Standards and Qualifications Development

Standards and Qualifications Development

Karen Vaughan and Andrew Kear

Focus and audience

This guide focuses on the development and writing of skill standards. It encourages consistency in skill standard development and identifies the concepts that underpin the approaches suggested. It also builds upon the advice, instructions and illustrations provided by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), and eases the process of submission, approval and listing of new standards.

The main audience for this guide is those who work in standard-setting bodies (SSBs) developing qualifications and assessment standards. It would be ideal for managers and leaders to ‘workshop’ the guide with their teams.

However, the guide is also useful for those working in other parts of the vocational education system, whose work sits ‘upstream’ or ‘downstream’ of qualifications developers, the main audience. For example, the guide is also useful for those who:

• provide guidance as industry or stakeholder subject matter experts to qualifications or learning programme developers;
• implement qualifications by developing and delivering learning programmes;
• assess learning outcomes in workplace-based or provider-based settings;
• assure the consistency of assessment outcomes (e.g. moderation or quality assurance); and
• have an interest in the vocational education system.

Other guides in the toolkit provide detailed guidance on each part of the process and the principles that should guide the work.