Effective School Management

Glossary
(Abbreviations and acronyms which may not be familiar to readers outside the UK
are set out below.)
BCLP: Barrow Community Learning Partnership, an agency for effecting
cultural change in Barrow schools and the local community.
BEMAS (renamed BELMAS): British Education (Leadership) Management and
Administration Society, a professional body for education managers and
those who develop them (www.belmas.org.uk).
CNAA: the Council for National Academic Awards was an official validating
body set up to grant higher academic awards to students.
CSCS: the Centre for the Study of Comprehensive Schools, based at  University
of Leicester, Moulton College, Moulton, Northampton NN3 7RR, is a
national organization set up in 1980 to collect, study and disseminate good
practice in comprehensive schools (www.cscs.org.uk).
DfES: the Department for Education and Skills (formerly the DfEE, the
Department for Education and Employment, DfE, the Department for
Education, and before that the DES, the Department of Education and
Science) is the government department centrally responsible for
education in England (but not Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland)
(www.dfes.gov.uk).
ERA: the Education Reform Act 1988. A major piece of legislation, introducing
a National Curriculum, mandatory testing, local management of schools
(LMS) and the right of schools to opt out of the local authority system.
GNVQ: General National Vocational Qualifications are a form of accreditation
of what candidates can do, as opposed to what they know.
HIP:  Headteachers’ Induction  Programme (formerly HEADLAMP). A
government initiative to train newly appointed headteachers.
HSC/HSE: Health and Safety Commission/Executive, the national UK body
that oversees health and safety in the workplace.

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HoD:  head of department. Secondary schools are structured according to
subject discipline, with the various departments headed by senior practising
teachers. In Scotland the term ‘principal teacher’ is more common. Some
schools also have faculties which group together related subjects. Where
the context so requires, the term HoD should be taken to include also heads
of faculties.
ICI: Imperial Chemical Industries plc is a British multinational chemical
company which for many years had a reputation for progressive
management and for helping science teachers to improve their teaching
materials. It has also been active in transferring some of its management
practices to schools.
ILEA: the Inner London Education Authority was an elected body responsible
for providing and co-ordinating all the public-sector education in inner
London. Disbanded under ERA, its principal functions are now provided
by the boroughs.
INSET: in-service education and training is provided mainly by public sector
educational institutions, universities, LEAs (q.v.) and the DfES (q.v.).
LEA:  local education authorities are bodies of elected representatives
responding to county, metropolitan district and borough councils. The
permanent officials are usually headed by a director of education or chief
education officer responsible for the administration of the authority. Their
powers were curtailed by ERA (q.v.). Most teachers are employees of an
LEA.
LMS: local management of schools. A provision of ERA (q.v.), which devolves
much power and authority from LEAs to individual schools.
LPSH: Leadership Programme for Serving Headteachers.
LSC: Learning and Skills Council, the government agency that took over from
the Further Education Funding Council and the Training and Enterprise
Councils for funding vocational education and training in England.
MCI: the Management Charter Initiative was the ‘lead body’ that developed
national occupational standards of competence in management, on
which National (and Scottish) Vocational Qualifications are based. Now
replaced by the Management Standards Centre (www.management-
standards.org.uk).
MSC: see TEED.
NAHT: the National Association of Head Teachers is the largest professional
association of heads and deputies in the UK, covering both the primary
and the secondary sector.

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GLOSSARY
289
NCSL: the National College for School Leadership has taken over from TTA
(q.v.) responsibility for raising standards in school management and
leadership (www.ncsl.org.uk).
NPQH: National Professional Qualification for Headship (for aspiring heads).
NTL: the National Training Laboratories are an American organization which
has successfully pioneered the development and application to
management and organization of the behavioural sciences, especially
humanistic psychology, since the Second World War. Its nearest UK
equivalent is the Tavistock Institute for Human Relations. Both are
proponents of experiential, as distinct from didactic, learning methods.
NUT: the National Union of Teachers is the largest and most powerful teachers’
union in the UK. It is affiliated to the TUC (Trades Union Congress).
NVQ:  National Vocational Qualifications (in Scotland, SVQ) attest to
competence in the workplace against national standards. Overseen
originally by NCVQ (NC = National Council), and replaced in 1997 by
QCA (q.v.) and in Scotland by SCOTVEC (Scottish Vocational Education
Council).
OD: organization development has no satisfactory definition. It is used to
denote an approach to the improvement of the effectiveness of organizations
and of the individuals that staff them. This approach makes systematic use
of the behavioural sciences (applied psychology, sociology, social
anthropology, etc.) to diagnose situations and solve the problems that
emerge. Although not synonymous with the management of change, OD
is very much associated with it.
Ofsted: the Office for Standards in Education is the inspecting authority for
English schools (formerly conducted by HMI – Her Majesty’s Inspectorate
– www.ofsted.gov.uk).
QCA:  Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, formed in 1997 by
amalgamating NCVQ and the Schools Curriculum and Assessment
Authority (www.qca.org.uk).
ROSLA: raising of the school leaving age. In UK schools compulsory education
continues to the age of 16 – formerly 15, and before that, 14.
SED/SEED:  the Scottish (Executive) Education Department discharges the
responsibilities which in England are handled by the DfES (q.v.). The two
education systems differ in some major respects, so it is often misleading
to speak of ‘British’ education.
SEN: special educational needs. A phrase used to refer to the needs of children
with handicap and disability, provision for whom is covered by the
Education Act 1981, which followed the Warnock Report on the subject.

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SHA: the Secondary Heads Association is the main professional association
for (specifically) secondary  headteachers,  deputy and assistant
headteachers.
TEED:  the Training, Enterprise and Education Directorate of the former
Employment Department (later amalgamated with the former Department
for Education) succeeded the Training Agency, which in turn succeeded
the Manpower Services Commission (MSC). It exerted pressure on the
education system to respond more effectively to national economic needs.
TTA: Teacher Training Agency, set up under the Education Act 1994 to oversee
nationally the initial and in-service training of teachers. The NCSL (q.v.)
has now taken over responsibility for headteachers.
TVEI: the Training and Vocational Education Initiative was a government-
funded scheme aimed at shifting the focus of secondary education towards
practical and vocational activities, and thus to counter the ‘academic drift’
which followed the Fisher Education Act 1917 making the universities
responsible for the main examination system.

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USEFUL WEBSITES
291