I remember as a new teacher sitting in meetings and listening to more experienced teachers chatting and using a whole different, unknown vocabulary. I used to wait until the meeting was over, then come home and google the various terminology and acronyms and then I could make sense of the conversations. I never told anyone I did this, just kept quiet and learnt for myself.
So, in a bid to help out others who find themselves in a similar situation, here are some of the key words you might hear whilst on placement, roughly what they mean. (I am not a dictionary after all!) If there are any missed that you would like me to cover – leave me a note in the comments section.
Pedagogy: The theory and practice of teaching and how these influence student learning.
Core subjects: English, Maths and Science
Foundation subjects: Everything else
Learning objective / intention: What the children are aiming to learn within a lesson / series of lessons. Usually these are taken directly from the National Curriculum, so that teachers can assess progress.
WALT: ‘We are learning to…’ – This acronym is used to introduce the objective in child friendly language to the children. Often written into books to show what they have been working on.
WILF: ‘What I’m looking for…’ – this details what the teacher will be looking for in the children’s work. Sometimes named ‘success criteria’ – see below.
Differentiation: Providing adapted or alternative activities so that all children can access the learning.
Learning without Limits: Google Dame Alison Peacock. This is the idea that ability grouping is defunct and that all children should be enabled to learn to their best of their ability by having access to the same learning as everyone else, i.e. not putting a ceiling on a child’s learning.
Mastery: NC2014 is a ‘Mastery’ curriculum, i.e. a set of skills to be mastered. Mastery is for everyone. Some schools use it as their ‘greater depth’ – this is wrong! All children can master their learning!
Greater Depth: This is for the children who have mastered a topic. Greater depth involves delving deeper into a topic, e.g. in Maths, completing investigations or puzzles which practise the skill learnt, in a different way.
Steps to success / success criteria: A set of steps shared with the children that detail how to be successful in a task. Often used in English to cover a number of objectives.
AfL: Acronym for ‘Assessment for learning’ – notably popular in the mid 2000’s. Still a great tool for assessing learning. This is basically assessment within the lesson, through questioning, self assessment and tar getting specific learners. Look up ‘Shirley Clarke’ who was a key figure in researching this.
T4W: Acronym for ‘Talk for Writing’ – brainchild of Pie Corbett and a popular way of getting children writing. Website here: http://www.talk4writing.co.uk/
Plenary: Often used at the end of the lesson to conclude the learning. This will often be an assessment activity, mini game or other way of drawing everything together. In recent years, the ‘mini plenary’ has been used within the lesson to guide children to reflect on their learning so far.
Inclusion: Rooted in ‘Every Child Matters’ – this means equality in education. All children have the right to learn and all learning styles / needs should be accommodated in learning. Document here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/272064/5860.pdf
SEN: Acronym for ‘Special Educational Needs’ – some children will have a statement for this, some children will be on the SEN register, meaning that they have additional support. Some children with SEN are funded, generally those who have a statement. They may have some TA support.
SENCO: The member of staff responsible for special needs provision in the school.
I.E.P: Acronym for ‘Individual Education Plan’ – Children who are identified as having SEN are often given one of these. In some schools they are called ‘Learning passports.’ They basically detail the support a child should receive in school, including interventions.
Interventions: These are a series of activities which support children who need additional support with their learning. They usually focus around the core subjects. Often they are delivered by a teaching assistant. These are organised by the SENCO and class teacher who monitor them to make sure the children are progressing.
APP: ‘Assessing Pupils Progress’ – You don’t need to worry about this too much now, but it was hell in the mid 2000’s. It basically meant a sheet for every child where you highlighted objectives as they achieved them. Took ages and was fairly irritating. Luckily it has gone.
Content domain: ‘Content domain is the body of knowledge, skills or abilities being measured or examined by a test, experiment or research study.’ Link – Basically the key areas a child needs to have learnt by the end of each key stage.
Quality first teaching: What every child should receive, before intervention. Some schools do this rather than intervention, but it does depend on the quality of teaching! More info here: QFT teaching
EHCP: ‘Educational health care plan’ – for children who have medical needs.
Pupil Premium: This is a pot of money each school has for children who are from low income / disadvantaged families. This varies from school to school. This money is ring-fenced and must only be used to have an impact on the learning and well-being of these children. This money is closely monitored. Often PP children are monitored in schools to ensure that they are progressing, in a bid to ‘narrow the gap.’
FSM: Free School Meals
PFSA / PSA: ‘Parent family support worker’ / ‘parent support worker’ – This individual will support the family around the child and sometimes can be seen around school too, acting as a bridge to support the child in both settings.
ERIC: ‘Everybody reading in class’
Golden time: Used as a behaviour management strategy – children can earn or lose golden time. Usually the last 20-30 mins of the day on a Friday. This is useful time for teachers for a quick bit of marking, display putting up, or generally chillaxing until the bell goes.
Playtime: Code for: ‘Quick, go and grab some life sustaining coffee and a piece of cake.’
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