TDA editorial style guide

abbreviations and acronyms

In headings: always write the subject of the abbreviation in full.

In body copy: write the subject of the abbreviation in full at first mention then follow with the abbreviation, e.g. initial teacher training (ITT). Subsequently, you can use the abbreviation on its own unless writing in full helps the reader. Abbreviations can place greater demands on your audience, particularly online or in a reference document that will not be read in linear form.

Precede i.e. and e.g. with a comma; use full points except on etc, this should only be used where etc ends a sentence ─ e.g. not eg or eg. / i.e. not ie or ie. / etc not etc.

For names of organisations, use the preferred expression of the body concerned, e.g. Ofsted, NGfL, nasen.

Do not use full points in abbreviations, or between initials, e.g. PGCE, GCSE, US, 75mph, P J O'Rourke, etc.

Do not use full points in abbreviated job or position titles, e.g. Mr/ Mrs/Prof.

addresses and phone numbers

i) Addresses

When ending mail or giving a postal address, follow Post Office guidelines; note town and postcode in capitals.

Training and Development Agency for Schools
Piccadilly Gate
Store Street
MANCHESTER
M1 2WD

Otherwise: Piccadilly Gate, Store Street, Manchester, M1 2WD; note the comma after Manchester.

ii) Phone/fax numbers

Use spaces rather than brackets or hyphens and follow these examples of current UK formats:

020 7023 4567
01462 123 456 0117 123 4567 07770 843432

Marketing numbers are intended to be memorable and should be written as designed, e.g. 0845 6000 993. For non-UK audiences, write numbers in international format, e.g. +44 (0) 20 7123 4567.

ampersands (&)

Do not use ampersands in text unless they are part of a common abbreviation, e.g. D&T; they may be used where space is tight, e.g. in tables and graphs.

annexes, appendices, tables and figures

In the run of text, references to annexes etc take lower case, e.g. see annex one.

A report may have annexes; an annex may have appendices, not the reverse.

Note the following plurals: annex/annexes; appendix/appendices.

Number tables and figures consecutively throughout the document. Tables and figures should have titles and be referenced in the text.

apostrophes

For singular nouns ending with 's', use a simple apostrophe. Mrs Jones' classroom, not Mrs Jones’s classroom.

Do not use apostrophes with dates or ages in numbers, e.g. 1990s not 1990’s or in her 80s not 80’s.

Do not use an apostrophe in instances such as returners courses or the headteachers conference. Here, ‘returners’ and ‘headteachers’ describe the events – they are not possessive.

In print, check the apostrophes used are typographically correct, i.e. curly. Straight marks are used on the website.

bibliography

Follow the style and sequence of the following examples when compiling a bibliography:

Smith, A C, 1998, The Importance of Correct Style, 2nd ed, Jones Publishers plc, London

Smith, A C, How to Improve your Writing, Style Monthly, Jan 1998, p24

Referring to a publication in text or a footnote:

‘A useful source of information is A C Smith, How to Improve your Writing, in Style Monthly, January 1998, p24.’

See capitals.

black

Lower case in racial context.

brackets

Use (round brackets) in the general run of text; use [square brackets] to indicate words inserted into a quotation: They [new staff] are in need of training.

Try to use brackets sparingly in web pages; too much punctuation can make text harder to read on screen.

bullet points

Bullets should only be used to aid comprehension by highlighting key points and breaking up long passages of text. Overuse can be distracting and make text harder to digest, particularly on the web.

In printed text, where bullets lead out of a 'platform' statement and complete the sentence; each list item begins with a lower case letter. Add a comma before ‘and’ or ‘or’ at the end of the penultimate item. A full stop should follow the final item, e.g.

It is essential the workshop covers:

• the skills tests booking and contacts
• the professional standards and requirements
• ICT, numeracy and literacy strategies, and
• funding for trainees.

This rule is not applicable to web pages.

Where list items stand alone, begin each item with a capital letter.

Policies

• The race equality scheme has its own targets
• The code of conduct is available on the website
• There is new freedom of information legislation

Individual items do not have final punctuation.

capitals

Note we use fewer initial capitals than some organisations. These guidelines apply in every setting: titles, sub-headings, captions, body copy, etc.

Note that upper case in an abbreviation does not necessarily denote upper case in the full description, e.g. TYS/targeted youth support; CPD/continuing professional development; SCITT/school-centred initial teacher training.

