Glossary

Assessment of learner’s progress and achievement, the primary purpose of which is to support and enhance learning by adapting the educational process to meet the learner’s needs. Learners are made aware of their strengths and weaknesses while being provided with adequate support to overcome learning difficulties (UNESCO-IBE, Glossary of Curriculum Terminology).

(See also ‘Formative assessment’)

Assessment of learner’s achievement the primary purpose of which is to provide information about what has been learned at a particular point in time. This process often involves the use of standardized tests or examinations. It is often, though not always, used for the purpose of promotion and/or graduation (UNESCO-IBE, Glossary of Curriculum Terminology).

(See also ‘Summative assessment’)

Equipment, devices, apparatuses, services, systems, processes and environmental modifications used by people with disabilities to overcome social, infrastructural and other barriers to learning independence, safe and easy participation in learning activities, and full participation in society (UNESCO, 2020a, p. 419).

‘Enabling technologies’ is another term for ‘assistive technologies’. However, these focus more on creating opportunity than overcoming a deficit.

Children can be at risk of disadvantage because of their individual circumstances or because they, or their families belong to a group which is disadvantaged in society. These children may include those with disabilities, with mental health problems, in alternative care, at risk of neglect/abuse, undocumented child migrants/asylum seekers, those whose families live in poverty or are socially disadvantaged, those whose families have a migrant and/or second language background, those whose families have limited access to services, Roma and traveller children (European Commission, 2018a).

The highest ISCED level of education an individual has successfully completed. This is usually measured with respect to the highest education programme successfully completed which is typically certified by a recognised qualification. Recognised intermediate qualifications are classified at a lower level than the programme itself (UNESCO/UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2012, p. 79).

(See also ‘Achievement’)

Assessment of learner performance that is as closely related to a real-life situation as possible and is not artificial or contrived. One way to make an assessment more authentic is to have learners choose the particular task they will use to demonstrate what they have learned (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) in UNESCO-IBE, Glossary of Curriculum Terminology).

Learning related to real-life or ‘authentic’ situations – the kinds of problems faced by citizens, consumers, or professionals. Advocates complain that what is taught in school has little relationship to anything people do in the world outside of school; efforts to make learning more authentic are intended to overcome that problem. Authentic learning situations require teamwork, problem-solving skills, and the ability to organize and prioritize the tasks needed to complete the project. Learners should know what is expected before beginning their work. Consultation with others, including the teacher or instructor, is encouraged. The goal is to produce a high-quality solution to a real problem, not to see how much the learner can remember (ASCD in UNESCO-IBE, Glossary of Curriculum Terminology).

‘The freedom for a country, a region or an organization to govern itself independently’; ‘The ability to act and make decisions without being controlled by anyone else’ (Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries).

In education, autonomy may include local-governance autonomy, school autonomy and teacher autonomy (the extent to which teachers can make autonomous decisions about what they teach to learners and how they teach it). Also important are parent autonomy (around curriculum, school performance) and learner autonomy (giving learners control over their own learning process) (adapted from ‘autonomy’ in the Glossary of Education Reform).

Awareness raising campaigns can be defined as organised communication activities which aim to create awareness on particular topics (health, environment, education), behavioural change among the general population and to improve the focus on better outcomes (better health, greater environmental protection, reduced early school leaving). They often take the form of mass media campaigns.

Messages can be conveyed through many different channels, such as mass media (television, radio), social media, public relations, events, talks, demonstrations, tours and leaflets.

Awareness raising campaigns are recognised as the most efficient and effective means of communicating information especially to the general public. Still, not all of them are effective in terms of influencing people’s beliefs and changing their behaviour (Masiulienė, Looney, Aertgeerts and de Greef, no date, p. 4).
 

A barrier is ‘a problem, rule or situation that prevents somebody from doing something, or that makes something impossible’ (Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries).

Disability is often considered to be due to ‘disabling barriers’. These can be addressed by designing enabling, accessible environments.

In education – and during the learning process – there may be many barriers or circumstances that restrict the full participation of learners. Many learners will have different requirements (short and longer term) that may require consideration to enable them to take part in all activities and gain full benefit from the opportunities on offer.

Full and active participation may be affected by negative attitudes and deficit thinking, physical barriers, poor access to communication aids and appropriate information in accessible formats or a lack of confidence and/or training in the skills necessary to take part (European Agency, no date b).

Baseline assessment is a first assessment in a general or specific area of functioning to determine a learner’s profile of strengths and weaknesses at a particular time. Baseline assessments are often given at the start of teaching and learning programmes. They serve as a starting ‘measure’ to assess progress over a period of time.

‘Something that can be measured and used as a standard that other things can be compared with’ (Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries).

‘A systematic process of comparing the activities, processes and/or performance of a programme, organization, country, learner, etc. against a theoretical, political or existing reference with the aim of identifying ways to improve performance’ (CEDEFOP (2011) in UNESCO-IBE, Glossary of Curriculum Terminology).

Blended learning in formal education and training involves a diversity of approaches and is to be understood as a school (in primary and secondary education, including vocational education and training), teacher and trainer or learner taking more than one approach to the learning process:

• blending school site and other physical environments away from the school site (either with the presence of a teacher/trainer, or separated by space and/or time in distance learning);
• blending different learning tools that can be digital (including online learning) and non-digital.

Using their professional pedagogical judgement, teachers, trainers and schools will select and facilitate the use of these approaches as part of engaging and effective learning tasks that support broad competence development, as appropriate to the age, abilities and circumstances of the learners and intended learning outcomes.

Other physical environments may include, for example, on the one hand: the home; hospitals (in the case of sick or injured children); and on the other hand cultural and memory institutions; farms, companies and other workplaces; nature sites and outdoors; sports and youth spaces (Council of the European Union, 2021, p. 12).

Capacity building refers to the process of developing and strengthening mainstream schools’ capacity to meet all learners’ needs, rather than distributing additional resources for learners with additional support needs. This process involves increasing the knowledge and skills of all education professionals (i.e. leaders, teachers and specialist staff) and enhancing collaborative practices within schools and across local communities. The ultimate aim is to transform teaching and learning and improve learner outcomes.

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