Nepal TSC Secondary Teaching License key terms
Nepal TSC Secondary Teaching License · Get comfortable with the vocabulary.
- Federalism
- Related: Local Government, Constitution of Nepal 2015
A system of government in which power is constitutionally divided between a central authority and provincial or local units, each exercising defined powers independently. Nepal adopted three tiers of government under its 2015 Constitution.
- Constitution of Nepal 2015
- Related: Federalism, Fundamental Rights
The supreme law promulgated on 20 September 2015, establishing Nepal as a federal democratic republic with fundamental rights, directive principles, and three levels of government. It governs all education policy and civic life in the country.
- Fundamental Rights
- Related: Constitution of Nepal 2015, Right to Education
Basic entitlements guaranteed to every citizen under Part 3 of the Nepali Constitution, including rights to education, equality, and freedom of expression. Courts can enforce them, and the state cannot remove them by ordinary law.
- Local Government
- Related: Federalism, School Management Committee
The elected municipal or rural municipal body that, under Nepal's federal structure, manages basic and secondary education, health posts, and local infrastructure. It prepares local curricula and supervises community schools within its jurisdiction.
- Right to Education
- Related: Fundamental Rights, Inclusive Education
The constitutional and legal guarantee that every child has free access to basic education and that compulsory schooling cannot be denied on grounds of poverty, caste, gender, or disability. Nepal's Act Relating to Compulsory and Free Education operationalises it.
- Inclusive Education
- Related: Right to Education, Differentiated Instruction
An approach in which schools adapt curricula, materials, and teaching so that learners of all abilities, castes, languages, and genders learn together in ordinary classrooms rather than being separated or excluded.
- Differentiated Instruction
- Related: Inclusive Education, Formative Assessment
Planning lessons so that content, process, and product are varied to match learners' readiness, interests, and learning profiles. The teacher keeps the same core objective while offering different routes to reach it.
- Formative Assessment
- Related: Summative Assessment, Continuous Assessment System
Ongoing, low-stakes checking of student understanding during teaching, used to adjust instruction and give feedback. It contrasts with summative assessment, which judges achievement at the end of a unit or course.
- Summative Assessment
- Related: Formative Assessment, Continuous Assessment System
Assessment conducted at the end of a term, course, or level to measure overall achievement against learning outcomes, typically through examinations and reported as grades or marks for promotion or certification.
- Continuous Assessment System
- Related: Formative Assessment, Summative Assessment
A Nepali school practice of recording student progress regularly through classwork, projects, and tests rather than relying only on a final examination, contributing a defined weight to the terminal result.
- Learning Outcomes
- Related: Instructional Objectives, Competency-Based Curriculum
Specific, observable statements of what a learner should know or be able to do by the end of a lesson, unit, or level. They guide lesson planning, activity selection, and the design of assessment tasks.
- Instructional Objectives
- Related: Learning Outcomes, Lesson Plan
Clear statements of intended learning written before teaching, usually naming the observable behaviour, the conditions, and the criterion of acceptable performance, so that both teaching and evaluation stay focused and measurable.
- Lesson Plan
- Related: Instructional Objectives, Microteaching
A written daily outline of objectives, materials, teaching activities, student tasks, and evaluation for a single period. It sequences the lesson into introduction, development, and conclusion with time allocations.
- Microteaching
- Related: Lesson Plan, Reflective Practice
A scaled-down practice session in which a trainee teaches a short lesson to a small group, often recorded, and receives focused feedback on one or two specific teaching skills before repeating the attempt.
- Reflective Practice
- Related: Microteaching, Action Research
The habit of systematically reviewing one's own teaching decisions and their effects on learners, then deliberately changing practice. Teachers use journals, peer observation, and student feedback as evidence for reflection.
- Action Research
- Related: Reflective Practice, Classroom Action Research
A cycle in which a teacher identifies a classroom problem, plans and implements an intervention, collects evidence, and reflects on results, often repeating the cycle. It improves local practice rather than producing general theory.
- Classroom Action Research
- Related: Action Research, Reflective Practice
Small-scale, school-based inquiry conducted by a practising teacher to solve a specific instructional or management problem in their own classroom, documented in a short report for professional development purposes.
- Constructivism
- Related: Cognitive Development, Scaffolding
A learning theory holding that learners build new understanding by connecting new information to prior knowledge through active experience, discussion, and problem solving, rather than receiving knowledge passively from the teacher.
- Cognitive Development
- Related: Constructivism, Zone of Proximal Development
The progressive growth of thinking, memory, reasoning, and problem-solving ability from childhood to adolescence. Teachers use stage-based understanding of this growth to choose tasks and language suited to learners' mental readiness.
