Assessment and Consistency Measures
Good practice in the development and implementation
of skill standards-based qualifications
Assessment and Consistency Measures
Karen Vaughan and Andrew Kear
Focus and audience
This guide focuses on what is involved in assessing the learning outcomes in skill standards and assuring the consistency of those outcomes (i.e. moderation). The intended audience is:
- Assessors in work-based, online and distance, or provider-based settings; and
- Quality assurance or moderation staff in SSBs.
The guide is also useful for those working in other parts of the vocational education system, whose work sits ‘upstream’ or ‘downstream’ of the main audience. For example, those who:
- Develop qualifications and standards
- Provide qualifications or learning programme developers with subject matter expertise as industry or stakeholder representatives
- Implement qualifications by developing learning programmes and/or delivering through workplaces or provider-based settings
- Have an interest in the vocational education system.
How to use this guide
We recommend that the following NZQA documents (or any updated versions of these) are referred to alongside this guidance.
- NZQA’s Guidelines for listing skill standards on the Directory of Assessment and Skill Standards.1 We refer to this document as the NZQA Guidelines.
- NZQA’s Aromatawai and the principles of assessment2 which explores culturally sensitive assessment practice.
Other guides in the toolkit provide detailed guidance on each part of the process and the principles that should guide the work.
