CONSENT AND MODERATION REQUIREMENTS (CMR)
for Civil Defence Advisory Group
(version 3)
Contact
Quality Assurance Manager
The Skills Organisation
154 Featherston Street
PO Box 25293
Wellington 6146
Telephone
04 495 1410
Fax
04 495 1419
Email
QA@skills.org.nz
Website
www.skills.org.nz/
Community and Social Services > Civil Defence
Domain
Standard IDs
Civil Defence Management
7319, 7320, 7322-7330, 7333, 23697,
23698, 23701-23703
Civil Defence Operation
528, 7317, 7318, 7321, 7331, 7332,
7334, 7335, 20473, 20853, 20854,
22297, 22298, 23690-23696, 24500
Community and Social Services > Civil Defence Emergency Management
Domain
Standard IDs
Civil Defence Emergency Management
Response
7336, 26386, 26608
Requirements for Consent to Assess (RCA)
Introduction
The purpose of the Requirements for Consent to Assess (RCA) is to set out the
nature of the process for granting consent to assess and involvement of the standard
setting body (SSB) and others in the process, and to set out the SSB’s industry or
sector-specific requirements for a tertiary education organisation (TEO)1 or school’s
quality systems in relation to the gazetted “criteria for accreditation”.
Standard Setting Body involvement in consent to assess process
Levels 1 and 2
Evaluation of documentation by NZQA.
Levels 3-6
Evaluation of documentation and visit by NZQA and
industry.
1
Tertiary education organisation (TEO) includes public and private tertiary education providers,
industry training organisations, government training organisations, and other providers.
Ref: 0223
2
Visit waiver conditions
Industry participation in a site visit may be waived
 where an organisation with consent to assess wants to extend an existing
consent to assess and has a record of successful delivery and assessment, or
 where the level of consent to assess sought, combined with low numbers of unit
standards, does not warrant a visit.
Areas of shared responsibility
None.
Fees schedule for SSB involvement in process for granting consent to assess
The fees schedule is applicable to all applications for consent to assess received by
NZQA from 1 November 2004. However, the SSB may choose to charge lower fees
for their involvement in granting consent to assess. Contact the SSB for further
information.
Additional fees can be charged by NZQA, and the Committee for University
Academic Programmes (CUAP) for involvement in granting consent to assess.
Contact the relevant quality assurance body (QAB) for information.
General requirements for accreditation
These are the general requirements for accreditation of providers gazetted in 1993.
Applicants should consult their QAB (NZQA or CUAP) for details of the requirements.
Criterion 1
Development and evaluation of teaching programmes
There is a system for developing coherent teaching programmes and for their
evaluation, which should include evaluation by learners/consumers.
Criterion 2
Financial, administrative and physical resources
Adequate and appropriate financial and administrative resources will be maintained
to enable all necessary activities to be carried out.
Adequate, appropriate and accessible physical resources will be available for
supporting students to meet the required standards.
Criterion 3
Staff selection, appraisal and development
A teaching staff with the necessary knowledge and skills will be maintained through
staff selection, appraisal, and development.
Criterion 4
Student entry
There is a system for establishing and clearly publicising student entry requirements
that include no unreasonable barriers.
Ref: 0223
3
Criterion 5
Student guidance and support systems
Students have adequate access to appropriate guidance and support systems.
Criterion 6
Off-site practical or work-based components
There are arrangements for ensuring that any off-site practical or work-based
components are fully integrated into the relevant programmes.
Criterion 7
Assessment
There is a system for ensuring that assessment is fair, valid, and consistent.
Criterion 8
Reporting
There is a system for providing students with fair and regular feedback on progress
and fair reporting on final achievements, with an associated appeals procedure.
There is a reliable system for archiving information on final student achievements.
Industry or sector-specific requirements for consent to assess
Criterion 3
Staff selection, appraisal and development
The applicant organisation must have policies and procedures to ensure that fulltime, part-time and visiting staff and any external contractors engaged in the delivery
of training and assessment:
 have current and relevant skills and/or knowledge and experience at least one
level higher than the level being delivered and assessed, and
 have credit for the unit standards they will assess against or are able to
demonstrate equivalent knowledge and skills, and
 have achieved unit standard 4098, Use standards to assess candidate
performance or are able to demonstrate equivalent knowledge and skills, prior to
undertaking assessment, and
 have at least annual contact with industry partners and opportunities to keep
informed about latest developments in technology, industry practice and
legislation, and have opportunities for professional development related to the
training and assessment they are doing.
