GTLE General Professional Knowledge key terms

The branch of philosophy that examines the aims, nature, and justification of education, asking what knowledge is worth teaching, what kind of person schooling should form, and who has authority over learning.

A teacher-centered philosophy holding that certain enduring truths, great books, and disciplined reasoning should form the core curriculum for all learners, because human nature and fundamental questions stay constant across generations.

An educational philosophy asserting that schools must transmit a defined body of basic skills and academic knowledge, taught systematically and with high standards, as preparation for productive adult life.

A learner-centered philosophy, associated with Dewey, that grounds curriculum in real experience, inquiry, and democratic problem solving rather than rote transmission of fixed subject matter.

A theory holding that learners build understanding by connecting new information to prior knowledge through active mental processing, so teaching should create experiences that provoke and challenge existing conceptions.

An organized mental framework that stores what a person knows about a topic and guides how new information is noticed, interpreted, and remembered.

Vygotsky's term for the gap between what a learner can do alone and what the learner can accomplish with guidance from a more capable person, where instruction is most productive.

Temporary, gradually withdrawn support such as models, prompts, or structured steps that lets a learner complete a task just beyond independent ability and then take over the process.

The amount of working-memory capacity a task demands; instruction reduces extraneous load by simplifying presentation and chunking content so learners can process essential material.

Planning that adjusts content, process, product, or learning environment to learner readiness, interests, and profiles while keeping common learning goals for the whole class.

A curriculum planning sequence that starts by identifying desired results, then determines acceptable evidence of learning, and only then designs instruction and activities.

The principle that intended learning outcomes, teaching and learning activities, and assessment tasks must all target the same cognitive processes so students are assessed on what they were taught to do.

A process of recording what is actually taught, when, and how deeply across a program, so gaps, repetition, and misalignment with standards become visible and can be corrected.

Bruner's design principle that key concepts are revisited across grade levels with increasing complexity and depth, so understanding is consolidated rather than taught once and abandoned.

Ongoing, low-stakes checking of learning during instruction, used to adjust teaching and give feedback while students can still improve, rather than to assign a final grade.

Assessment administered at the end of a unit, term, or program to judge achievement against standards and to report or certify learning, typically carrying a grade or credential.

A test blueprint that cross-tabulates content topics with cognitive levels and assigns item counts or weights, ensuring a test samples the intended objectives proportionally.

Information given to a learner about the gap between current performance and the goal, plus what to do next; it is most effective when specific, timely, and focused on the task.

An approach in which learners must reach a defined proficiency level on a unit before advancing, with corrective instruction and retesting built in for those who fall short.

What a learner already knows and believes about a topic; it strongly determines new learning, and misconceptions in it must be surfaced and revised rather than merely added to.

A cycle, described by Kolb, in which concrete experience is followed by reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation, so learning grows from doing and processing.

The deliberate organization of space, time, routines, relationships, and expectations so that instruction proceeds with minimal disruption and learners know what is expected of them.

A non-punitive approach that treats misbehavior as a problem to be solved, teaching replacement behaviors and preserving the learner's dignity while holding clear, consistent limits.

A response to harm that brings affected people together to name the impact, repair relationships, and agree on what changes, instead of relying mainly on exclusion or sanctions.

A written, data-based plan for a learner with persistent challenging behavior, specifying antecedents to adjust, skills to teach, and responses to use, monitored for effectiveness over time.

A structured process of gathering information to identify what a behavior achieves for a learner, such as attention or escape, so intervention addresses the function rather than only the symptom.

A school service that helps learners with academic, personal, social, and career concerns through information, advising, and confidential counseling, supporting development rather than discipline.

A formal step in which a teacher or counselor directs a learner's concern to a specialist, team, or agency, with documented information and consent, when needs exceed school-level support.

The ethical and legal duty to keep learner information private, sharing it only with those who need it to help the learner or where disclosure is required to prevent serious harm.

The standards of conduct expected of teachers, including fairness, integrity, appropriate relationships with learners, and accountability to the public trust placed in the profession.

An official document setting out required and prohibited behaviors for teachers, with procedures for handling violations, serving as a reference for disciplinary and ethical decisions.

The requirement that decisions affecting a person's rights or status, such as suspension or dismissal, follow fair, published procedures including notice and an opportunity to respond.

The constitutional provisions, statutes, regulations, and policies that establish who may be educated, how schools are governed and funded, and what rights learners and teachers hold.

The knowledge, skills, dispositions, and ethical commitment that justify public trust in teachers, shown through continuous learning, collaboration, and accountable practice.

The integrated expertise a teacher needs to select and use technology so that it serves specific subject content and sound pedagogy, rather than technology being added for its own sake.

A planned combination of face-to-face and online learning in which each mode is used for what it does best, with the digital portion integrated into the course rather than optional.

The knowledge and habits learners need to participate responsibly online, covering safety, privacy, respectful communication, source evaluation, and legal use of digital content.

A disciplined cycle in which a practitioner identifies a local problem, plans and implements an intervention, collects evidence, and reflects to improve practice and share findings.

The habit of examining one's own teaching decisions and their effects, using evidence and structured questions, in order to change practice rather than merely describe it.