Unit Standard FAQ
The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) are in the process of developing new unit standard
guidelines.
We are working with NZQA to keep up to date with the changes to unit standards, and we have
some frequently asked questions to help you understand the changes to unit standard content.
New Unit Standard content
Providers will be developing programmes towards New Zealand qualifications. The learning content
sits within these programmes rather than the unit standards themselves.
The unit standard itself is an assessment standard that aligns with the graduate outcomes of a
qualification, therefore new and revised unit standards need to be viewed in the context of the
graduate outcome statement.
Consultation titles
Each group of unit standards has a 2-4 character ID in their title assigned by NZQA once submitted.
These codes indicate the qualification and graduate outcome the unit standards align to.
E.g. The ones with the code LH support the assessment of New Zealand Certificate in Agriculture
(Livestock Husbandry) . The numbers identify which graduate outcome the unit standards aligns to,
in this case, they all align to graduate outcome 1 in the qualification document.
Purpose statements
Purpose statements reflect the actual purpose of the unit standard and describe the context for
their use. For example:
What are the explanatory notes?
These are more detailed and are designed to give assessors information on: assessment context,
legislation, examples of evidence, or explanations of terms. For example:
Range statements
These indicate minimum requirements that must be met.
Replacement information
This lists all of the unit standards that will be replaced by this new unit standard. The replaced unit
standards will be identified as expiring once the new unit standard is published on the Directory of
Assessment Standards (DAS).
Can I use expiring standards?
Expiring unit standards can be used by providers in existing programmes until their status changes to
'expired.'
The expiry date of the standard will be published in the review summary report and on each
individual unit standard on the Directory of Assessment Standards (DAS).
The expiry date is normally a minimum of two years from the date the review was completed.