should ensure that staff receive the version and training appropriate to the date on which they are working. Current and forthcoming editions are available through the official KCSIE publication page.
DSL: Designated Safeguarding Lead
The DSL is the senior member of staff with lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection. Schools also appoint one or more trained deputies.
All staff should know how to contact the DSL or deputy and how to report a concern immediately.
Child protection
Child protection is the activity undertaken to protect particular children who are suffering or are likely to suffer significant harm. It forms part of the wider safeguarding responsibility.
Early help
Early help is coordinated support intended to address emerging needs before they become more serious. It may involve education, health, social care and voluntary services.
LADO
LADO stands for Local Authority Designated Officer. The LADO advises on allegations that an adult working with children may have:
- behaved in a way that harmed or may have harmed a child;
- possibly committed a criminal offence involving a child;
- behaved in a way indicating they may pose a risk to children;
- behaved in a way that raises concerns about suitability to work with children.
Low-level concern
A low-level concern is behaviour towards a child that is inconsistent with the staff code of conduct but may not meet the harm threshold for referral to the LADO.
The term does not mean the concern is unimportant. Schools must have procedures for sharing, recording and responding to such concerns.
Prevent duty
The Prevent duty requires specified authorities, including schools, to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.
Prevent should be integrated into safeguarding arrangements rather than treated as a separate disciplinary system.
Filtering and monitoring
Filtering restricts access to harmful or inappropriate online content. Monitoring helps schools identify potentially concerning activity on their networks and devices.
Schools need clear responsibility, regular review and an understanding of what their systems can and cannot detect.
Safer recruitment
Safer recruitment includes the checks, processes and professional judgement used to reduce the risk of unsuitable adults working with children.
It includes application scrutiny, references, identity and qualification checks, appropriate criminal-record checks and careful interview questions.
Single central record or SCR
The SCR is the statutory record of specified recruitment and vetting checks completed for staff and other relevant adults.
It is not a complete personnel file and does not replace the need to retain other appropriate recruitment evidence.
Attendance, behaviour and pastoral care
Authorised absence
An authorised absence is an absence the school has approved in accordance with attendance regulations and guidance.
Unauthorised absence
An unauthorised absence occurs when the school does not accept the reason for absence or no satisfactory explanation has been provided.
Persistent absence
A pupil is classified as persistently absent when they miss 10% or more of the possible school sessions.
Severe absence
Severe absence generally refers to pupils missing 50% or more of possible sessions. These pupils require particularly intensive and coordinated support.
Attendance code
Schools use national attendance codes to record the reason for each pupil’s absence or attendance status. Staff responsible for registers need to use the correct current codes rather than selecting an approximate category.
Suspension
A suspension is a temporary exclusion for a defined period. The term replaced the previous description of fixed-term or fixed-period exclusion.
Permanent exclusion
A permanent exclusion is a headteacher’s decision that a pupil should no longer attend the school.
It should be used only in response to a serious breach or persistent breaches of the behaviour policy and where allowing the pupil to remain would seriously harm education or welfare.
Internal removal
Internal removal means a pupil is educated away from their usual class for a limited period within the school.
It should be used for a clear purpose, recorded appropriately and accompanied by suitable education and reintegration.
Managed move
A managed move is a planned transfer to another school intended to provide a fresh start. It should be voluntary, properly supported and in the pupil’s best interests.
A managed move should not be used to pressure a family into removing a pupil or to avoid formal exclusion procedures.
Pastoral support plan
A pastoral support plan is a structured plan used by some schools or local authorities for pupils at risk of exclusion, persistent absence or significant disengagement.
Terminology and procedures vary, so staff should check local policy.
Designated teacher
Every maintained school and academy must have a designated teacher responsible for promoting the educational achievement of looked-after and previously looked-after children.
Virtual school head
A virtual school head is a local authority officer responsible for promoting the educational achievement of looked-after children and carrying out related statutory duties for other specified groups.
Funding and accountability terms
Pupil Premium
Pupil Premium is additional funding intended to improve educational outcomes for specified groups of disadvantaged pupils.