Job titles and roles

Differentiate between a person's title and the job role.

i) Use upper case initial letters when a job role is used in conjunction with the post-holder’s name and forms part of their personal title:

This applies in the run of text and in the sign-off to a letter or publication, or the caption for an image. ii) Use lower case initial letters to refer to these roles in general, or where the job role is separated from the post-holder’s name and does not form part of their personal title:

When referring to the role rather than the person, adopt lower case. The exception to this is where there is only one such role and it is a significant one, for example: Secretary of State or Chief Executive.

Team, group and directorate names, names of organisations and administrative bodies

i) Use upper case initial letters for team, group and directorate names. Use upper case initial letters for names of organisations, departments, committees, working groups and other administrative bodies (whether TDA or external) where the reference is to a particular group rather than such entities in general:

If abbreviating after introducing a name in full, restrict the use of initial capitals to instances that seem essential, e.g. the Agency, the Department, the Board, but the committee, the team, the school, the directorate, the council.

In the case of external organisations, use the format they use, e.g. Ofsted, NGfL, nasen. See the list of abbreviations and acronyms.

The names of the government office regions take initial capitals: Yorkshire and The Humber, South West, etc. See Government office regions for the full list.

ii) Use lower case initial letters for these entities when you are not naming them specifically:

School designations/status

i) Use upper case initial letters for designations when they apply to a specific school:

ii) Use lower case initial letters for designations in general use:

Names of programmes, services, strategies and events

i) These should generally take upper case; this list is not exhaustive as new programmes etc may be introduced. Use upper or lower case initial letters as follows:

ii) Use lower case initial letters for programmes, services, strategies etc when the phrasing describes rather than names:

Names of publications and statutes

i) For the masthead or title page of our own publications, our style is usually sentence case (Get into teaching, Looking for a bursar? Corporate plan). Only adopt other styles (totalinfo, tdaNews, return to teaching) where agreed.

ii) Use upper case initial letters when referring to publications, periodicals, books, statutes, Government and TDA papers:

• The Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children’s Workforce
• The Daily Telegraph
• The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (no comma before the date)
• The Economist
• Get into Teaching
• Meeting the Standards for Higher Level Teaching Assistants
• Qualifying to Teach
• the national agreement, Raising Standards and Tackling Workload
• Return to Teaching
• Style Monthly
• Teach
• The Times Educational Supplement

This styling may be different from that used by the publication itself, which could be initial caps (The Economist), sentence case (Raising standards and tackling workload), or lower case (return to teaching). Upper case initial letters ensure consistency, particularly where one piece of text refers to several publications.

There are occasional well established exceptions such as totalinfo or tdaNews.

Names of publications should not use italics. If necessary, use single inverted commas to separate a title from the surrounding text.

Headings

Never use continuous upper case for emphasis. Use sentence case for headings.

Qualifications, standards, status and frameworks

These should normally take lower case; this list is not exhaustive as new qualifications, standards etc may be introduced. The exception to this is the Masters in Teaching and Learning qualification.

Other

The following miscellaneous examples of commonly used terms take lower case initial letters:

children

Not kids. Pre-school and foundation stage are children. Years one to six are pupils; years 7–13 are students. Generally, children applies to the end of key stage 2 and young people beyond that.

colons

Use a colon to indicate that what follows is an explanation or continuation of the text before the colon, e.g. The situation is clear: an effective workforce can improve outcomes…

A colon can also be used to introduce a list, e.g. There are a number of resources available: guidance notes, DVDs, web tools…

A colon is not usually followed by a capital letter but there are some exceptions.

Preceding a quote, e.g. The Chief Executive had made his decision clear: “We will continue to support the workforce…”

Preceding an acronym, e.g. A number of organisations attended: CWDC, HEFCE…

Preceding a proper noun, e.g. A number of providers attended: Manchester Metropolitan University, Oxford University….

The text before a colon should be able to stand alone and make sense on its own.

compass points

All lower case: north, south, the south-west, north-east England. Use an initial capital only when referring to specific parts of the world, e.g. the Far East or to the government office regions.

contractions

Use contractions such as ‘won’t’ or ‘can’t’ where a less formal tone is audience appropriate.

curriculum subjects

This list gives the correct form of some of the national curriculum subjects, with acceptable abbreviations shown in brackets:

• art and design
• citizenship
• design and technology (D&T)
• English
• geography
• history
• information and communication technology (ICT)
• maths or mathematics
• modern foreign languages (MFL) or modern languages (ML)
• music
• personal, social and health education (PSHE)
• personal, social, health and economic education (PSHEE)
• physical education (PE)
• religious education (RE)
• science

dash

Use a dash, rather than a hyphen to represent ranges of numbers, e.g. 11─16 years.

