CPD Scotland
Glossary
This glossary explains terms used in CPD - Continuing Professional Development. It is not intended to be exhaustive in educational terms, nor does it include an explanation of every word used in the case study extracts. Instead, it seeks to clarify meanings in order to remove potential barriers to understanding and help the reader to appreciate the messages intended more fully.
Keyword search
| AC (LTS Advisory Council) | The LTS Advisory Council and its Chair are appointed by the Scottish Government to keep under review all aspects of learning, teaching and management in the pre-school and school stages of formal education and provide informed, independent advice to the Scottish Ministers. Details of membership and minutes of meetings are on the LTS website. |
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| AC Reference Groups | There are six LTS reference groups: Early Years; 5-14; Post-14; Future Learning and Teaching; ICT Development; and Inclusive Education. Each reference group is charged by the LTS Advisory Council with the task of maintaining an effective and informed oversight of issues of principle and practice in its general area of interest, including the use of ICT to support learning, teaching and management and advising the Council as required or judged important by the group. |
| ACCAC (Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales) | The National Assembly for Wales's principal advisory body on all aspects of the school curriculum, examinations, assessment and vocational qualifications. |
| Accelerated learning | An approach to learning drawn from a wide range of fields such as neuroscience, psychology, and learning theory. The technique is grounded in an understanding of how learning takes place, rather than what is to be learned. The principle is that with the correct teaching and motivation, and a positive learning environment, learners are able to achieve beyond expectations. |
| ACCESS | Programmes of study at Access levels 1, 2 and 3 are unit-based and do not involve national examinations. Particular groupings of units built up by learners at Access levels 2 and 3 lead to cluster awards, e.g. Business, Computing, Media Studies and Social Subjects. |
| ACE (Advisory Centre for Education) | An independent national advice centre for parents. |
| Achievement | Recognises individuals' strengths and progress, and takes into account more than just academic results, including success in activities outwith school. |
| Action learning | Action learning is an educational process whereby the participant studies their own actions and experience to improve performance. This is done in conjunction with others, in small groups called action learning sets. |
| Action plan | Defines and sets out what is needed to take ideas forward. A good action plan includes details of intended outcome, how this might be achieved, the resources that will be needed, and a method of evaluating success. |
| Action research | Action research is a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a 'community of practice' to improve the way they address issues and solve problems. |
| ADES (Association of Directors of Education in Scotland) | Heads of the education service in the local authorities are members of this organisation. It provides a forum for discussion and is a body which can discuss issues with the Scottish Government. |
| AEAS (Association of Educational Advisers in Scotland) | An association of Scotland's education advisers which supports the development of education in Scotland with a particular focus on entitlement and quality. Membership is open to advisers and officers of local education authorities who are mainly employed in advising on matters relating to curriculum and staff development. |
| AERS (Applied Educational Research Scheme) | A two million pound, five-year programme funded by the Scottish Government Education Department and the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, which started in early 2004. AERS aims to enhance educational research capability in Scottish HE institutions, and to use that capability to conduct high-quality research which will benefit school education in Scotland |
| Agnosticism | Agnosticism is the view that knowledge of the existence or non-existence of gods is impossible; agnosticism has to do with knowledge, not with belief (or disbelief or unbelief) someone who subscribes to this view is called an agnostic. |
| AH (Advanced Higher) | Advanced Highers are National Qualifications and build upon the work done in the Higher awards. The awards are graded by performance in national examinations and also require candidates to pass all unit assessments associated with the course. The Advanced Higher level is equivalent to and has replaced the Certificate of Sixth Year Studies (CSYS). |
| AHT(S) (Association of Headteachers (Scotland)) | An association which represents the headteachers of primary schools in Scotland. |
| AifL | Assessment is for learning (AifL) is an approach in the classroom, making use of assessment strategies designed to improve the learning process. |
| AifL (Assessment is for Learning) | A national initiative for assessment in Scottish schools. The programme seeks to provide a streamlined and coherent system of assessment and to ensure that parents, teachers and other professionals have feedback on pupils' learning and development needs. |
| Alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) | A clinical practice that involves strategies or methods of communication which may be used to compensate or support speech and writing, when these are impaired. AAC is a two-way process involving cognition as well as expression. It may involve the use of signing, gesture, picture charts, electronic aids, or more sophisticated computer technology if appropriate. |
