In September I wrote an article for the Tes New teachers guide to classroom practice on the acronyms and catchphrases we regularly use as teachers but which may be baffling to NQTs.

A way with words

Brevity may be the soul of wit but it is a necessary evil for busy teachers. Why waste time saying three whole words when we can shorten them to a three-letter acronym, such as NQT? Like the barrow boys of London, we teachers have developed a secret language that can befuddle even the savviest of newly qualified teachers.

Your initial teacher training year will have endowed you with a good knowledge of the key acronyms and terminology used in schools, but it’s likely you’ll come across even more this year.

So, would you Adam and Eve it? I’ve only gone and collated a list of specialised jargon so you can join in the teacher talk and hit the ground running in your first term.

If you have digital access to back issues of Tes Magazines then you can read the rest of the article here.