A pair of dashes can be used to separate an interruption within a sentence, e.g. ‘most pupils ─ especially in extended schools ─ enjoy after school activities’. If the interruption comes at the end of the sentence, only one dash is used.

dates

Dates written in full should always be presented thus: 2 July 2008. If there are space constraints, months (Jan, Feb) and years (07) can be abbreviated. Avoid the very short form if possible, but where necessary: 3/6/07 rather than 03/06/07.

For a span of academic years, use an oblique, i.e. 2008/09.

For financial years, use a dash, i.e. 2007–08.

If the meaning is ambiguous, make it clear. For example, refer to the financial year 2003–04 in the first instance.

Department for Education

In full at first mention, then the Department or the DfE.

See the DfE website for an up-to-date list of the ministerial team.

disabled people

Not ‘the disabled' or ‘the handicapped’.

e-mail and website addresses

Note the hyphen in e-mail. See addresses and phone numbers and website addresses.

fewer/less

Use ‘fewer’ for things you can count, e.g. books, students and ‘less’ for things you can’t, e.g. space, scope.

footnotes

Do not use footnotes on web pages.

formatting

Never use continuous upper case for emphasis. Use sentence case for headings.

Between sentences, use a single character space after the full stop.

In printed material, use bold, underscoring or italics sparingly for emphasis. Do not use underscoring or italics on web pages.

Bold may also be used sparingly to help the reader locate information.

Government

Use upper case G when referring to ‘the Government’.

government office regions

Use upper case initial letters. The regions are: North East, North West, Yorkshire and The Humber (not Yorkshire and Humberside, and note capital ‘T’ for ‘The’), East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England (not Eastern), London, South East and South West.

headteacher

One word; not headmaster, headmistress or head.

hyphens

Use hyphens for compound adjectives, e.g. the up-to-date situation but keep the directory up to date, a long-term plan but in the long term.

Do not use a hyphen between an adverb and the adjective or the verb it modifies, e.g. a hotly disputed penalty, a constantly evolving policy.

Use ‘floating hyphens’, e.g. first-, second-, and third-class awards.

Examples of commonly used hyphenated words include: cross-agency, e-mail, employment-based, well-being, one-off, five-year-old, A-level, 20-minute session, self-esteem.

The following are not hyphenated: coordinator, life chances, online, website.

See spelling for examples of one-word and two-word constructions.

internet, net, website, web, worldwide web, e-mail

All lower case. Website and worldwide are single words, e-mail is hyphenated.

key stage

For printed material, write in full on the first mention, with lower case k and s and numeral, i.e. key stage 3 then abbreviate to KS3. Do not use this abbreviation on web pages.

levels

Usually lower case, for example in NVQ level three, A-level, level five.

local authority/local education authority

Use local authority rather than local education authority as local authorities now provide children’s services, such as education, social services, youth justice, etc. LA is an acceptable abbreviation.

measurements

When abbreviating measurements, use numbers and do not leave a space before the abbreviation, e.g. 62mm, 87mph. Abbreviations are generally singular: mm, oz, lb not mms, ozs, lbs (except hrs for hours, yds for yards).

minority ethnic

Rather than 'ethnic minority'

numbers

Spell numbers from one to nine; use numerals from 10 to 999,999; thereafter 1m, 3.2bn etc. Avoid using numerals at the start of a sentence unless doing so significantly improves the run of text.

Where a number range spans 10, use numbers for consistency: '9–13' not 'nine to 13' or 'nine to thirteen'.

Fractions that are written out should be hyphenated, e.g. two-thirds of the syllabus. Fractions with whole numbers are best expressed as decimalised numerals, i.e. 2.5, not 2½.

In text, spell out per cent (six per cent; 20 per cent). In financial information and tables, use the % symbol and numerals e.g. 6%.

online

One word

phone and fax numbers

See addresses and phone numbers.

priority subjects

Not 'shortage subjects'.

pro forma

Two words

quotation marks

Use double quotes, i.e. “” at start and end of quoted section, with single quotes, i.e. ‘’ for quoted words within that section.

