QA News April 2010 - Issue 67

• Chief Executive's foreword
• Course Endorsement to add further motivation for students
• Top Art on tour
• More students gain NCEA endorsed certificates
• Literacy and numeracy standards proposed
• NZ Scholarship results
• Changes to the qualifications system
• TEOs encouraged to do business online
• External reviews of value
• Deregistration a possibility for non-complying PTEs
• Exemplars for internal standards now online
• Best Practice Workshops
• Workshops for teachers and whanau

Changes to the qualifications system

NZQA is implementing a package of seven major changes to the qualifications system to make it easier for the public and learners to understand.

In late 2009, the tertiary sector was consulted on the targeted review of the qualifications system.

Specific focus areas for the review were:

• diploma and certificate level qualifications where there is lack of clarity about the connections between qualifications, and skills and knowledge
• industry and employers’ involvement in the design and development of qualifications; in particular ensuring effective employer and employee input
• minimising the duplication and proliferation of qualifications.

Responses from across the tertiary sector, including tertiary education organisations, industry training organisations and representative bodies, were supportive.

Tim Fowler, NZQA Deputy Chief Executive Quality Assurance, says "The tertiary sector has largely endorsed our proposals to simplify and strengthen the qualifications system. We need a user-friendly system that reduces duplication and proliferation of qualifications."

A unified New Zealand Qualifications Framework will be implemented that is easy for the public and learners to understand. The new framework will contain only current and relevant quality-assured qualifications, and significantly reduce duplication between qualifications.

In line with the change proposals, supported by the tertiary sector, NZQA will:

• develop a unified New Zealand Qualifications Framework
• require mandatory periodic review of qualifications
• strengthen recognised industry involvement in qualification development
• provide the public with clear information about whether a qualification is active, inactive or closed.

Changes to require the use of existing quality-assured qualifications (while allowing for some local components) and a mandatory pre-development assessment stage for qualifications received a lot of interest from submitters.

"Some submitters were concerned about the cost of new activities, such as mandatory reviews and pre-development assessment. However, NZQA is confident that any additional compliance costs will be more than offset by lower qualification development and ongoing maintenance costs," Tim says.

Experts have been engaged to begin work with NZQA on the implementation detail. The New Zealand Qualifications Framework will replace the New Zealand Register of Quality Assured Qualifications and the National Qualifications Framework by the end of June 2010.