| Ambitious, Excellent Schools | A planned programme of activity in areas of school improvement, published by the Scottish Government in 2004. |
| AMES (Association for Media Education in Scotland) | The subject association for the interests of media studies and related disciplines in the Scottish education system. It represents teachers in all sectors of education and publishes the twice yearly Media Education Journal (MEJ) and a newsletter. |
| Annotation/notes sheets | These record key points and decisions agreed by staff engaging in a local moderation exercise. They should indicate the learning objective and the nature of and context for the task, and indicate reasons for awarding a particular level or grade. The notes may be included in a folder of evidence, and are especially useful if they indicate next steps in learning and teaching. Annotation/notes sheets, attached to pupils' work, may also form folders exemplifying standards, to be used in future CPD. |
| Anti-discrimination | An approach that is taken which challenges unfair treatment of individuals or groups based on a specific characteristic of that group e.g. colour, age, disability etc. |
| ASG (Associated Schools Group) | Any group of practitioners collaborating and working across traditional boundaries with the aim of developing professional practice. Groups vary in size and may consist of teachers working across classes or departments within a school or establishment, across a cluster of schools in an area, or even across authorities in a national context. Working as part of the AifL programme, ASGs have received funding from the Scottish Government to take forward action research focused on assessment practices on the three sides of the AifL triangle. |
| ASGs | Any group of practitioners collaborating and working across traditional boundaries with the aim of developing professional practice. |
| ASN | Additional support needs. Under the Additional Support for Learning Act, it is the duty of education authorities to give extra help in school to children and young people with additional support needs. These needs can be short-term or long-term. |
| ASN (Additional Support Needs) | Under the Additional Support for Learning Act it is the duty of education authorities to give extra help in school to children and young people with additional support needs. They may need this help because they have a difficulty with reading or writing; they may be disabled; or they may have difficult family or other circumstances, which are holding them back in school. Additional support needs can be short-term or long-term. |
| Assessment | The process of evaluating how effectively learning is occurring. This may be undertaken by teachers, by learners, by learners and teachers collaboratively, or by learners in collaboration with one another. A wide range of activities undertaken by teachers and learners can provide information on learning. |
| Assessment of Achievement Programme (AAP) | The Assessment of Achievement Programme (AAP) monitored attainment of pupils in P4, P7 and S2, in Scotland, from the 1980s to 2004. Until 2002, it monitored performance in English language, mathematics and science; then, from 2002, it monitored the performance of pupils in P3, P5, P7 and S2 in social subjects, science and mathematics. Assessment of core skills was also included in the surveys after 2002. In 2005 the AAP was replaced by the Scottish Survey of Achievement. |
| Assimilation | A situation where individuals are expected to give up their distinctive identity in order to fit in with the values, attitudes and behaviours of a dominant group or culture. In the UK, this term is often used to describe the process of immigrants blending into a host community, willingly or otherwise. |
| Atheism | A disbelief (or unbelief) in the existence of deity / God; the doctrine that there is no deity / God. Someone who believes in this doctrine is called an atheist. |
| ATM (Association of Teachers of Mathematics) | This association was established in 1950 to encourage the development of mathematics education such that it is more closely related to the needs of the learner. |
| ATRES (Association for the Teaching of Religious Education in Scotland) | Professional organisation for those involved in the teaching and training for teaching of religious and moral education (RME) in Scottish schools. |
| Attachment | An attachment can be a file of any kind - documents, images, sound files or movie clips - that you add to an email. |
| Attainment | Within the scope of achievement, this relates to the accomplishment of the planned aims of the curriculum, usually in terms of the 5-14 levels of attainment, or Standard Grade / National Qualifications results. |
| Attainment targets | Usually relating to academic rather than more general achievement, the term can be used to describe planned aims of the curriculum at different stages. The term has also been used in the context of school improvement when it refers to expectations of pupil performance. |
| Authentication | A security process that uses digital technology to confirm someone's identity, before giving them access |
| Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) | A continuum of characteristics and disorders displayed by individuals with autism: a lifelong developmental disability affecting the social, communication and imagination skills of individuals. The 'triad' of impairments has different levels of severity and may occur in varying combinations; and there is a wide spectrum of intellectual ability amongst those affected, ranging from people with learning difficulties to those with above average intelligence. There is no known cure; however, early and appropriate intervention can help maximise skills and potential. |