It is allocated to schools rather than given directly to individual pupils. Schools should use evidence and knowledge of pupil needs when deciding how to spend it.
Pupil Premium Plus
Pupil Premium Plus is enhanced funding associated with particular looked-after and previously looked-after children.
Arrangements differ according to the child’s status. Funding for looked-after children is generally managed through the virtual school head.
Service Pupil Premium
Service Pupil Premium supports the pastoral needs of eligible children from service families. It is separate from the deprivation-related Pupil Premium.
PE and Sport Premium
The PE and Sport Premium provides additional funding to eligible primary schools to improve physical education, sport and physical activity.
High-needs funding
High-needs funding supports provision for children and young people with complex SEND and pupils in alternative provision.
The existence of an EHCP does not necessarily mean that a single fixed amount follows the pupil directly. Local funding arrangements and the provision specified in the plan both matter.
Notional SEN budget
The notional SEN budget is an identified amount within a mainstream school’s funding intended to contribute towards SEND provision.
It is not a separate ring-fenced payment for individual pupils.
Dedicated Schools Grant or DSG
The DSG is funding provided to local authorities for education-related expenditure. It is divided into funding blocks, including schools, high needs, early years and central school services.
General Annual Grant or GAG
GAG is the main revenue funding paid to academy trusts for running their academies.
Revenue funding
Revenue funding supports ordinary operating costs such as staffing, resources, utilities and services.
Capital funding
Capital funding is generally used for buildings, major repairs, facilities and long-term assets.
CFR and academies accounts return
Maintained schools report financial information through the Consistent Financial Reporting framework. Academy trusts have separate financial reporting requirements, including annual accounts and returns.
Academy Trust Handbook
The Academy Trust Handbook sets out financial management, governance and control requirements for academy trusts.
Trust leaders and governors should use the current edition rather than relying on arrangements from previous financial years.
Teacher standards and professional development
Teachers’ Standards
The Teachers’ Standards set the minimum expectations for teachers’ professional practice and conduct in England.
They cover areas including:
- high expectations;
- pupil progress and outcomes;
- subject and curriculum knowledge;
- lesson planning and teaching;
- adaptive teaching;
- assessment;
- behaviour management;
- wider professional responsibilities;
- personal and professional conduct.
The standards are used in initial teacher training, induction and appraisal. Staff can read the current Teachers’ Standards online.
QTS: Qualified Teacher Status
QTS is the professional status required for many teaching roles in maintained schools and specified settings in England.
Academies may have greater flexibility to employ teachers without QTS, although many still require or strongly prefer it.
ECT: Early Career Teacher
An ECT is a teacher completing statutory induction after gaining QTS.
ECTE: Early Career Teacher Entitlement
From September 2025, Early Career Teacher Entitlement replaced the previous language of ECF-based training and induction.
ECTE is a two-year programme of training and support underpinned by the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework.
Appropriate body
The appropriate body is responsible for quality-assuring statutory ECT induction and deciding whether an ECT has met the Teachers’ Standards at the end of induction.
Induction tutor
The induction tutor oversees the ECT’s induction, coordinates assessment and ensures statutory requirements are met.
Mentor
The mentor provides regular support focused on the ECT’s professional development and training. The mentor and induction tutor roles should normally be held by different people.
CPD: Continuing Professional Development
CPD includes professional learning undertaken throughout a staff member’s career. It may include coaching, subject development, lesson study, training, mentoring and professional reading.
Effective CPD should be connected to pupil needs, professional development goals and sustained changes in practice rather than attendance at isolated courses.
NPQ: National Professional Qualification
NPQs are professional development qualifications for teachers and leaders in areas such as leadership, teaching, behaviour, literacy and early years.
Appraisal
Appraisal is the process through which a teacher’s performance and professional development are reviewed. It should support improvement and accountability while following relevant regulations and school policy.
Capability
Capability procedures address concerns about an employee’s ability to perform their role to the required standard.
Capability is distinct from misconduct, although a concern may require careful assessment to determine the appropriate procedure.