- Zone of Proximal Development
- Related: Scaffolding, Cognitive Development
The gap between what a learner can do alone and what they can achieve with skilled help. Instruction is most effective when pitched inside this range, with support gradually withdrawn as competence grows.
- Scaffolding
- Related: Zone of Proximal Development, Constructivism
Temporary support a teacher provides, such as models, prompts, checklists, or guided questions, so a learner can complete a task beyond their independent reach. Support is reduced as the learner gains competence.
- Motivation
- Related: Reinforcement, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
The internal or external force that starts, directs, and sustains a learner's effort. Intrinsic motivation arises from interest and satisfaction; extrinsic motivation comes from rewards, grades, or pressure from others.
- Reinforcement
- Related: Motivation, Behaviour Modification
Any consequence following a behaviour that increases the likelihood of that behaviour recurring. Positive reinforcement adds a pleasant stimulus; negative reinforcement removes an unpleasant one. Both strengthen behaviour.
- Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
- Related: Motivation, Adolescent Development
A model arranging human needs in levels from physiological needs through safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation. Lower needs generally require satisfaction before higher-level growth needs strongly motivate a learner.
- Adolescent Development
- Related: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Motivation
The physical, cognitive, emotional, and social changes of roughly ages ten to nineteen, including puberty, growing abstract reasoning, identity formation, and stronger peer influence, which shape how secondary students should be taught and guided.
- Behaviour Modification
- Related: Reinforcement, Classroom Management
The systematic use of reinforcement, shaping, and consequence strategies to increase desirable classroom behaviour and reduce disruptive behaviour, based on observable actions rather than assumed inner causes.
- Classroom Management
- Related: Behaviour Modification, Inclusive Education
The organisation of space, routines, rules, relationships, and transitions so that instruction proceeds with minimal disruption. Effective management is preventive and proactive rather than mainly corrective or punitive.
- Competency-Based Curriculum
- Related: Learning Outcomes, Curriculum Implementation
A curriculum organised around clearly stated competencies learners must demonstrate, rather than around content coverage alone. Assessment checks whether each competency is achieved, allowing learners to progress on mastery.
- Curriculum Implementation
- Related: Competency-Based Curriculum, Lesson Plan
The process of translating an approved curriculum framework, textbooks, and learning outcomes into actual classroom teaching, including teacher preparation, resource provision, timetabling, and monitoring of how faithfully and effectively it is delivered.
- School Management Committee
- Related: Local Government, School Improvement Plan
An elected body of parents, teachers, and community members that oversees a community school's governance, including budgeting, teacher recruitment recommendations, and monitoring of school improvement plans under Nepali law.
- School Improvement Plan
- Related: School Management Committee, Curriculum Implementation
A written, time-bound document prepared by a school community that analyses current performance, sets measurable targets, and lists actions, responsibilities, and resources for raising learning outcomes over a defined period.
- Teacher Professional Development
- Related: Reflective Practice, Microteaching
Planned, continuous learning by teachers to strengthen subject knowledge and pedagogy through training, peer observation, mentoring, and study, linked to career progression and improved student learning.
- Nepali Language Communication Skills
- Related: Devanagari Script, Reading Comprehension
The ability to understand and produce spoken and written Nepali accurately and appropriately, including listening comprehension, fluent speech, correct grammar and spelling, and clear composition for academic and public purposes.
- Devanagari Script
- Related: Nepali Language Communication Skills, Phonemic Awareness
The alphabetic script used to write Nepali, Hindi, Sanskrit, and related languages. It is written left to right, with consonants carrying an inherent vowel and dependent signs marking other vowels.
- Reading Comprehension
- Related: Nepali Language Communication Skills, Communicative Language Teaching
The ability to extract and construct meaning from a written text by identifying main ideas, supporting details, vocabulary in context, inferences, and the writer's purpose, evidenced by accurate answers to text-based questions.
- Communicative Language Teaching
- Related: Reading Comprehension, Language Skills Integration
An approach to language teaching that prioritises real communication and meaningful interaction over memorising grammar rules, using pair work, role play, and authentic tasks to build fluency alongside accuracy.
- Language Skills Integration
- Related: Communicative Language Teaching, Reading Comprehension
Teaching listening, speaking, reading, and writing in connected lessons rather than isolation, so that a topic introduced through listening feeds into discussion, reading, and finally a written product.
- Phonemic Awareness
- Related: Devanagari Script, Language Skills Integration
The ability to notice and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words, such as blending or segmenting them. It underpins early decoding and pronunciation teaching in both Nepali and English.