Field          Social Sciences

 

Review of Psychology unit standards

 

Subfield

Domain

ID

Social Science Studies

Psychology

11691, 19247-19255

 

NZQA National Qualifications Services (NQS) has completed the review of the unit standards listed above.

 

Date new versions published                                                          July 2011

 

Planned review date                                                                           December 2016

 

Summary

 

In 2009 NQS began the review of Psychology unit standards.  The standards in domain Psychology were last reviewed in 2003/2004 and have shown steady usage at Levels 1-3, overwhelmingly by secondary schools, with negligible usage of the standards at Level 4.

Responding to pre-review sectoral feedback, a significant goal of this project was to insert merit and excellence grades into the newly reviewed standards.  The Ministry of Education (MoE) was concurrently developing Teaching and Learning Guidelines for Psychology  and learning objectives aligned with Levels 6-8 of the New Zealand Curriculum and these informed the review.

 

A review panel comprising representatives from secondary schools, universities, the New Zealand Psychological Society and the MoE was convened and completed the review in January 2010.  This resulted in the development of fifteen new Psychology standards with merit and excellence grades, five at each of Levels 1, 2 and 3 to replace all existing Psychology standards.

 

In 2009 NZQA Framework Registration began the process to revise the registration criteria for unit standards to take into consideration changes to registration policy including requirements surrounding graded standards.  The new criteria, published in July 2010, include the requirement to provide examples of assessment resources with each submission of graded standards for evaluation.  In addition to this requirement NQS recognised that current best practice supported having exemplars available to teachers to support the assessment of graded standards.  The process to develop assessment resources also helps to 'fine-tune' the draft standards themselves prior to their submission for quality assurance.

 

To both meet this new requirement, and to further test the assessability of the draft standards, NQS held two assessment support material (ASM) development workshops on 19-20 May and 14-15 December 2010.  These workshops were conducted using a panel format with participants from senior secondary schools and national moderation.  These workshops resulted in the development of ASM for the Level 1 standards.  Consultation on the Level 1 standards and their ASM was conducted in February 2011 with support for the new standards coming from individual secondary schools and the New Zealand Psychology Teachers Association.

 

The development of ASM for the remaining Levels 2 and 3 standards and submission of the final standards for quality assurance will occur in the latter half of 2011.

 

Main changes

 

·      The development of five new psychology unit standards with grading at NZQF Level 1.

·      The expiry of existing psychology Level 1 unit standards 11691 and 19247-19255 in December 2012.

 

Category C and D unit standards will expire at the end of December 2012

 

Impact of changes on NCEA Exclusions List

 

For transition purposes, the following exclusions will apply for new achievement standards.

 

Unit standard

Excluded against each of these standards

27255

19249, 19250, 19251, 19252, 19253

27254

19247

 

Detailed list of unit standards - classification, title, level, and credits

 

Key to review category

A

Dates changed, but no other changes are made - the new version of the standard carries the same ID and a new version number

B

Changes made, but the overall outcome remains the same - the new version of the standard carries the same ID and a new version number

C

Major changes that necessitate the registration of a replacement standard with a new ID

D

Standard will expire and not be replaced

 

Social Sciences > Social Science Studies > Psychology

ID

Title

Level

Credit

Review Category

11691

Describe the application of psychological theory in a real life situation

1

3

D

19247

 

27254

Describe the use of scientific method and simple statistics in psychological study

Demonstrate understanding of the scientific method used in psychological research

1

 

1

2

 

4

C

 

 

19248

Observe, record, and describe non-human animal behaviour from psychology study

1

2

D

19249

 

19250

 

19251

 

19252

 

19253

 

27255

Describe the biological approach to psychology and contributions of key figures

Describe the psychodynamic approach to psychology and contributions of key figures

Describe the humanistic approach to psychology and contributions of key figures

Describe the behavioural approach to psychology and contributions of key figures

Describe the cognitive approach to psychology and contributions of key figures

Describe approaches to psychology

1

 

1

 

1

 

1

 

1

 

1

2

 

2

 

2

 

2

 

2

 

6

C

 

C

 

C

 

C

 

C

 

 

19254

Explain behaviour from a media event using a psychological viewpoint

1

3

D

19255

Observe, record, and describe human behaviour from psychology study

1

2

D

27256

Demonstrate understanding of the application of theory to fields of psychological practice

1

6

New

27257

Demonstrate understanding of key pieces of psychological research

1

4

New

27258

Demonstrate understanding of the key principles of the Code of Ethics for psychologists working in Aotearoa/New Zealand

1

4

New