Style guide
Always use the GOV.UK style guide first.
This is a guide, not a set of rules. If your service uses niche language, or research shows your users say something else, use the words your users understand.
If a word you use isn't here, start a conversation in the DfE content design Teams channel, or email design.ops@education.gov.uk and suggest it is added.
You can also contribute to this style guide on GitHub.
A
academic year
Use months rather than the academic year when communicating with the public, especially if the content is aimed at an international audience.
For example, 'Teacher training lasts around 9 months, usually starting in September.'
Instead of, 'Teacher training lasts one academic year.'
If you need to write about a specific academic year, follow GDS guidance for dates and date ranges.
accredited providers
An accredited provider is an organisation who has been given accreditation.
An accrediting provider is an organisation who provides the accreditation.
acronyms
We follow GOV.UK guidance for acronyms, however if users are familiar with the acronym, we use the acronym first.
For example, we would write, GDS (Government Digital Service) if writing for civil servants.
If designing a service, use the full name on the start page and then the acronym.
If designing a manual, or a group of pages, the first time you use the acronym on each page, use the full name and then the acronym.
adult-led
Hyphenated when used to describe an adult leading something, for example, 'an adult-led activity'. Not hyphenated in other circumstances 'this activity is adult led'.
apprenticeship name
Use capitals for the names of specific courses, apprenticeships and their levels.
For example, you could do the Finance Assistant Level 2 Intermediate Apprenticeship to become an accounting technician.
Use sentence case when referring to a course or apprenticeship in general.
For example, you could do a level 3 advanced apprenticeship in finance or accounting to become an accounting technician.
B
baby
A child aged 0 to 12 months. If they are older than 12 months, use child.
buy or buying
Not procure or procurement.
C
capitalisation
We follow GDS guidance for capitalisation and casing.
child-led
Hyphenated when used to describe a child leading something, for example, 'a child-led activity'. Not hyphenated in other circumstances, for example, 'this activity is child led'.
continuing professional development (CPD)
Lower case.
D
dates
We follow GDS guidance on how to write dates.
DBS check
Write out in full first time use name of service, follow acronyms guidance.
There are 4 levels, ‘basic’, ‘standard’, ‘enhanced’ and ‘enhanced with barred lists’. You may need to be specific about which level you are referring to. See DBS checks.
DfE Sign-in
Lower case f, upper case S, and hyphen.
E
early career teacher (ECT)
This term replaces 'newly qualified teacher'. Newly qualified teacher used to apply to a teacher's first year of teaching, whereas an early career teacher applies to a teacher in their first two years of teaching. Lower case.
early years initial teacher training (EYITT)
Lower case.
educational setting
Use setting rather than establishment. If writing about one type of setting, describe what it is, for example 'school', or 'college'.
English as an additional language
Not English as a second or foreign language.
F
further education
Lower case.
G
Get Into Teaching
Upper case.
Do not use GIT when communicating with users.
Grant names
Use lower case when writing grant and funding names in full.
For example, teachers' pay grant (TPG).
H
Higher Education
Upper case.
Higher Education institution (HEI)
Avoid using in content aimed at a general audience.
A generic term for organisations that teach at degree level or higher (’higher education’). Usually a university but some still call themselves colleges or use another term.
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)
Upper case.
hyphenation
We follow the GDS guidance on hyphenation.
I
international qualified teacher status (iQTS)
Use lower case i.
IT
Not ICT.
IT support
Use IT support instead of IT service provider or IT support provider.
J
job titles
We follow GDS guidance on job titles.
We try to avoid generic job titles because they can mean different things to different people. For example, a school business manager might have different responsibilities from one school to another.
Instead, use language that describes the thing a job role does. For example, ‘The person who manages your recruitment should upload the job advert,’ rather than, ‘Your HR Lead should upload the job advert’.
For internal products and services, try not to use the job title as an identifier alongside a name, for example:
Delivery officer: Josephine Bloggs
We would write that a project is assigned to a particular person, for example:
Assigned to: Josephine Bloggs
Job titles can, and do change as departments and divisions reorganise and restructure. Avoiding job titles can help to reduce confusion when those titles are no longer used.
K
key stages
Lower case.
