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Ace educational acronyms

Acronyms may make communication speedier for insiders but they confuse, irritate and deter the uninitiated. Sometimes they are an obvious abbreviation (helpful) but often they are vain and pompous “e-CAF – Electronic Common Assessment Framework” or downright ludicrous “CTPS – Classroom Teachers Pay Spine”

Here is the best list that we could find.

Hopefully, it will make the dense forest of educational verbiage a little less impenetrable. Unfortunately, the powers that be are tirelessly working to increase their number or, to keep us on our toes, subtly altering ones that we thought we had mastered.

If you find any more, not on this list, that are shockers or simply incomprehensible please let us know.

Published 2nd May 2017 by Susan Hamlyn (SH)

Updated 9th Oct 2017

The Good Schools Guide: Careers

For nearly 30 years the Good Schools Guide has provided trusted help and advice to parents, helping them with one of the most important questions they face - choosing the right school for their child. The Good Schools Guide: Careers (GSGC) is a natural development of that help, aimed at young people and their parents as they consider the future.
What is Further Education (FE)?

Further Education refers to educational choices made after reaching your 16th birthday. FE covers all qualifications lower than a degree.
Careers Interventions

Apart from having excellent career staff - essential guides to an unknown land - careers departments should offer lots of Careers development. These are programs and opportunities where and through which you can learn about careers; opportunities to experience work, involving real employers or other outside experts.
What is an apprenticeship?

Apprenticeships may well be the flavour of the moment, but they are not a new idea. In fact, apprenticeships hark back to Medieval Times. Craftsmen would take on young men (14 -21 years) offering them a free training in exchange for basic food and lodgings. An apprentice would be tied to their employer for several years during which they would learn as much as they were able to become a qualified craftsman themselves. During the Industrial Revolution, the concept was abolished, and it was not until the 1960s that it re-emerged in the UK. Read more
Degree apprenticeship

For the last thirty years, a degree has been viewed as being virtually the only pathway to a high-level level managerial career. In fact, many employers demand a 2.1 or above before they will even consider looking at a CV, essentially creating an internal triage system.

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