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Acronyms

Renfrewshire Council · 14 March 2024
Back to Education and Children's Services Policy Board — 14 March 2024 and its agenda

Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.

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Acronyms 
ADES Associate Directors of
Education (Scotland) 
ASN  Additional Support Needs 
ASL Additional Support for
Learning
Additional support for learning means giving
children extra help or support so they can get
the most out of their education. 
ASN Additional Support Needs A child or young person is said to have
additional support needs if they need more or
different support to what is normally provided
in schools or early learning centres to children
of the same age. 
ASNA Additional Support Needs
Assistant 
AFKA Association for Fostering
Adoption and Kinship
Scotland 
BAME  Black and Asian Minority
Ethnic 
BGE Broad General Education This is the learning which is done from the age
of 3 to 15 up to the end of S3. The aim is to
make sure children have a wide-range of
learning until S4 when they will start to
specialise in difference subjects. 
CA Classroom Assistant 
CAMHS Child and Adolescent
Mental Health Service 
CfE Curriculum of Excellence CfE is the way schools and early years centres
organise learning and teaching for 3-18 year
olds. 
CG Clothing Grants  
CHS Children’s Hearings
Scotland 
CLD Community Learning &
Development
Teams who work with and support
communities in areas such as adult and family
learning and youth work. 
CP Child Protection

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CPD Continuing Professional
Development
Each teacher in Scotland is required to
undertake a certain amount of CPD each year
to maintain or upgrade skills and knowledge. 
COG Chief Officer Group 
CPPM Child Protection Planning
Meeting 
CSP Co-ordinated Support Plan  A child/young person is eligible for a CSP
when they need support at school from
services on an ongoing basis. 
DHT Depute Head Teacher The role of DHT will vary school to school but
generally he/she will stand in for the head
teacher as necessary and will have
responsibility for leadership and management
of colleagues. 
DO Development Officer  Usually, a local authority officer who has a
specific job around supporting schools. 
DYW Developing the Young
Workforce 
DYW is the Scottish Government’s Youth
Employment strategy which aims to get young
people ready for the world of work. 
EAL  English as an Additional
Language 
EIS Educational Institute of
Scotland 
The largest teaching union in Scotland.
ELC Early Learning and
Childcare
This term is meant to empathise that care and
education of very young children are not
separate things as babies and young children
are learning all the time. 
ELCC Early Learning and
Childcare Centre 
ELCO Early Learning & Childcare
Officer 
EM Education Managers 
EP  Educational Psychology  
FGDM Family Group Decision
Making 
FE Further Education This is post-compulsory education which is
difference from that offered in universities. It is
mainly taught in colleges and is sometimes
done as work-based learning or in adult and
community learning.

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FH Faculty Head  
FLR  Flexible Learning
Resource 
Out-reach facility within schools to support
children and young people.
FME Free School Meals 
FTE  Full-Time Equivalent This is a way to measure how much time a
member of school staff works in school. For
example, FTE of 1.0 means the person is
equivalent to a full-time worker, while FTE 0.5
means the person is half-time. 
GGC Greater Glasgow and
Clyde (Health Board) 
GIRFEC Getting it Right for Every
Child 
A Scottish Government policy which aims to
make sure all Scotland’s children, young
person and their families have support across
public services, such as health, education, and
social work. 
GME Gaelic Medium Education A form of education where pupils are taught
mainly in Scottish Gaelic, with English as a
secondary language. 
GTCS General Teaching Council
Scotland
This is the professional body which maintains
the register of teachers and ensures teachers’
professional standards. In Scotland, children
must be taught by qualified and GTCS
registered teachers.
HE Higher Education This is post-compulsory education which
usually takes place in universities. 
HMIE Her Majesty’s Inspectorate
of Education
The Inspectorate carries out inspections of all
places or learning. HMIE is part of Education
Scotland. 
HNC Higher National Certificate HNCs are offered by colleges, some
universities and many training centres. They
usually take one year to complete and provide
skills you need to do a job. 
HND Higher National Diploma HNDs are offered by colleges, some
universities and many training centres. They
usually take two years to complete. 
HT Head Teacher Leader and manager of a school. 
HWB Health and Wellbeing 
ICT Information and
Communications
Technology
ICT in education can be found in the following
ways – 
- as a subject
- as a tool to support teaching and
learning