Where key stages are referenced in services that are used by people who may not be familiar with the key stage system, add the age range in brackets afterwards.
For example, you will teach pupils in key stage 3 (ages 11 to 14).
L
local council or local authority
GDS guidance says use local council.
Follow this unless you are writing for civil servants. They usually refer to a local authority instead. Use the language of your users.
M
multi-academy trust
Hyphenate multi-academy. You may also shorten this to MAT. Follow acronym guidance.
N
National Careers Service
Never shorten to NCS.
national professional qualifications (NPQ)
Lower case.
numbers
Create a consistent way of writing time periods of 12 months or more.
Write the length of apprenticeships and courses in years and months while following the convention for numbers in GDS guidance.
For example:
This course takes approximately one year to complete.
This apprenticeship takes 2 years and 6 months to complete.
O
off-the-job training
Hyphenate.
on-the-job training
Hyphenate.
P
parents and carers
Always use parents and carers for inclusivity.
Pre- or post-16
Where possible refer to the school year as pupils can be 16 in Year 11 and Year 12. Or they may have moved up a year early or held back a year.
Use post-16 when referring to special post-16 providers (SPIs).
primary school
Lower case unless part of a school's name.
pupil or student
Use 'pupil' when referring to primary or secondary school age children, and then use 'student' when referring to people in a Further or Higher Education setting.
Q
R
recruitment cycle
Use 'recruitment cycle' not 'recruitment year' for content aimed at providers and civil servants.
risk rating
Use risk rating to describe a risk level. Do not use RAG rating, unless you're only rating risks by red, amber, green categories.
S
secondary
Lower case unless part of a school's name.
service name
Try and use the service name as part of a sentence rather than using it as a noun. For example, we would say:
If you want to start teacher training, you can find postgraduate teacher training courses.
Instead of:
If you want to start teacher training, you can use Find postgraduate teacher training.
When you use the noun form, try to put it at the start of the sentence so it doesn't look like a typo.
For example:
Find a postgraduate teacher training course can show you where you can train.
If you have to refer to the service by name. This can include:
- privacy statements
- accessibility statements
- cookies policies
- emails from the service
In those cases, you should capitalise the first letter of the service to make it clear that's the name of the service. Avoid using single quotes and the word 'service' at the end.
For example:
This accessibility statement applies to Complete conversions, transfers and changes.
There are some exceptions where we use the word service as part of the name.
These are:
- Apprenticeship service
- Apprentice assessment service
- My apprenticeship service
- National Careers Service
single academy trust
Do not hyphenate. You may also shorten this to SAT. Follow acronym guidance
school
Lower case, unless part of a school's name.
school census
Lower case.
School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT)
Do not hyphenate.
special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCo)
We follow GDS guidance and apply it to SENCo (special educational needs co-ordinator)
special educational needs and disabilities co-ordinator (SENDCo)
Follow guidance for special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCo).
subject knowledge enhancement course (SKE)
Lower case.
T
teacher reference number (TRN)
Lower case.
teacher training adviser
Use 'teacher training adviser', not 'Get Into Teaching advisers'.
Do not use 'advisor'.
Describe what a teacher training adviser does when you first mention them.
For example:
A teacher training adviser can guide you through the application process free of charge. They'll help you with things like choosing a course and writing your application.
Teaching Vacancies
Upper case. A service for advertising, finding and applying for school jobs. Previously known as Teacher Vacancy Service. Do not use the old service name or the acronyms TV or TVS when communicating with users.
trainee
When a candidate has been 'recruited', refer to them as trainees rather than candidates. This is relevant to provider-facing content. DfE has a service called Register trainee teachers.
training partner
Use 'training partner' to describe a SCITT or lead school that works with an accredited body.
In Publish, the accredited body that ratifies the courses for the school will see 'Training partners' in the primary navigation. See this design history about viewing training partners and their courses if you're an accredited body.
Avoid the term 'ratify' as providers do not always know what it means.
U
unique reference number (URN)
Lower case.
Previously known as an Edubase ID. The format will often need to be explained.
unsuccessful application
Do not say 'you were unsuccessful'. Try to make an unsuccessful application less about the person. For example, 'Your application was unsuccessful on this occasion, but you can apply again'.