Criterion 6
Off-site practical or work-based components
For off-site or work-based activities, the applicant organisation must have policies
and procedures to ensure that formal agreement(s) with the relevant employer(s)
covering the responsibilities of all participants including assessment responsibilities,
assessment process and the reporting of credits are entered into.
Criterion 7
Assessment
The Skills Organisation’s assessment materials have undergone pre-assessment
moderation and are available on request to organisations with consent to assess for
the unit standards.
Ref: 0223
4
TEOs and schools who wish to develop their own assessment materials must submit
them to The Skills Organisation for pre-assessment moderation prior to use. Please
refer to the moderation requirements section of this CMR for details.
The applicant organisation must have policies and procedures to ensure that where
learners have been found to be not yet competent, one re-assessment opportunity is
provided; any further re-assessment should only take place after additional structured
learning has occurred.
Non-compliance with consent to assess requirements
Where there is evidence of non-compliance with the requirements for consent to
assess, the QAB (NZQA or CUAP) will seek remedial action. In cases where this
action is ineffective and non-compliance continues, or in cases of repeated noncompliance, the QAB will take action that can ultimately lead to the withdrawal of
consent to assess.
Implementation
The Skills Organisation is able to provide sufficient trained participants to service the
requirements of processes for granting consent to assess.
Moderation Requirements (MR)
A centrally established and directed national external moderation system has been
set up by The Skills Organisation.
Introduction
The purpose of the Moderation Requirements (MR) is to provide details on the
national external moderation system, developed by The Skills Organisation, to
ensure that assessment decisions of TEOs and schools with consent to assess are
consistent with the national standard. All TEOs and schools with consent to assess
against the standards in this CMR must meet the requirements for moderation
outlined in this MR.
Moderation System
The Skills Organisation wishes to work in partnership with TEOs and schools, and to
provide support and feedback to ensure that assessment is consistent with the
national standard.
The word ‘Moderation’ where it appears in this CMR refers to the evaluation of
assessment materials and the verification of assessors’ decisions.
The Skills Organisation’s responsibilities
The Skills Organisation’s Quality Assurance Specialist is responsible for the coordination of the national external moderation system.
The Skills Organisation’s in-house or contracted moderators carry out preassessment and post-assessment moderation based on their experience and subject
Ref: 0223
5
matter expertise. All The Skills Organisation’s moderators hold unit standard 11551,
Moderate assessment.
The Skills Organisation may invite industry representatives with specific expertise to
advise and assist in moderation activities as required.
Feedback will be sought from moderators and other affected parties on the
effectiveness of moderation activities.
TEO and schools’ responsibilities
All TEOs and schools must participate annually in one of the following activities – a
cluster group, postal sampling or a moderation visit.
TEOs and schools should keep completed assessments and corresponding evidence
for a period of 12 months from the time the credit is reported.
Assessment materials
All TEOs and schools are encouraged to use The Skills Organisation’s assessment
materials. These are available from The Skills Organisation on 04 495 1410.
Self-developed assessment materials must be submitted to The Skills Organisation
for pre-assessment moderation and approval at least four weeks before the
organisation with consent to assess intends to use them.
The Skills Organisation charges organisations with consent to assess: $75 per hour
plus GST for pre-assessment moderation of self-developed assessment materials.
All submissions for pre-assessment moderation should include a completed The
Skills Organisation pre-assessment moderation coversheet (available from
www.skills.org.nz).
Selection criteria
Unit standards will be selected for post-assessment moderation using the following
criteria:
 unit standards to be assessed for the first time, or that have been reviewed in the
last twelve months
 high use unit standards
 a spread of domains and levels
 recent moderation results
 any industry concerns.
The number of samples moderated will be determined from the volume of
assessment being carried out by the TEO or school. NZQA’s quarterly statistics for
TEOs and schools will be used as the basis of the selection. Assessment samples
for post-assessment moderation must be from the current academic year.
Ref: 0223
6
Moderation Activities
1
TEO and school Cluster Groups
TEOs and schools will participate in an annual local TEO or school Cluster Group
with others who are involved in assessing against similar The Skills Organisation’s
unit standards. TEOs and schools will bring assessment packs for selected
standards as specified in the Postal sampling section below to the Cluster Group.
The frequency of moderation activity will depend on the TEO’s or school’s credit
reporting activity and the immediately previous moderation outcome/s.
The Skills Organisation will provide a moderator to each cluster group to provide
advice and support and to record and report on moderation outcomes.
No charges will be applied to TEOs and schools for moderation activities. However
they will be required to fund their own participation in the external moderation
activities.
