Key Education Terms

KEY EDUCATION TERMS

Break Down of Key Stages
Early Years/ EYFS – Nursery/Reception
KS1 – Year 1 and Year 2
KS2 – Year 3 to Year 6
KS3 – Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9
KS4 – Year 10 and Year 11

Pay Scales

MPS – Main Pay-Scale/ Main scale Teacher Pay-Scale
UPS – Upper Pay Scale
TLR – Teaching and Learning Responsibility

NQT – Newly Qualified Teacher – have completed their PGCE or equivalent and are about to do or are doing their NQT Year

Final Year Student – in their final year of study before becoming a teacher – usually doing their PGCE or Schools Direct Programme
Schools Direct Programme – Equivalent to/ new type of GTP (Graduate Teacher Programme) – this is where the candidate is working in paid employment at a school whilst gaining their teaching qualification

• QTS – Qualified Teacher Status – the qualification teachers require to teach as a quailed teacher
• QTLS – Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) – Now recognised as a full teaching qualification in Secondary and Primary Schools.
  Since 1 April 2012, Society for Education and Training (SET), formerly the Institute for Learning (IfL), members with Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) status have been recognised as qualified to teach in schools.
• PTTLS – DTTLS – DET Qualifications – Qualification that some trainee teachers go down route of acquiring – it is not the equivalent of QTLS. Teachers with PTTLS – DTTLS need to apply for their QTLS.

Assessment Route Only (AO) – A means of getting UK QTS for overseas trained teachers – The AO route allows teachers to gain Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) without the need for any further training. This needs to be done whilst working at a school and involves observations. For teachers with a recognised teaching qualification from another country within the European Economic Area or from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, or the United States of America it is possible that they may be granted QTS without further assessment – In this case they need to apply to the Department for Education so that their status may be assessed.
Teachers with a recognised teacher qualification from any other country than those listed above can apply for QTS through the AO route. The Assessment Only route takes 12 weeks from starting the process to get QTS.

SCITT – School Centred Initial Teacher Training

DBS – Criminal Record Check

DBS Update Service – An on-line service where the records of DBS’s are held and can be accessed on-line. Teachers pay an annual subscription to be on this

Capability Procedures
In the NUT’s casework experience performance monitoring almost always leads to dismissal once a teacher enters the formal capability stage i.e. the stage at which informal support ends