SecQual

Course Endorsement
S2010/014 - 22 Apr 2010

Course endorsement is an integral part of the NCEA improvements package. Course endorsement will provide recognition for students who perform exceptionally well in individual courses. Students will be able to have their strengths in individual courses recognised with a course endorsement at Merit or Excellence. The key objective of course endorsement is to motivate students to achieve their potential in one or more courses.

Students will gain an endorsement for a course where they achieve:

1. 14 or more credits at Merit or Excellence at the lower level that supports the endorsement
2. at least 3 credits from externally assessed standards and 3 credits from internally assessed standards
3. sufficient credits in a single school year.

Note:

Physical Education, Religious Studies and level 3 Visual Arts will be exempt from (2) above.

Providing course information to NZQA

• Course information will be provided by schools to NZQA, through a small change to the existing school data file process or web entry process.
• Course name will be the name supplied by the school - NZQA reports will reflect school reports.
• NZQA will issue guidelines to reinforce good practice and to discourage the:
  • use of school names in course titles
  • use of proprietary names (ie. a registered trade or sponsorship name).

Impact on Results Notice and School Results Summary

From 2012, NZQA will mirror school reports by listing courses and standards exactly as schools report them. Students will see the standards they undertook against the course they were assessed against.

Implementation

Course endorsement at all levels, will be implemented in 2011.

Questions and Answers about Course Endorsement

1. When will course endorsement start?
   Course endorsement will be implemented in 2011. Courses at all levels of NCEA will be eligible.
   
   
2. What is a course?
   A course is a coherent programme of learning in a given year. Schools will determine the standards that make up each course, reflecting current practice.
   
   
3. Why will Physical Education, Religious Studies and level 3 Visual Arts be exempt from the internal and external assessment requirement?
   The relevant standards and their assessment modes for these subjects had been approved prior to the internal and external requirement.
   
   
4. Are short courses endorseable?
   Yes. Any courses are endorseable as long as they contain 14 credits with Merit and/or Excellence criteria including at least 3 credits from externally assessed standards and 3 credits from internally assessed standards.
   
   
5. Can courses containing unit standards be endorsed?
   Yes, including unit standards in a course does not preclude it from being an endorseable course.
   
   
6. Can unit standards with Merit or Excellence outcomes contribute to course endorsement?
   Yes.
   
   
7. Can students use credits gained in previous years?
   For course endorsement, the endorsement is limited to a school year. Therefore, a student would need to achieve the requisite number of credits in a school year.
   
   
8. Can the credits be used for more than one endorsement?
   No. A standard can only contribute to one course endorsement in a school year.
   
   
9. Can course endorsement be awarded retrospectively?
   No. Eligibility for course endorsement will start when course endorsement is introduced from 2011.
   
   
10. Can students who change schools get course endorsement?
    Yes, their standards can be included in course(s) at the new school.
    
    
11. Are multi-level courses endorseable?
    Yes. Course endorsement is awarded at the lower level that can support the endorsement. Course endorsement has been designed with multi-level study in mind.
    Course endorsement examples for multi-level courses:
    

    Course A :

    • Meets the 3 credits internally assessed/ 3 credits externally assessed requirement
    • 14 credits at Merit
    • Level 1 is the level that supports the endorsement

    Course B:

    • Meets the 3 credits internally assessed/ 3 credits externally assessed requirement
    • 14 credits at Excellence
    • Level 2 is the level that supports the endorsement

    Course C:

    • Meets the 3 credits internally assessed/ 3 credits externally assessed requirement
    • 14 credits at Merit
    • Level 3 is the level that supports the endorsement
12. Can courses with third party providers be endorsed?
    Yes, provided the home school reports the courses, standards and results.
    
    
13. Will schools have more administrative work?

    SMS Schools

    Course endorsement should result in only minimal additional administrative work for those schools with a school management system (SMS). The course endorsement process will mirror current SMS data capture, meaning the course information currently stored by schools will be utilised.

    Web-entry schools

    Schools utilising the NZQA web entries function will need to enter the appropriate course against each standard.

Enquiries

Please refer any enquiries relating to this circular to your School Relationship Manager.

School Relationship Manager
Secondary Assessment and Liaison
Telephone: 04 463 3000