What Shapes Pathways and Transitions?

Abbreviations and acronyms

The main abbreviations and acronyms used in the report are listed below.

Abbreviation/Acronym	Meaning
AS/A Level	Wales’ Advanced Subsidiary and Advanced Level General Certificate of Education
A-Level	Singapore’s Advanced Level General Certificate of Education
BTEC	Business and Technology Education Council Certificate
CQFW	Wales’ Credit and Qualifications Framework
FE	Further Education
GCE	Singapore’s General Certificate of Education
GCSE	Wales’ General Certificate of Secondary Education
HAVO	Netherland’s Upper Secondary Programme “Senior General Secondary Education”
ISCED	International Standard Classification of Education
ITE	Singapore’s Institute of Technical Education
MBO	Netherland’s Upper Secondary Vocational Programme
NVQ	Wales’ National Vocational Qualifications
NCEA	New Zealand’s National Certificates of Educational Achievement
NITEC	Singapore’s National Institute of Technological Education Certificate
NEET	Not in Education, Employment or Training
O-Level	Singapore’s Normal Level General Certificate of Education
O-Level	Singapore’s Ordinary Level General Certificate of Education
PISA	OECD Programme for International Student Assessment
PLASC	Pupil Level Annual School Census
Post-16	Years 12-13 in a School or Continuing Education in a Further Education College or through Work-Based Learning
Pre-16	Year 10-11 (ages 14-16)
SEC	Singapore-Cambridge Secondary Education Certificate
USE	Upper Secondary Education
UK	United Kingdom
VCSE	Vocational Certificate of Secondary Education
VMBO	Netherland’s Lower Secondary Vocational Programme
VWO	Netherland’s Upper Secondary Programme “Pre-University Education”
VET	Vocational Education and Training
Welsh Bacc	Welsh Baccalaureate