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
| DENI (Department of Education for Northern Ireland) | The Department of Education is responsible for education provision in Northern Ireland. |
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| Denomination | A denomination is a distinct branch within a religion. It has a distinctive doctrine and leadership that unites its followers. For example, within Protestant Christianity there are various denominations such as the Baptists, the Methodists, and the Episcopalians. The term denomination is used when a group is believed to have official status, as opposed to the term "cult," which is used negatively to refer to a group which has no official status or recognition. |
| Dependability (of assessment) | A systematic review of the evidence of reliability and validity of assessment by teachers used for summative purposes (Harlen, 2004). Dependability of an assessment is the optimum relationship between its validity and its reliability. Since reliability and validity are not independent of each other - and increasing one tends to decrease the other - it is useful in some contexts to refer to dependability as a combination of the two. The approach to assessment of learning by teachers giving the most dependable result would protect construct validity, while optimising reliability. |
| Development plan | An annual plan in which a school reaffirms its aims and objectives, reports on its audit, and outlines future action for the coming year. All Scottish state schools are now required by the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000 to evaluate the quality of their provision and to make an annual development plan to improve it. Almost all schools had been engaged in development planning for several years before the promulgation of this Act, following national guidance from HM Inspectorate of Education, published in 'How Good is our School?' |
| DfES (Department for Education and Skills) | The DfES works in England to: give children an excellent start in education; enable young people to equip themselves with life and work skills; and encourage adults to achieve their full potential through learning. |
| DHT | Depute Head Teacher, who assists, and where necessary deputises for, the Head Teacher in the conduct of the school’s affairs. |
| Differentiation (of learning) | Takes account of a range of factors that might affect individuals' learning. Depending on levels of confidence, previous experience, knowledge, and skill, pupils in a class might be set different tasks; they might receive different levels of support; or the teacher might have different expectations of their work. |
| Digital | A method of sending data which uses a combination of 1s and 0s (representing 'on' or 'off') to carry the information. |
| Dignity | To have worth, esteem or respect. |
| Diversity | Variety: a variety of something such as opinion, colour, or style. Social inclusiveness: this term is often used here to mean diversity within society of colour, culture, gender, sexual orientation, ability, socioeconomic status, urban / rural, age, faith and beliefs. |
| DPA (Data Protection Act) | The Data Protection Act 1998 gives individuals certain rights regarding information held about them. It places obligations on those who process information (data controllers) while giving rights to those who are the subject of that data (data subjects). |
| Dr Kawashima's Brain Training | A video game created by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS (a hand-held ganes console). Brain Training features activities designed to help stimulate your brain and give it a workout, There are several games within the game itself. You'll need the Nintendo DS handheld game system to play Brain Training. |
| drop-in session | A CPD event in an informal and friendly setting where participants can attend without pre-booking. |
| DtS (Determined to Succeed) | DtS is the Scottish Government's strategy for enterprise in education. It aims to help Scotland's young people develop self-confidence, self-reliance and ambition to achieve their goals - in work and in life. |
| Dyslexia | Occurring at any level of intellectual ability, this causes difficulties in reading, writing and spelling. It can also cause difficulties with short-term memory, in mathematical ability, and in the ability to concentrate. According to the Dyslexia Institute, it is generally caused by differences in the processing of language-based information. Because the origins are biological it may be seen to run in families, but environmental factors may also be significant. The 1993 Education Act defined dyslexia as a Special Education Need, and it is one of several Specific Learning Difficulties. Its effects can be overcome by specialist teaching. |