Authentic contexts are the real-world places where students learn about and apply their technological practice.
The issues and problems students are designing solutions for should be meaningful to them. Local contexts for developing an outcome are more inclusive for students as they get to see the ways that the outcome has improved on what was.
Some local contexts could be issues they've seen in the environment, social issues like the way sports teams operate, or physical issues with people interacting with designed outcomes like seating not accommodating everyone's needs.
This term is used at all levels across all technological areas.