Glossary of Terms

MEDICAL COMPETENCE
A term sometimes used to explain poor professional performance by reference to a person’s medical condition.

MISCONDUCT
In employment, a term used to describe action by an employee, which is deemed to be improper to an employer.

NEGOTIATING MACHINERY
Used to describe the structures set up to enable employers and employees (through their trade unions) to reach agreement on matters affecting pay and conditions.

NASUWT
A TUC-affiliated trade union representing some teachers in schools and colleges throughout the United Kingdom.

NEGOTIATING RIGHTS
The right given to a trade union to bargain with an employer on pay and conditions. In the UK, negotiating rights are in the gift of the employer.

NEGOTIATION
The process of bargaining, typically between employers and trade unions. Distinguished from ‘consultation’ in that the agreement of both parties is required before any change can be made.

NUT now NEU
A TUC-affiliated trade union representing some teachers in schools in England and Wales.

ORAL WARNING
In most disciplinary procedures the least serious formal sanction that can be taken against an employee judged by an employer to have misbehaved. Paradoxically, an oral warning is often given in writing.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
A statutory system in maintained schools for monitoring the performance of teachers on an annual basis

PIP
Stands for Problem - Information - Plan. A strategy used to assist a systematic approach to problem solving.

PLASC (PupilLevelAnnualSchool Census)
An annual return made by schools to the DfE regarded as the official count of pupil numbers.

PROCEDURES
A set of rules which control a process. For example, disciplinary procedures will lay down timescales, rights to representation and so on.

UCU
A TUC-affiliated trade union representing lecturers and teachers in further and higher education.

QUALIFYING PERIOD
In employment, a requirement that an employee completes a specified continuous term of employment with an employer before acquiring certain rights (e.g. the right to claim unfair dismissal).

RECOGNITION
In employment, the agreement by an employer to negotiate with trade union representatives or to allow trade union officials to perform their functions. In the UK, certain trade union rights are dependent upon recognition.