Understanding how the A-Z of terms is organised will help you find the terms you are looking for.
Preferred and non-preferred terms
Where two or more terms can be used to express the same concept, we specify the one to be used as the preferred term and list the others as non-preferred terms. Non-preferred terms appear in italics. In the following example, Good practice is the preferred term and Best practice is the non-preferred term.
Best practice USE Good practice
Good practice USED FOR Best practice
Non-preferred terms can be synonyms, near synonyms, abbreviations, alternative spellings or more specific instances of the preferred term. For example:
Information analysis USE Information management
Information handling USE Information management
Information work USE Information management
DfE USE Department for Education
The A-Z of terms includes the names of departmental initiatives, related organisations and some countries and regions, but does not include the names of people, companies or towns.
Form of preferred terms
Please note:
- We use English spelling throughout, e.g. Labour not Labor.
- Apostrophes are omitted, e.g. Childrens services.
- All terms appear in lower case commencing with a capital letter, e.g. Pilot projects.
All terms are expressed as nouns (e.g. Schools, Teachers, Children), or adjectival phrases (e.g. Primary schools, Student teachers, Disadvantaged children).
Nouns that can be expressed in the plural appear in plural form, e.g. Awarding bodies, Teachers, Certificates.
Nouns that can only be singular are expressed in the singular, e.g. Food, Training.
Abstract concepts, properties, activities and disciplines are expressed in the singular, e.g. Religion, Therapy, Psychology.
Scope note / definition
- Scope notes define a term and explain how it should be used, e.g.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a group of behavioural symptoms that include inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Attention deficit disorder (ADD) is a type of ADHD. Source: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder/Pages/Introduction.aspx accessed 2011-01-24
Most departmental initiatives and schemes have scope notes which give information about the dates and purpose of the initiative.
Where the exact dates of an initiative are unknown, or uncertain, the following conventions within Scope Note / Definition are used:
2006/unknown; or
2006-March 2010?
Searching A-Z of terms
Enter your search term in the search box. You can enter a word, part of a word or a phrase. The search is not case sensitive. The default setting will retrieve all instances of the search word, e.g. a search for ‘funding’ will retrieve, amongst other results:
- Fair funding
- Funding
- Funding bids
- Revenue funding for education
Your term will be either a preferred term or a non-preferred term (in italics).
Click on a non-preferred term to see the preferred term, e.g. click on Revenue funding for education to see Recurrent funding.
Click on the preferred term to see its broader term, any narrower and related terms and any scope notes, e.g.
Funding
Used For:
- Financial aid
- Support (financial)
Broader Term:
- Finance
Narrower term:
- Capital funding
- Grant in aid
Related term:
- Credit
- Loans
You can click on any of these terms to see their broader, narrower and related terms.
In addition, you can browse the A-Z of terms in an alphabetical list of both preferred and non-preferred terms, and you can browse by subject, by clicking down from the top fifteen terms.
- Common concepts
- Communication and information
- Culture and lifestyle
- Economics and finance
- Education
- Employment and career development
- Environment
- Government and politics
- Health
- Management
- Organisation
- Psychology and behaviour
- Rights, law and order
- Society
- Transport
