Glossary

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.

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Glossary of terms
FE (Further Education)	Post-school, mainly vocational education, offered through 46 FE colleges, which are grant-aided, directly or indirectly, by the Scottish Government. The funding agency set up by the Scottish Government for this purpose is known as the Scottish Further Education Funding Council.
Feedback	The process of providing a structured response, with information about work in terms of strengths and aspects for improvement. Feedback can be written or oral. However, the aim is to bridge the gap between present performance and desired goal, and is instrumental in moving towards next steps in learning. Feedback will only be effective in moving learning forward if it provides constructive advice and learners are allowed the opportunity to read it and act on it.
Fibre-optic cable/Fibre	A way of transmitting data or voice signals that uses glass or plastic fibres rather than copper wire. The signal is generated by pulses from a laser or light emitting diode. Fibre-optic cable has a much greater bandwidth than copper.
firewall	A security system designed to prevent unauthorised access to a computer network. Not only can it stop hackers getting in, it can also be used to restrict what you see on the internet and what kinds of files you receive.
First-stage remediation	The process of self or peer review of a piece of completed work in order to eliminate small or trivial errors in advance of evaluation by the teacher. If pupils are encouraged to look critically at their own work or pass it to another pupil for checking, simple or careless errors can be corrected before asking for teacher feedback. This enables the teacher to focus on genuine misunderstandings.
flexible routes to headship	A pilot programme to support to the development of aspiring headteachers, a unique feature of which is the role of the professional development coach. An alternative to the standard route to Scottish Qualification for Headship.
Focus group	Generally, a small group of participants, usually no more than 12, invited to examine and provide feedback on an issue in the presence of a moderator. A school might work with focus groups of staff, pupils or parents to identify school improvement issues. In teaching, the phrase might refer to small group tutorials focusing on an identified area of weakness or a particular skill or aspect of knowledge.
FOI (Freedom of Information)	A term used to refer to the rights of the individual to obtain recorded information from public bodies either under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
FOISA (Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002)	This Act was introduced by the Scottish Parliament to ensure that people have the right to access information held by Scottish public authorities. The Act states that any person can receive information that they request from a public authority, subject to certain exemptions such as protection of personal data, commercial confidentiality or national security. It came into force on 1 January 2005.
Folder of evidence	Also referred to as a folio or portfolio. Essentially, it should contain work which illustrates how pupils met the outcomes intended. As part of local moderation, examples would be selected by staff through discussion and reviewed and updated from time to time. Folders of evidence can be used by staff for benchmarking to evaluate pupil or school progress. In personal learning planning, pupils should be encouraged to maintain their own folders and, as they move on in their learning, to evaluate the extent of improvement and to update evidence of their achievements.
Folio	Sometimes called a portfolio, a representative collection of work by one individual. It should illustrate what the student or pupil has achieved and may imply next steps in learning.
Formal moderation	The planned, systematic process of establishing comparability standards, in order to ensure that assessment is valid and reliable. In schools it involves groups of teachers looking at examples of work, discussing the extent to which these meet the expected standard and coming to agreement on the Level of attainment represented by each example. The group may be teachers from within a school or department or from different schools.
Formative assessment	Assessment which focuses on the gap between present performance and desired goal. To be formative, the information gathered must be used to adapt the teaching or the learning to meet the needs of the learner. In the 5-14 national assessment guidance, this type of activity is called 'assessment as part of teaching'. In the AifL - Assessment is for learning programme, it is called 'assessment for learning'.
Freeware	Software that can be downloaded from the internet free of charge.
FTP File transfer protocol	File transfer protocol is the simplest way to exchange files between computers on an intranet or the internet. It is commonly used to download programs and other files from a server to a computer.