Frequently Asked Questions - and Acronyms Guide
The NGA has produced this guide to help governors and others navigate
the complexities of the education world, with its specialist terms and
abbreviations.
T-X
Teaching Assistants (TAs)
TAs provide additional classroom support to teachers.
Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA)
The TDA is a government agency with responsibility: for ensuring that that teachers and the wider school workforce have the skills and support to carry out their roles, for the initial recruitment and training of teachers and for the remodelling of the school workforce.
Teaching and Learning Responsibilities (TLRs)
Extra payments awarded to teachers with additional responsibilities in schools.
Trust Schools
Trust schools are foundation schools which adopt a foundation body. The body has the power to appoint some of the governing body, in some schools this can be the majority of the governing body.
UNISON - Union of Public Employees
The trade union for many support staff in schools.
Voluntary Aided
A local authority funded school which was set up by a voluntary body (usually a church body). The governing body is the employer of staff at the school and responsible for admissions to the school. The school’s buildings and land (apart from playing fields) are usually owned by the founding charitable body.
Voluntary Controlled Schools
A local authority funded school in which the local authority is the employer, the owner of the buildings and determines the admission arrangements. Voluntary controlled schools are usually denominational schools and the denominational body may have certain rights in relation to religious worship at the school.
Workforce Agreement
The workforce agreement was established in 2003. It brought about changes in teachers’ conditions of service and provided enhanced roles for support staff. Changes resulting from the agreement are known as ‘workforce remodelling’.
Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group
The signatories of the workforce agreement, many of the principal teaching unions and the support staff union continue to meet and monitor the implementation and ongoing effects of workforce remodelling.