Number
AS90818
Version
1
Page 1 of 2
Achievement Standard
Subject Reference
Religious Studies 1.3
Title
Describe key ethical principles of a religious tradition and how they
are applied to an issue
Level
1
Credits
Subfield
Religious Studies
Domain
Understanding Religion
6
Assessment
Internal
Status
Registered
Status date
2 December 2008
Planned review date
31 December 2010
Date version published
2 December 2008
This achievement standard requires the description of key ethical principles of a religious
tradition and how they are applied to an issue.
Achievement Criteria
Achievement
Achievement with Merit
Achievement with
Excellence
 Describe key ethical
principles of a religious
tradition and how they are
applied to an issue.
 Describe in detail key
ethical principles of a
religious tradition and
how they are applied to
an issue.
 Comprehensively
describe key ethical
principles of a religious
tradition and how they are
applied to an issue.
Explanatory Notes
1
Definitions:
 Describe means to present clear and accurate information.
 Describe in detail means to present clear and accurate information in depth or
breadth.
 Comprehensively describe means to present clear and accurate information in
depth and breadth.
 Religious tradition means a world religion, or a division of a world religion, a
regional religion or an indigenous religion.
 A world religion is a religious belief system that is generally recognised as having
independent status from any other religion. It may include but is not limited to:
Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism.
 Ethical principles of a religious tradition refer to codes of behaviour considered to
be normative.
 New Zealand Qualifications Authority 2016
Number
AS90818
Version
1
Page 2 of 2
 An issue could include but is not limited to:
 social, eg death penalty
 personal, eg individual moral decisions
 environmental, eg carbon emissions
 political, eg “just war” theory, foreign aid
 economic, eg fair trade.
2
Sources of key ethical principles within religious traditions could include but are not
limited to:
 Buddhism: the Five Precepts, the Vinaya
 Islam: the Qur’an, the Hadith
 Judaism: the Hebrew Scriptures, the Talmud
 Hinduism: the Four Varnas, Ashramas
 Christianity: the Bible.
3
It is expected that the descriptions and explanations are largely sourced from
material supplied, or previously supplied, by a supervisor or teacher through
textbooks, lessons, scholarly works, or other teaching tools that form a delivery
package.
Quality Assurance
1
Providers and Industry Training Organisations must be accredited by NZQA before
they can register credits from assessment against achievement standards.
2
Accredited providers and Industry Training Organisations assessing against
achievement standards must engage with the moderation system that applies to
those achievement standards.
Accreditation and Moderation Action Plan (AMAP) reference
0226
 New Zealand Qualifications Authority 2016