Jargon buster / A
Academies
Academies either replace one or more existing schools facing challenging circumstances or are new schools to meet local need for school places. The Academies Division of the DfES supports the development of partnerships between sponsors, LEAs and lcoal communities to enable them to assess their individual circumstances and decide if a new academy is appropriate.
Find out more at the DfES Academies website.
ACE
Advisory Centre for Education. Provide useful information for parents on school admissions and other potential difficulties.
Action plan
A school’s response to the report of its inspection by the Office for Standards in Education, which must be produced within 40 days.
ADD
Attention Deficit Disorder A condition whereby a child has a short concentration span and is unable to stay on task. See ADHD.
ADHD
Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder. A condition whereby a child has difficullty in maintaining concentration and is unable to stay on task due to hyperactivity. See ADD. More information from the Mental Health Foundation
Admission authority
The official body responsible for rules offering school places, it also decides which children will be offered a place. For most schools, this is the governing body, but for community and voluntary controlled schools this is the local authority.
Admission criteria
These are rules agreed by the admission authority to decide who will get school places. Criteria are usually used where there are more applicants than places available.
Adjudicator
Appointed by the Secretary of State, adjudicators take decisions on possible changes to school organisation including admissions arrangements, appeals from parents. See http://www.schoolsadjudicator.gov.uk/index.cfm
Advanced Extension Awards (AEA)
A post-A Level qualification designed to stretch more able students, who must demonstrate a greater depth of understanding than is required for the A-Level itself. Some older hands may remember the S-Level; this fulfils a similar function. More information from the DfES
Advanced Skills Teacher (AST)
An AST is a teacher who has passed a national assessment and been appointed to an AST post. Their duties include supporting the professional development of other teachers and raising standards of teaching and learning. ASTs spend 20 per cent of their time working with teachers from other schools.
AEB
Associated Examining Board. Awarding body for GCSE, and GCE A-Levels. Has now merged with Northern Examinations and Assessment Board to become the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (see separate entry).
A-level points
Exam grades expressed as numbers to establish whether or not the requirements for a university place have been met. An A scores 120 points, B 100, C 80, D 60 and E 40. More information from the DfES
A-levels
Advanced Level qualifications - reforms for 16-18-year-olds were designed to introduce a more flexible system where qualifications could be mixed and matched. Now an A-Level (or you might hear it referred to as an A2) consists of six units allowing continuous assessment and a coursework element. An AS-level equals half an A-level, and they also come in a vocational form. More information from the DfES
A-Levels - vocational
Vocational A-Levels were introduced as part of the Curriculum 2000 reforms and were designed to give 16-18-year-olds more flexibility in the qualifications open to them. Vocational A-Levels, AS-Levels and GNVQs are designed to prepare students in jobs such as business, construction, engineering, health and social care. They can be taken as part of a package with other qualification and come in three levels, foundation, intermediate and advanced.
ALG
Adult Learning Grant. A grant similar to the Educational Maintenance Allowance but for adult students studying for a level 2 or level 3 qualification
ALI
Adult Learning Inspectorate. The equivalent of Ofsted for adult learning
ALS
Additional Literacy Support
Extra support for pupils in Years 3 and 4, who have insecure literacy skills. DfES literacy site
Amalgamation
Where two or more schools come together as one usually through closure, alterations or enlargement of one of the schools.
AOTTs
are people who do not hold a recognised teaching qualification but operate in schools with the permission of the Head Teacher usually for PE tasks.
APD
Auditory Processing Disorder - a condition which impairs the way auditory information is processed by the brain. APD can exist in those with perfect hearing or with hearing loss and can co-exist with any other disability, condition or learning difficulty. It is not curable but can be helped by development of individual coping strategies.
Find out more on the APDUK website.
AQA
Assessment and Qualifications Alliance
Incorporates AEB and NEAB.
ASE
Association for Science Education
AS-level
Advanced Subsidiary Level
National exam taken in first year of sixth form, introduced as part of Curriculum 2000. In year 12, pupils can chose from a wide range of AS-level courses, according to the government. Then, in year 13, they can take more AS courses or continue some subjects to A-Level. There has, of course, been plenty of criticism about the exam load this approach imposes. AS-Level points are as follows: Grade A-5, B-4, C-3, D-2 and E-1. More at Teachernet
ASN
Additional Support Needs – a term used mostly in Scottish schools.
Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome is an autistic spectrum disorder . The National Autistic Society says: “People with Asperger syndrome find it more difficult to read the signals that most of us take for granted. As a result they find it more difficult to communicate and relate to others.”
says: “People with Asperger syndrome find it more difficult to read the signals that most of us take for granted. As a result they find it more difficult to communicate and relate to others.”
Assessment for Learning
Perhaps the simplest definition of this was given by Black and William in 1998: Assessment for learning can be defined as “all those activities undertaken by teachers and/or by their students, which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged”.
Day-to-day assessments would include effective questioning; observations of children during teaching and while they are working; holding discussions with children; analysing work and reporting to children; conducting tests and giving quick feedback.
ASTs
Advanced Skills Teachers. Also known as Superteachers. A school may apply for its star teacher to get this status as it attracts extra cash and salary: the downside is that teacher then spends less time with own classes and more passing on skills (often in rival schools) to other staff.
AT
Attainment Target
Sets out expected standards of pupils’ performance at end of each key stage.
ATL
Association of Teachers and Lecturers
Formerly AMMA - trade union and professional association.
Autism
Autism is defined by the National Autistic Society as: “A lifelong developmental disability that affects the way a person communicates and relates to others in a meaningful way… people with autism can often have accompanying learning disabilities but everyone with the condition shares a difficulty in making sense of the world.” It mentions problems with social interaction, social communication and imagination.
Autistic spectrum
An autistic spectrum disorder is a complex lifelong developmental disability which affects the way a person communicates and relates to those around them. It includes
Asperger’s Syndrome and different manifestations of autism
- see the entries for these subjects. More from the National Autistic Society
Awarding Body
This is the new name for what used to be called Examination Boards. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority recognises and regulates awarding bodies and their qualifications. A to Z list of awarding bodies.
AWPU
Age-Weighted Pupil Unit
The sum of money allocated to the school for each pupil according to age. This is the basic unit of funding for the school.
