Targeted review of the qualifications system

29 September 2009

NZQA is seeking feedback from tertiary education organisations, representatives bodies, and other interested groups and agencies on proposed changes to NZ's qualifications system. More ...

The Evaluative Approach to Quality Assurance

NZQA has moved to an evaluative approach to quality assuring the performance of tertiary education providers. The focus is on the benefits for the students. The evaluative apparoach replaces quality audit, which will be phased out over time.

The evaluative approach is based on policies and criteria gazetted under the Education Act 1989, and has four parts.

Entry processes		Self-Assessment
The initial entry processes include registration of private training establishments (PTEs), course approval, and accreditation to deliver a course, and accreditation to assess standards on the National Qualifications Framework.		Self-assessment is carried out by PTEs to find out the answers to key questions: are students getting what they want/need? i.e. qualifications that lead to jobs and/or further education opportunities. And how do you know? is the community getting what it wants/needs? i.e. people with skills/training that is required. And how do you know?
External Evaluation and Review (EER)		Responses for non-compliance
EER is carried out by NZQA to find out: how effective a PTE's self-assessment process was in generating evidence to answer self-assessment questions how accurate that evidence is, and how the PTE knows it is accurate what the PTE is doing to act on the evidence to improve its performance. Detailed outlines of self-assessment and external evaluation and review are available.		NZQA will take appropriate actions if a PTE gets a poor result from EER or is not complying with other relevant NZQA policies and criteria.

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Page updated: 04 September 2009