2
Postal sampling
Postal sampling may be carried out where location and a low number of
assessments preclude a TEO or school cluster group taking place.
The selection criteria above will apply for postal sampling moderation.
The Skills Organisation will advise those TEOs and schools selected for postal
sampling of the unit standard/s required. Within one month of the notification from
The Skills Organisation the TEOs and schools will send assessment packs to The
Skills Organisation.
There is no charge for postal sampling.
Assessment packs
These will consist of:
 a copy of unit standard assessed against
 assessment schedule/marking guide
 model answers and assessment activities
 three samples of assessed learner work for each unit standard. Learner
assessment materials supplied should be those with borderline assessment
decisions where credit was awarded and where credit was not awarded.
Where assessment is integrated, the assessment activities should clearly identify
which unit standard and outcome each task in the assessment relates to. Not all unit
standards in an integrated assessment will necessarily be moderated.
All material sent for postal verification should be legible copies. TEOs and schools
should retain the original materials.
Ref: 0223
7
TEOs and schools with multiple sites must, where practicable, provide samples from
each site.
Assessment packs sent for moderation should be sent electronically to
QA@skills.org.nz. If electronic submission is not possible, then legible hard copies
should be sent to:
Quality Assurance
The Skills Organisation
PO Box 25293
Wellington 6146
A moderation report will be generated by The Skills Organisation within four weeks of
receipt of the assessment packs, providing the assessment packs are complete and
are received by the due date.
3
Moderation visits
TEOs and schools may be selected each year for onsite moderation visit(s) to
observe practical unit standards being assessed. Selection will take into account the
nature of the TEOs’ and schools’ consent to assess scope, level of current activity
and their moderation history.
TEOs and schools selected for a visit will be advised six weeks beforehand.
Moderation visits will be conducted by a The Skills Organisation evaluator, a
technical expert, or both.
The focus of the moderation visit is for The Skills Organisation to evaluate
assessment practice and assessor decisions for validity and consistency with the
national standard. This may include:
 observation of the briefing and debriefing of learners for practical assessments
 examining and discussing assessment, particularly where significant assessor
judgement was required
 discussion with the TEO or school on improvements to assessment practice
 discussing and evaluating the assessment materials used including assessment
schedules and model answers
 carrying out peer review moderation of assessments
 discussing the unit standards, including any problems that occur with assessing
against them, and possible improvements that could be made
 evaluating and agreement on the outcomes of the moderation visit.
The Skills Organisation will report on moderation results within one month of the visit.
Ref: 0223
8
Fees for the moderation visit will be charged as follows:
Site visit
Travel and accommodation expenses
Vehicle mileage
$150 per hour including travel time with a
limit of $800 per day plus GST
Actual and reasonable costs
Vehicle mileage at the current published
Inland Revenue rate
Reporting
The Skills Organisation is responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of its national
external moderation system, and for providing an annual report to NZQA.
Each year The Skills Organisation will review the effectiveness and efficiency of the
national external moderation system by evaluating the previous years’ activities.
Funding
Moderation activities will be funded by:
 the National Moderation Transfer from NZQA, and
 industry contributions.
Non-compliance with moderation requirements
Non-compliance in meeting the requirements of this moderation system will result in
further action by The Skills Organisation. Ongoing unresolved non-compliance will
be referred to the appropriate QAB (NZQA or CUAP). Ultimately the QAB may
withdraw consent to assess.
When TEOs and schools are non-compliant, The Skills Organisation will give written
notice of the non-compliance, the corrective actions to be taken and the timeframe
for compliance.
Further action will depend on the outcome of the corrective action and may involve
site visits.
Fees for non-compliance are:
 Re-submission of non-compliant documentation at $90 per hour plus GST
 Site visits resulting from non-compliance at $200 per half day plus GST
 Reimbursement for ‘actual and reasonable’ travel and accommodation expenses,
with vehicle mileage charged at the current published Inland Revenue rate.
Appeals
In the event of an unresolved dispute over moderation results, the TEO or school
may lodge a written appeal with The Skills Organisation that includes all relevant
documentation within one month of the moderation decision.
The Skills Organisation’s quality assurance manager will make a determination and
document the result for all parties within one month of receiving the appeal
documentation. In all cases the decision of the quality assurance manager is final
and binding on all parties.
Ref: 0223
9
DAS Registration Information
Process
Registration
Review
Revision
Version
1
2
3
Date
June 1996
October 2008
September 2012
The next CMR review is planned to take place during 2015.
Ref: 0223