Glossary

Searchable glossary containing hundreds of definitions and descriptions of education terms, acronyms and abbreviations used by the LTS online service and in Scottish education.

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H (Higher)	Highers are National Qualifications and are usually taken in the fifth and sixth years of secondary education at about age 17 or 18. Highers are required for entry into higher education. The awards are graded by performance in national examinations and also require candidates to pass all unit assessments associated with the course.
Hard drive	This is the part of the computer that stores information. Computers all have a built-in hard drive, on which the operating system runs.
Hardware	Physical artefacts of technology. Pieces of data sent simultaneously to increase effective rate of transmission.
Hate Crime	A crime that is motivated by hate, prejudice, or intolerance of somebody's race or religion. This term is currently (April 2004) undergoing review in Scotland.
HE (Higher Education)	In Scotland this term refers to the sector of education which encompasses post-school courses at Higher National Certificate and Diploma levels and degree and post-graduate course levels. All FE colleges as well as universities and other HE institutions offer higher education courses of some kind.
HEI	Establishments of higher education including universities and colleges of further education.
HGIOS (How Good is Our School?)	A self-evaluation publication produced for schools by HMIE. Based around a set of quality indicators, it aims to assist teachers, headteachers and education authority officials in achieving quality assurance for schools. Four parts cover a step-by-step approach to school evaluation, practical guidance and case studies, the quality indicators, and further sources of advice.
Hierarchical	Rigidly graded in ranked order: Who is the leader? Who is going next?
Higher-order question	A question designed to promote higher-order, independent thought. Responses are expected to be reflective and require thinking time. Questions like this are also known as 'fat' or 'open' questions.
Highlight prompts	Prompts used to highlight to learners where success occurred and where improvement can take place against the success criteria.Different coloured highlighters are used for achievements/successes; arrows or asterisks indicate where some improvement can be made.The arrow/asterisk is usually extended to the nearest white space where a 'closing the gap' prompt is written to help the learner make a small improvement and thus close the gap in their learning.(For more information, see 'Unlocking Formative Assessment' Clarke S., 2001, pages 57-9)
Hinduism	Hinduism originated over 3000 years ago. It is not a single unified religion and has no founder, single teacher, nor prophets. Hindus believe in a universal soul or God called Brahman. Hinduism is the world's third most popular religion, with around 900 million followers. Those who follow this faith are known as Hindus. About 80% of the population of India regard themselves as Hindus. Hinduism is the fourth most popular religion in Britain with around 400,000 followers.
HMIe	HMIe, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, is a Scottish Executive Agency whose principal activity is to promote sustainable improvements in standards, quality and achievements for all learners in Scottish education through first-hand evaluation. Rigorous independent inspections and reviews of schools and other educational establishments, community learning and the education functions of local councils help ensure this continuous improvement.
HMIE (Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education)	HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) in Scotland is a Scottish Government agency with responsibilities to evaluate pre-school education, primary and secondary schools, teacher education, community learning and development, further education and the education functions of local authorities.
Home page	The first page of a website that provides the navigation for the rest of the site.
Hotel Dusk: room 215
Hotseating	A seat, or chair where a pupils sits, and from where his or her responses to questions become the basis for assessment by the teacher and/or other pupils. This can be a means of revealing pupils' knowledge and understanding, before, during or after a series of lessons on a given subject.
HT	A head teacher, headmaster or headmistress (all often referred to simply as the head) is the most senior teacher in a school.
HT (Headteacher)	The head of any school in Scotland. The headteachers of some secondary schools may also be known as rectors.
HTML	Hypertext Markup Language. The programming language that is commonly used to create documents on the internet.
HTTP Hypertext Transport Protocol	HTTP Hypertext Transport Protocol The network protocol used by the world wide web.
Human Rights	Fundamental rights which belong to everyone by virtue of his or her humanity.
Humanism	A doctrine, attitude, or way of life centred on human interests or values; a philosophy that rejects supernaturalism and stresses an individual's dignity and worth and capacity for self-realisation through reason; humanism has come to refer to a philosophy that rejects traditional religious dogmas and usually theism itself. Although it is possible to be both a theist and a humanist, most who consciously use that term are atheists - secular humanists. This modern humanism is a direct outgrowth of the Renaissance Humanism.
Hun	There are three definitions associated with the word. 1. A member of a nomadic pastoralist people who invaded Europe in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. and were defeated in 455. 2. A barbarous or wantonly destructive person. 3. Offensive Slang. Used as a disparaging term for a German, especially a German soldier in World War I and II. Though the word is often associated with sectarianism, the term Hun when used in a negative and derogatory way connects the term with Attila the Hun and barbarism. There is no religious association with this term.
Hyperlink	An image, phrase or word on a web page that, when clicked, takes you to a different part of that web page or a different website altogether.
Hypertext	A computer-based text retrieval system that enables a user to access particular locations in web pages or other electronic documents by clicking on links within specific web pages or documents.