| AS | Analytical services |
| BCC | British Chambers of Commerce |
| BSA | Basic Skills Agency LFS Labour Force Survey |
| BTEC | British Technology and Education Council |
| CBI | Confederation for British Industry |
| CSR | Comprehensive Spending Review |
| CTC | City Technology Colleges |
| EAZ | Education Action Zone |
| EMA | External Marking Agency |
| ESS | Education Standard Spending |
| EU | European Union |
| FE | Further Education |
| FEFC | Further Education Funding Council |
| FSM | Free School Meals |
| GB | Great Britain |
| GCE | General Certificate of Education |
| GCSE | General Certificate of Secondary Education |
| GDP | Gross Domestic Product |
| GNVQ | General National Vocational Qualification |
| GO | Government Office |
| GST | Government-Supported Training |
| GSVQ | General Scottish Vocational Qualification |
| HE | Higher Education |
| ICT | Information and Communication Technology |
| ILO | International Labour Organisation |
| ISR | Individualised Student Record |
| ITT | Initial Teacher Training |
| IiP | Investors in People |
| IiYP | Investors in Young People |
| KS | Key stage (1,2,3 or 4) |
| KS1 | Key Stage 1 |
| KS2 | Key Stage 2 |
| KS3 | Key Stage 3 |
| LEA | Local Education Authority |
| MA | Modern Apprenticeship |
| MFL | Modern Foreign Languagess |
| NALS | National Adult Learning Survey |
| NC | National Curriculum |
| NCVQ | National Council for Vocational Qualifications |
| NDC | National Data Collection |
| NISVQ | National Information System for Vocational Qualifications |
| NOR | Number on roll,Not on roll,Notification of results |
| NVQ | National Vocational Qualification |
| OECD | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |
| OFSTED | Office for Standards in Education |
| OU | Open University |
| PG | Postgraduate |
| PGCE | Postgraduate Certificate of Education |
| PPT | Primary Performance Tables |
| PQ | Parliamentary Questions |
| PTR | Pupil Teacher Ratio |
| QA | Quality Assurance |
| QAA | Quality Assurance Agency |
| REE | Register of Education Establishment |
| RSA | Royal Society of Arts |
| SCOTVEC | The Scottish Vocational Education Council |
| SEN | Special Educational Needs |
| SFR | Statistical First Release |
| SNIB | Skills Needs in Britain |
| SPM | School Progress Measure |
| SPT | Secondary Performance Tables |
| SQA | Scottish Qualifications Authority |
| SSA | Standard Spending Assessment |
| SVQ | Scottish Vocational Qualification |
| TA | Teacher Assessment |
| TEC | Training and Enterprise Council |
| TfW | Training for Work |
| UG | Undergraduate |
| UK | United Kingdom |
| UPN | Unique pupil number |
| USN | Unique school number |
| VA | Value Added |
| WBLA | Work Based Learning for Adults |
| WBTYP | Work Based Training for Young People |
| YT | Youth Training |