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- as an administrative tool 
IEP Individual Education Plan An IEP is a document which sets out the goals
and achievements of each school pupil. Every
child should have an IEP and should also have
an input to its content. 
IRD Initial Referral Discussion 
JII Joint Investigative
Interview 
LA Local Authority There are 32 local authorities in Scotland. 
LD  Learning Disability 
LGBT+ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender 
MOG Member Officer Group 
Mentors in Violence
Prevention
MVP 
NIF National Improvement
Framework
Launched in January 2012, this Scottish
Government framework is about measuring
and evaluating performance in schools. It
includes parents and carers as part of the
process. 
NPFS National Parent Forum for
Scotland
Supported by the Scottish Government, NPFS
provides a parental perspective for local and
national policies and issues and helps support
parental involvement. 
NQ National Qualifications NQs are taken by young people in secondary
schools and colleges (and some training
centres). 
NVQ National Vocational
Qualification 
These are work-based qualifications.
NVR  Non-Violence Resistance  
OSCR Office of the Scottish
Charity Regulator 
OSCR decides whether to grant an
organisation charitable status and to enter it on
the Scottish Charity Register. 
PEF Pupil Equity Funding This is money given to schools to help support
children who may be falling behind and don’t
have the same chances in education because
their family is experiencing poverty or other
financial difficulties. 
PGS Paisley Grammar School Locally used term.

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PLP Personal Learning Plan The document/folder where a pupil can keep a
record of his/her goals and achievements
alongside examples of their work. 
PPP Public Private Partnership A collaboration between a local authority and
private companies, often used in the building
and management of schools. 
PRD Professional Review and
Development
Each teacher has the right to an annual PRD
interview to focus on their strengths and areas
for development and to agree on their training
needs. 
PT Principal Teacher In primary schools, this is usually a classroom
teacher who also takes on some managerial
roles within the school. 
PU Professional Update This supports teachers to develop their skills
and work; teachers are asked to keep a record
of their learning throughout their careers. 
PVG Protection of Vulnerable
Groups
The PVG Membership Scheme is the Scottish
disclosure system. 
QA Quality Assurance  
QAF Quality Assurance
Framework 
QI Quality Improvement 
QIO Quality Improvement
Officer
Usually, a local authority officer who has a
specific job around supporting schools. 
RCPC Renfrewshire Child
Protection Committee 
RCSP Renfrewshire Children’s
Services Partnership 
RIC Regional Improvement
Collaborative
Collaborative that brings together a range of
professional including local authority and
Education Scotland officers with a focus on
supporting teacher and other school staff to
improve outcomes for children and young
people. 
RLDS Renfrewshire Learning
Disability Service 
RME Religious and Moral
Education 
RMPS Religious, Moral and
Philosophical Studies

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RNRA Renfrewshire Nurturing
Relationships Approach 
SAC  Scottish Attainment
Challenge 
SCCYP Scottish Commissioner for
Children and Young
People
The Commissioner aims to promote and
protect the rights of children and young people
in Scotland.
SCQF Scottish Credit and
Qualifications Framework 
This organisation promotes lifelong learning in
Scotland. 
SCRA Scottish Children’s
Reporter Administration 
SDS Skills Development
Scotland
Works in schools to provide information and
advice about careers. 
SEF Scottish Equality Funding 
SIF Summary of Inspection
Finding
This document is available on the Education
Scotland website following an inspection. 
SIP School Improvement Plan This document should show improvement
targets for a school. 
SP Senior Phase 
SLFU Initial School Leavers Follow Up
(Initial) Destinations 
SLFU Follow Up School Leavers Follow Up
(Follow Up) destinations 
SLT School Leadership Team 
SMT School Management
Team
Usually includes the headteacher and deputes;
may also include the business manager and
principal teachers. 
SPOIN Scottish Parental
Involvement Officers
Network 
A network group for local authority officers who
have a specific role in supporting family
engagement. 
SQA Scottish Qualifications
Authority
SQA is responsible for the design, setting,
assessment and certification of qualifications. 
SSERC Scottish School Education
Research Centre 
SSTA Scottish Secondary
Teacher Association
(SSTA) 
STEAM Science, Technology,
Engineering and Maths
The name used for this group of subjects.

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STEM Science, Technology,
Engineering, Maths 
The name used for this group of subjects.
SVQ Scottish Vocational
Qualification
These qualifications are based on standards
drawn up by industry, commerce, and
education. 
SWS Social Work Scotland 
UCAS Universities and College
Admissions Service 
UCAS process most applications for entry to
higher and further education throughout the
UK.
UNCRC United Nations Convention
on the Rights of a Child 
This is an internal human rights treaty that
grants all children and young people a set of
rights. 
WFW Whole Family Wellbeing  This is a phrase to describe work within the
Children’s Service’s Partnership designed to
better support families and communities
through deploying a new fund, downloaded to
every local council, known as the Whole
Family Wellbeing Fund.