Common school improvement and leadership terms
SIP or SDP
SIP means School Improvement Plan, while SDP means School Development Plan. Both usually describe the school’s main improvement priorities, actions, responsibilities and success measures.
SEF: Self-Evaluation Form
A SEF is a school’s evaluation of its strengths and development priorities. Ofsted does not require schools to produce a document with this exact title or format.
Schools should use an evaluation process that genuinely supports improvement rather than creating a document solely for inspectors.
School improvement cycle
A typical improvement cycle involves identifying a priority, planning action, implementing changes, monitoring delivery and evaluating impact.
Quality assurance
Quality assurance is the process of checking and improving the consistency and effectiveness of provision. It may include curriculum review, work scrutiny, pupil discussion, lesson visits and analysis of assessment information.
No single activity provides a complete picture. Leaders should combine evidence and consider the burden placed on staff.
Learning walk
A learning walk is a short visit to lessons or school areas, usually focused on a particular aspect of provision.
Its purpose, recording arrangements and relationship to appraisal should be clear to staff.
Work scrutiny
Work scrutiny involves examining pupils’ work to understand curriculum implementation, pupil learning or assessment.
Leaders should avoid judging teaching quality from presentation or isolated pieces of work alone.
Pupil voice
Pupil voice describes pupils’ views and participation in decisions affecting their education and school life.
Pupil discussion can provide useful evidence but should not be treated as a simple test of whether children can repeat curriculum terminology.
Line management
Line management is the formal process through which a manager oversees an employee’s work, priorities, support and development.
Middle leader
A middle leader usually leads a subject, phase, year group or area of provision while remaining accountable to senior leadership.
SLT: Senior Leadership Team
SLT is the group of senior staff responsible for strategic and operational leadership. Membership varies but may include the headteacher, deputy heads, assistant heads and business or inclusion leaders.
HT, DHT and AHT
- HT: headteacher;
- DHT: deputy headteacher;
- AHT: assistant headteacher.
CEO and executive headteacher
In academy trusts, a chief executive officer leads the trust under the authority of the trust board. An executive headteacher may lead more than one school or support leadership across several settings.
Titles vary, so responsibility should be understood through the trust’s published governance and leadership arrangements.
Frequently asked questions
Does this terminology apply across the whole UK?
No. Many terms in this guide relate specifically to England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have separate curricula, inspectorates, professional standards and safeguarding arrangements.
Is the old Ofsted four-judgement model still current?
No. Ofsted introduced renewed inspections and report cards in November 2025. Current inspections use grades across several evaluation areas rather than one overall effectiveness grade.
Which KCSIE version should schools use in July 2026?
Schools and colleges must continue using KCSIE 2025 until 31 August 2026. KCSIE 2026 comes into force on 1 September 2026.
Is an academy a private school?
No. Academies are publicly funded state schools operated by academy trusts. They do not charge ordinary tuition fees.
Is an EHCP the same as additional funding?
No. An EHCP is a statutory plan specifying needs, outcomes and provision. Funding arrangements are separate and may involve school and local authority resources.
Is EAL a special educational need?
No. Learning English as an additional language is not itself SEN. A pupil may have both EAL and SEN, but staff need appropriate assessment to distinguish between them.
Does adaptive teaching mean separate work for every pupil?
No. It means adjusting teaching and support in response to pupil needs while maintaining ambitious curriculum goals. Many adaptations can be made through explanation, scaffolding, questioning and resources.
Does Ofsted require a SEF?
No. Schools are not required to produce a self-evaluation document in a particular format solely for Ofsted. Leaders must understand their provision and priorities, but the method of recording this is for the school to decide.
What is the difference between safeguarding and child protection?
Safeguarding is the broader responsibility to protect children’s welfare and prevent harm. Child protection concerns action taken for children who are suffering or likely to suffer significant harm.
Where should staff check whether guidance is current?
Use official government, inspectorate, local authority and professional body websites. Check publication and commencement dates carefully, particularly when a new edition has been published but has not yet come into force.