Use single quotation marks to qualify a word or phrase, e.g. the so-called 'get out clause'.

In print, check the quote marks used are typographically correct, i.e. 66 and 99 quote marks “” ‘ ’ and not apostrophes. Use straight marks for web pages.

Rewarding. Challenging. Teaching.

This is the recruitment campaign strapline.

spelling

Set your PC to English spelling.

Use ‘ise’ endings, e.g. generalise not generalize, organise not organize, except where ‘ize’ is used in the original, for example, World Health Organization.

The TDA adopts the following:

• acknowledgment not acknowledgement
• adaptation not adaption
• adviser not advisor, e.g. regional CPD adviser
• ageing not aging
• all right not alright
• annex not annexe
• any more not anymore
• artefact not artifact
• CD ROM not cd rom
• cooperate not co-operate
• coordinator not co-ordinator, coordinate not co-ordinate
• DVD ROM not dvd rom
• e-mail not email
• enquire (verb) not inquire
• enquiry (general), inquiry (official)
• dispatch not despatch
• focusing not focussing, focused not focussed
• generalise not generalize
• judgement (but judgment in legal references)
• learnt not learned
• life chances
• online not on line
• organise not organize
• password not pass word
• relocation not re-location
• supersede not supercede
• targeted not targetted, targeting not targetting
• website not web site

Tables and figures, annexes and schedules

Number tables and figures consecutively throughout the document. The number references, e.g. 'table 1' or 'figure 1' should be placed near the table or figure, not in a footnote or endnote. Tables and figures should have titles. In the run of text, references to annexes, etc take lower case, e.g. see annex one.

TDA

The Training and Development Agency for Schools, known as the TDA or the Agency. Try not to overuse ‘the Agency’; a less formal tone, e.g. ‘we’ is often more appropriate for your audience.

The TDA is always singular: the TDA is planning…

See addresses and phone numbers for the TDA address.

Teaching Information Line

The numbers are 0800 389 2500 for England and 0800 085 0971 for Wales.

that or which?

‘that’ defines, ‘which’ informs: this is the house that Jack built, but this house, which Jack built, is now falling down.

they, he/she

Use they in preference to he/she: if the candidate passes the test, they should... If possible, try to avoid using gender specific pronouns, e.g. candidates who pass the test should…

time

10am, 2.45pm. The 24-hour clock is also acceptable: 14.45

trainees

People taking ITT programmes are trainees not students.

translation

There are rules governing the translation of Government information into Welsh. The TDA has no statutory responsibility in Wales. However, it is contracted under a memorandum of understanding for certain recruitment activity. If you are producing recruitment-related communications, you should contact the TDA’s Welsh liaison officer.

When targeting audiences who do not speak English or for whom English is not their first language, you should establish the most appropriate languages to use. When translating in print, you should also consider that some languages take up more space than English, run from right to left, etc. Direct translation is not always the best option. Sometimes communications should be re-written, to take the cultural differences of your intended audience into account.

Wales

Wales Office (not Welsh Office); National Assembly for Wales; Welsh Assembly Government.

web, website

One word

website addresses/URLs

Leave off any http:// prefix unless the website address is an IP address, e.g. http://192.168.15.155 or when it doesn’t use www, e.g. http://maps.google.co.uk.

In printed material, avoid punctuation at the end of a website address, even if it ends a sentence. This ensures your audience does not misread the address. Try to re-work the sentence and put the web address in the middle or in brackets. If this is not possible, omit the full stop. Website addresses should not appear in full in the run of text on a web page; they should appear as links.

Always hyphenate e-mail, not email.

Avoid long URLs, especially where the document is to be printed. For links to the TDA website, consider asking for an entry point to:

• provide a shorter URL that can be transcribed more accurately
• ensure that the link is maintained

You can log a request for an entry point via the website support system on the intranet. For non-TDA URLs, find the shortest address that takes the reader within sight of the required page. If necessary, put some navigation into the text, e.g. you can find a list on the xxxx pages at www.ncsl.gov.uk.

white

Lower case in racial context.

Yours faithfully, Yours sincerely

In correspondence, Dear sir goes with Yours faithfully everything else, e.g. Dear colleague goes with Yours sincerely.