Picture this… I’m attending my very first staff meeting as a prac student. I’m sitting on the edge of my seat, bursting with excitement that I’m finally able to put into practice everything I have learnt at university. Surprised by the very little nerves I possess, I sit there confidently thinking I totally ‘know my stuff’. All of a sudden, the multitude of teaching acronyms start to emerge from the mouths of the teachers in the room! I remember nodding as I very quickly wrote the acronyms down, planning to do a big google search after the meeting.
I suddenly felt completely and utterly out of my depth…
CRT, IWB, HOC, DET, ACARA, PD, GTMJ, EDI, SPD, ESL…. the list goes on and on!
Teaching Acronyms You Should Know!
Apart from having to keep up-to-date with ‘kid speak’ acronyms, which is a daily battle even for the most experienced teacher, there’s the multitude of teaching specific acronyms that get used in the staff room. Often, these acronyms are not discussed at the university level, so you have to hit the ground running when you take on your first practicum experience or even your first year of teaching.
Combined with my personal experience, the number of acronyms teachers use on a daily basis got us thinking. Apart from searching individual acronyms in google and crossing your fingers and toes that you’ll get the ‘right’ acronym description, there isn’t really one document you can go to that is specific to primary school teachers. So, we have created this very basic Periodic Table of Teaching Acronyms. This, by all means, does not cover every single acronym you may encounter as a teacher in Australia.
We have sourced the most commonly used acronyms from teachers in the know (our amazing followers on Instagram).
We hope that this little ‘cheat sheet’ will be a little bible for student-teachers, graduate teachers and teachers in their early years of teaching.
Print it off and have it handy for your first couple of staff meetings and beyond! You’ll be speaking ‘teacher’ in no time!
Love it! What about the dreaded PTI or PTSI - Parent Teacher Interview or Parent-Teacher-Student Interview? :)
Thanks, Jade! PTI... I like it! Well, I like the acronym!
I really love this idea. In SA we have PLC - Professional Learning Community. We also have a SIP - Site Improvement Plan
Stay tuned for an editable version so you can create your own. Thanks for your lovely feedback, Elizabeth.