Education A to Z

Education and Curriculum Terms: A Guide for Students and Teachers

Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.

Revising? We write GCSE revision songs — a playlist covering most subjects and the English set texts. Listen to the revision playlist.

500 terms, showing 481–490 (page 49 of 50).

U

Unseen poetry

A poem you have never read before, analysed in the exam. Method beats knowledge.

Urban regeneration

Rebuilding a run-down urban area, and who it is for.

Urbanisation

The growing share of people living in cities, and what follows from it.

Utility

How useful a source is for a specific enquiry. Not the same as how reliable it is.

V

Validation and verification

Checking data is sensible, and checking it was entered correctly. Different jobs.

Variable, constant and data type

A named store for a value, whether it can change, and what kind of value it holds.

Variables

The thing you change, the thing you measure, and everything you must hold still.

Vectors

A quantity with size and direction, written as a column or with an arrow.

Venn diagrams and sets

Overlapping circles showing what belongs to which group, with a notation of their own.

Vocabulary learning

Building the words. The defined list is the syllabus, and it is finite.

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